Free Starlight by Isadora Rose, Kate Monroe Page A

it, nothing he could do to quench it now that he had realised how inescapably he loved her. Tristan knew that he was a fool, for every moment he spent with her could only now make it worse when she inevitably left him, but he could not get enough of her.
    He stared down into Esther’s wide, unguarded eyes and made her his in the only way that he could. He buried his cock inside her and grimly revelled in her low moan of ecstasy. He loved her, but she would undoubtedly break the heart that he never knew he had until now.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “You seem very happy this week, Esther; happier than I have ever seen you.” Eleanor Beaulieu’s slender eyebrows knitted together as she leaned across the table that was heavily laden with the two women’s afternoon tea. “I saw you laughing and joking with the Comte de Rouvroy over breakfast this morning – he had eyes for no-one but you.”
    The implication of the two sentences spoken together was not lost upon Esther. Though she had confided nothing in Eleanor of what had passed between her and the Comte, it seemed her friend had her suspicions nonetheless. She stiffened as she set down her cup with a shaking hand, her mind spinning as she struggled to keep her grip on her composure. The mere thought of the Comte was enough to bring a tide of colour blazing across her cheekbones as she remembered the whispered promises of lust he had made whilst openly attending to her over breakfast. “He – the Comte is to be Catherine’s godfather, after all, so I thought it only right that I should get to know him.”
    “Yes, I recall your surprise that morning after you both arrived when you realised Anton had chosen him to be godfather.”
    The reminder of how fervent her reasons to keep the Comte at arm’s length had been was a stinging and timely one. Whenever she was in his presence – and, more pertinently, in his arms – Esther found it impossible to recall why it was that she so soon had to give him up. Lost in her reverie, she did not realise that her friend was still speaking until she touched her arm.
    “Esther!”
    Her head snapped up with a rush of guilt. “S-sorry, Eleanor – what did you say?”
    “I asked you again, sweetheart, why it was that you took so strongly against him. You never did tell me.”
    “I – I cannot explain in full,” Esther said haltingly. “Suffice it to say, though, that I was led to believe that his character was not that of someone I wanted to associate with, nor that I thought worthy of becoming Catherine’s godfather.”
     “But you trust Anton’s judgement, surely?”
    Her heart was pounding uncomfortably out of time. She knew that she had to tread carefully if she was to reveal none of either her infatuation with the Comte or the details of her cousin’s disgrace that she had been sworn to keep secret. “I trust Anton, of course, but the Comte is a boyhood friend of his. I thought that it might be the case that he was unable to see the Comte objectively – as you yourself said to me, his salacious reputation is known through both Paris and London.”
    “Ah, it is no sin for two unattached people to enjoy themselves, Esther, providing that care is taken! Tristan has no children, he has been careful to ensure that it is so, and to the best of my knowledge he has never caused any woman any manner of pain nor misled them in any way. He is a good man with a good heart, Esther.”
    “Yes.” Esther moistened her dry lips and stared at the sleeping baby in her friend’s arms as she furiously blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall. “I confess that I have found him to be good company. The Comte is not what I expected he would be, and I see now, I think, why Anton holds him in such high esteem.”
    A relieved smile broke out across Eleanor’s face as she absently rocked her tiny daughter to quell the little whimpers she had been beginning to make. “Yes, he does – as do I, for that matter. I am glad to see