Behind the Courtesan's Mask. Marguerite Kaye

tender skin of her forearm, his erection strengthened. And La Perla shivered. She wanted him.

      Chapter Two

      No! She wanted his money. That shiver was just a trick. Just as the blush that was delicately coloring her throat was a trick. “Five thousand,” Troy said recklessly, anxious now to get it over, anxious to remove himself from this skilled temptress who seemed both venal and virtuous, a heady combination.

      Constance gasped. “You surely jest,” she said before she could stop herself. “Five thousand pounds!”

      “Guineas,” Troy said, trying not to smile triumphantly, for now he had her. “And I never joke when I am negotiating.”

      “You consider yourself an expert?”

      “I’m a diplomat. A good one. You could say it’s my raison d’être,” Troy replied, surprising them both with the truth.

      “Then I’m afraid that today your talents are wasted. I don’t want your money. I am sure you have many better uses to put it to—and if not, I am sure your wife has.”

      “I am not married. I would not be here if I was,” Troy replied. The truth again, for his belief in fidelity, so at war with his low boredom threshold, was another reason for his single state. He could not understand though why he had so readily admitted it—his instinct as a diplomat was to manage information shrewdly.

      He was not married. He would not be here if he was. She took this in, and at the same time tried very hard to pay it no heed. It shouldn’t matter, but it did, and this had gone quite far enough. Constance was frightened now, not of him but of herself. Temptation was urging her, not to take the money, but to take the man, a persistent voice in her head, telling her that no one would ever know, reminding her that only a short while ago she had been wondering what it would be like to do exactly this. Temptation was prompting her to look at the dark-as-sin man in front of her, with his firm flesh and seductive lips. This not-married man would linger over their lovemaking. His touch would be sure. He would be knowledgeable, temptation was whispering urgently to her now. He would know how to make you feel the pleasures of sin, which until now you have only imagined. He would be expert.

      “Five thousand,” Troy repeated.

      “I cannot imagine what you would expect for such a sum.”

      “Oh, I’m sure you can.”

      Could she? Oh, God, she should not even try. “No,” Constance said, more to her inner voice than to the man.

      “You wish me to elaborate then?” Troy asked. He was beginning to lose sight of the objective. He wanted to kiss her. He had to kiss her. “For five thousand, I’d expect a lot of this, for a start.”

      “A lot of what?” Constance asked faintly, but she already knew, for his arms were around her, and they were such strong arms. His body was pressed against hers, and it was such a hard body, so solid, so elementally male. And his mouth was descending upon hers, his eyes half-closed, a dark glint of need reflected in them.

      “Kisses,” Troy said. “I would expect a lot of kisses.” And then his lips took possession of hers.

      She had been kissed chastely, with the public affection of a man for his wife. She had been kissed in the dark of the marital bedroom, lasciviously. The former made her feel nothing, the latter a mixture of shame and disgust. She had never before been kissed with raw passion. She had never before kissed back with passion. But now she was and she did, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

      A sheet of flame enveloped them at the first touch, as if the gods were furious, or perhaps celebrating. A flash of fire between them, forcing them together, crushing each other, pushing against each other, as their mouths melded, their tongues tangled and desire roared to life.

      His hands were in her hair, on her neck, on her arms, her back. His mouth was hot, dark, sinful, just as shockingly sinful as she had imagined. Heat licked through her veins. Her nipples hardened painfully. A need, a craving, an irresistible force, took her in its grip, leaving her gasping for breath.

      “No,” she said, because she knew she should, though she couldn’t imagine what it was she was denying, at the same time pulling him closer, reclaiming his mouth, her hands clawing at the sleeves of his coat. This was wrong. She had to stop. “Five thousand is a lot for mere kisses.”