Free Ravishing Ruby by Lavinia Kent

what happens between us is different than anything else in my life. I was hoping to fit you in with Madame Rouge but it does not quite work. Madame Rouge is full of lies and illusion, and I find it difficult to play that game when I am with you.”
    “And yet that was the purpose of our game, was it not? To let you be Madame Rouge?”
    A deep sigh. “Perhaps. Or maybe yes and no. I certainly wished to control the situation, to bring some order to this messy thing, but I also enjoyed it. There was something about seeing you go against your nature simply because I wished it that warmed me as nothing I have ever experienced. I am not sure it succeeded in its original goal. I think the further we progressed, the more I lost control rather than gained it. And that was before you took it from me completely.” She bent slightly to the side and lifted the sword that still lay beside them on the bed.
    “And what do you mean to do with that?” he asked, unsure that he wished to follow this conversation any deeper.
    “It is more what I meant to do with it. Once I had you tied to the bed, I fully intended to stand above you, one foot to each side of your hips, and tease you with the blade. I had such an image in my mind of running it slowly down your torso, of circling your navel, and then tracing your dragon. I can imagine watching it rippling beneath my flesh as the blunt blade dragged across it. I would trace the length of its tail until I was circling your cock—and you’d be tied to the bed, helpless to resist.”
    Not quite so helpless. It had taken him less than a second to rip those bonds once he’d decided to. Still, he had to admit that the image she’d planted in his mind had his cock stirring, more than stirring. The thought of having a sword circling his jewels, even a dull one, should have had him shriveling like a grape in the sun, but the thought of Ruby standing above him, still draped in that white shirt, of looking up those long legs, of seeing the shine of her passion, of watching her every movement…
    She spun the sword in the air. It must weigh little more than a child’s toy.
    “I’ve always wanted to learn to fence,” she said. “I normally do the things I wish, but for some reason I’ve never tried to find an instructor. I’ve heard that there are some who will take women on as students. But, I’ve never inquired. Perhaps it’s because of my father.”
    He caught her hand, his large one covering hers, holding the sword still. “Because of your father?”
    —
    Was she really going to talk about this? Ruby chewed on her inner lip and considered. She never talked of her father, really of either of her parents. There were some who knew part of the truth, but not many. It was hard to hide her accent, that quality of voice that said she had once been more than she was now, but
more
was a very subjective word.
    “I once told my father that I wished to learn to sword fight. Perhaps I wanted to be a pirate even then—that could be the root of my fantasy—but it is more likely I wanted to be a knight of the round table. My mother had the most wondrous copy of
Le Morte d’Arthur,
filled with glorious illustrations. I used to curl up in the drawing room when no one was about and page through it for hours. Sometimes I longed to be one of the ladies, but they mostly did nothing but look longingly and then die, so I wished to be a knight. They had the best adventures, fighting monsters and searching for the grail and…”
    “I’ve read the book. I think you are straying from the subject. Why does your father prevent you from taking up fencing?”
    She had hoped to distract Derek, and herself. No good ever came of thinking of the duke. “He laughed at me when I told him my dreams. At first I thought it was because I was a girl, but then he explained that I was rather a clumsy child and I might hurt myself if I didn’t show care.”
    “I would have thought that would make you try harder. You do not