Free Wicked Proposition by Karolyn Cairns

as well.
    “What difference should it make?” she said
softly as she turned away to remove the stockings, tears filling
her eyes. “Someone had to do it. It might as well have been you
than Lord Dartmouth. Something tells me that would have been far
from pleasant.”
    Gabriel flung back the sheet. He rose and went
to the washstand in the corner and retrieved a cloth, washing
himself off.
    “Pretend if you will, but we both know what
happened could not have been easy for you,” he said calmly as he
returned to her side.
    He pushed her shoulder flat to force her onto
her back. He yanked the sheet from her under protests, and washed
the blood and semen away from her slender thighs.
    Gabriel tossed the rag aside and slid into the
bed. He pulled her into his arms once more, holding her tightly
against his chest.
    “Why don’t you tell me how you came to be
working for Clarice, my dear?” He asked with a frown as he picked
up her smooth hand. “These hands do not lie. Your speech is too
refined. There is also the matter of your gift to me. Do not lie.
The truth, if you please. I detest liars.”
    Catherine avoided his eyes. She lay stiffly
against his hard chest, uncomfortable with this sudden intimacy
between them.
    Catherine longed to scream at him, to tell him
it was his fault she was forced to sell her body. She knew she
could not, deciding the truth was best.
    “You are very observant. My parents died leaving
me penniless. I came to England to seek out my guardian. He refused
to help me. Lester found me. The fact I do not belong here is not
lost upon me.”
    “This guardian you mentioned,” Gabriel prodded.
“Who is he? I could approach the blackguard on your behalf.”
    You are the blackguard , she thought.
Instead she shrugged, meeting his dark eyes with nonchalance. “The
less you know of me the better, I think. My guardian would not
care. He is a loathsome pig of a man who cares about nothing but
himself.”
    Gabriel grinned at that, dimpling under her
assessment of the man. “You like him that much, I see?”
    “I completely despise the man, and hope one day
he gets exactly what he deserves.”
    Gabriel looked at her in amusement. “He did not
put you here, Catherine. You came here willingly.”
    Catherine gave him a venomous stare.
    Gabriel looked uncomfortable then. “I am not
judging you. I was only questioning why you felt this was your only
option. Surely you could have married to avoid this?”
    “I had no such offers. I did not choose this for
myself, my lord,” she admitted honestly, avoiding his eyes.
    He looked like he wanted to say something more,
but obviously realized the sad truth of her words.
    “Enough of me, my lord,” she said with false
cheerfulness. “You did not come here to talk about my sad
stories.”
    Catherine felt his maleness poking against her
belly then and looked up at him in surprise. Clarice told her a man
would be done after one time. It was obvious Gabriel was not like
other men.
    Gabriel rolled her onto her back and sought her
lips in a slow, passionate kiss that left her breathless. He was
unhurried now, using every sensual pleasure he knew to make her
tremble under his knowing hands. He explored her at his leisure,
touching and tasting every inch of her skin until he could bear it
no more. Catherine no longer needed the words of instruction
drilled into her by Clarice. She clung to him, her nails digging
into his back.
    Gabriel stopped only to put on one of the French
letters on the bedside table, reminding her she had completely
forgotten that detail. She showed her lack of expertise by not
insisting he wear the condoms. Gabriel moved above her once more.
His dark eyes met hers and held them as he entered her slowly.
Catherine could not look away as he moved with such exquisite
slowness within her. She matched his movements.
    Catherine gave herself up to his passions now,
longing to feel the intense sensations once more. Catherine held
him tightly as he moved,