Free Gift of Desire by Samantha Kane, Kate Pearce

interested in her at all. Nick had been randy, and Miss Dorsett obviously willing. Though she had preferred Oliver’s blond good looks, it had been Nick playing at seduction while a bored Oliver looked on. But someone else had clearly caught Oliver’s attention.
    “There was a blonde woman, tall and rather cool, talking with your aunt earlier. Who is she?” Oliver asked. He placed a tender kiss upon Miss Dorsett’s palm, as if the question was merely meant to delay her and not the only reason Oliver hadn’t walked in the opposite direction when they parted ways.
    “A cool blonde?” she asked with a frown. Then she laughed, and there was a wicked gleam in her eye. “You must mean Lady Vanessa Carlton-Smythe.” The way she said the name clearly indicated she did not care for the quiet, blonde beauty.
    When Nick heard the name his heart sank. Even he had heard of the Carlton-Smythes. Lady Vanessa, the daughter of an Earl, was as out of reach as the moon to fellows like him, no matter what Nick had seen in her eyes as she’d watched him. His sinking heart turned to an acute pain in his stomach as he recognized the look on Oliver’s face. Oliver wanted a new toy, and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
    “Don’t bother,” Miss Dorsett said dismissively. “She won’t grant you an audience. The high and mighty Lady Vanessa is too good for the likes of you. She thinks she’s too good for the likes of just about everyone.” Her look turned spiteful. “But I’d like to see you try. Wouldn’t that set everyone’s tongues wagging?” She laughed. “Lady Vanessa, unwed at twenty-two, reduced to accepting you two as suitors. How rich!”
    Nick didn’t care for her tone. Actually, he didn’t care for her at all. When she kept her mouth shut she was only tolerable. When she spoke she became completely intolerable. With a sigh he realized he wouldn’t have wanted to go any further with her than he had, even if they hadn’t been interrupted. He’d lost interest in her almost immediately. That had been happening more and more lately to both him and Oliver. It was the reason they’d come back from the continent after almost three years abroad. Nick was beginning to think there wasn’t a woman alive who could hold their interest for more than an hour.
    “Yes, how rich,” Oliver agreed in a pleasant tone. “Now, off to the drawing room with you.” He dismissed her lightly with a little tap on the bottom, as if she were a naughty child. With a huff, Miss Dorsett turned and stalked out of view.
    “I hope you don’t come to regret that rather cavalier dismissal,” Nick observed, leaning his shoulder against the wall.
    “What could you have been thinking to choose that one out of all the women here tonight?” Oliver asked, exasperated. “A ready quim is one thing, of course, but I know for a fact you are not that desperate. I distinctly remember sharing a rather nice fuck just the other night.”
    Nick shrugged with one shoulder. “I wanted to fuck tonight. I wasn’t aware there were limitations on that particular pastime.”
    “There aren’t.” Oliver leaned his back flat against the opposite wall and crossed his arms while he regarded Nick. “But you aren’t one to indiscriminately fuck when the urge strikes. Care to tell me why tonight was different?”
    “It wasn’t.” Nick looked away, toward the drawing room. “I was very discriminating. I determined that this party was a crashing bore and the only thing that could save the evening was a nice, clandestine fuck. With my best friend, of course,” he added, bowing slightly in Oliver’s direction. “And I chose the most willing, and likely, candidate in the vicinity.”
    Oliver bowed back. “I thank you for the thought. But next time, let me choose the candidate.”
    “Oh no,” Nick said, standing up straight. He pointed at Oliver and glared. “I choose young ladies with loose morals and absent chaperones. You choose wide-eyed,