Passions of a Wicked Earl Read Online Free Page A

notion, why don’t you offer for her?”
    “Good God, no! I’ve only just reached my majority, taken my seat in the House of Lords. That’s ample accomplishment for one year. I do not need to add taking a wife to my list of achievements.”
    Westcliffe hardly blamed him. He’d have not married so young if he’d not been desperate for funds. But no matter when he’d married, he’d have honored the right to marry Claire that his father had reserved for him.
    Ainsley sipped his brandy, tapped his snifter. “I thought Claire looked well. Hale and hearty actually. I’d say she spent a good deal of time roaming over your estate.”
    “I didn’t notice.” The lie rolled easily off his tongue. He’d noticed every detail about her. Her upswept blond hair. The gentle slope of her throat. The fire in her sunset blue eyes when he’d ordered her to unbutton her bodice. She’d wanted to tell him to go to the devil. Three years ago, she’d run from him. Tonight, she’d stood up to him. What had happened to strengthen that backbone?
    But he’d noticed more. So much more. The heat of her skin against his finger. The quiver of her muscles as his touch lingered. Her rose scent wafting enticingly around her.
    He’d spoken true. He no longer wanted her as his wife, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want her beneath him. Traitorous wench. How could he desire her? Because she was a woman, and he was a man. It was as simple as that. It had nothing to do with the blue of her eyes or the fine figure she presented. Or the defiance. Women desired him, granted his every wish in an effort to please and tame him. But in the end, they bored him with solicitousness. Claire infuriated him.
    He reached for his glass, having lost track of how many he’d emptied while he and Ainsley sat there. The liquor swirled through him, as did the memories, the past and the present nudging up against each other. Only now, having seen her tonight, looking back did he realize how very young she had been on the day they’d married.
    More sixteen than seventeen. Why had he and her father thought that a single day, the celebration of her birth, would change her from a girl into a woman? She’d been thinner then, but now she possessed more womanly curves. Then she’d not been so far removed from the swing.
    “I know the situation with your wife is none of my business—” Ainsley began.
    “No, it’s not.”
    Ainsley sighed. “Is that why you avoid me? Because you don’t want to know my opinion on the matter?”
    “Our paths seldom cross because I have matters that require my attention.”
    “Based upon the rumors, most of those
matters
involve women.”
    Westcliffe clenched his jaw. “Are you judging me?”
    Ainsley shook his head. “No. Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same under similar circumstances. Only I’d be more discreet.”
    “Not if you care nothing for the woman.”
    “She’s still your wife. That should garner her at least some consideration.”
    He had no plans to get into a debate regarding his indiscretions. Claire was the one who’d initially set the terms of their marriage. He’d accepted that it was unlikely he’d ever hold her love, but he’d been convinced he’d have her loyalty. And then he’d walked into her bedchamber and realized even
that
would be denied him.
    He remembered so clearly the words he’d spoken when he’d delivered her to Lyons Place. “You’ve made it abundantly clear that you hold no affection for me. So be it. Ours shall be a marriage in name only until I decide otherwise. You shall reside here and I in Town. Until you give me an heir, I expect you to keep your knees tightly clamped together. Find yourself with a child that is not of my loins, and I shall destroy your reputation, and while the law may force me to accept it as mine, rest assured that society will not.”
    He’d been walking toward the door when she’d yelled, “I hate you!”
    And he’d forced himself to laugh so she