The Poetry Affair (Dashing Rogues and Ruined Librarians #3)

Chapter One

Middleton House

St. James’s Place

Mayfair, London

Good God, if this rout grows any duller, I might consider plucking out my eyes with a spoon.

Nathaniel Grossbeck, the eleventh Viscount Holdcraft, gazed longingly at the drawing room windows.

Was there any possibility of throwing himself out of one before the night ended?

The trouble with doing the pretty at social events was that he didn’t enjoy them as much as he did as a younger man, and as each year passed, the crop of young women fresh into society seemed ages away from him in maturity and temperament.

Yet he was expected to marry soon for the sake of his title and to perpetuate the line, for it was no secret within the ranks of the folks who studied England’s titled families that the men in his connection had a bad habit of dying early.

And frankly, he’d already lived longer than any of them in recent history.

Having one’s mortality follow one around constantly makes one want to come the crab.

If he were honest with himself, he didn’t fancy wedding a young woman with whom he had nothing in common nor was it likely she would have experience in carnal endeavors, and since he was rarely without a different lady on his arm each week, it might prove a bit of an issue.

And that was another reason for his ennui.

The current crop of ladies was all the same.

Copies of each other, with the same fashion sense, the same way of dressing their hair, the way they spoke and interacted with each other.

Where were their personalities? Their sense of adventure?

The things that made them unique and fascinating?

Perhaps it didn’t matter, for he didn’t seek out women for those purposes.

Much.

Mostly, he just wanted to have them in his bed, have a good fuck or two, and then set them loose.

He wasn’t a rake for nothing, and he’d confirmed that assumption probably more than he should have.

Because of that, he’d gained something of a reputation, and those that kept him away from the more upstanding ladies of the beau monde, he didn’t mind.

There was no shortage of women in the other classes, and of those, he had his eye on heiresses more often than not, for what man couldn’t use an infusion of coin into his coffers?

There was always something on an estate that needed modernization or repair, and those things weren’t cheap.

“Oh, Lord Holdcraft, I’d hoped to see you tonight.”

The sound of a woman’s voice near to him yanked him from his thoughts. He glanced to his side with surprise, for a young lady not older than two and twenty smiled at him. Blonde and buxom, she was every bit the sort of bedmate he would choose.

“Do I know you?”

“I should hope so. I’ve been flirting outrageously with you for two minutes.”

Ah, while he’d been engaged in self-reflection. “Then you would be…?”

“Miss Julia Delaney, daughter of Baron Corden. We met a few months ago at a ball.”

“Ah.” That didn’t help him at all. “Did you wish to dance, Miss Delaney? Or perhaps I could procure you a glass of punch?” Truly, he had no idea why she was talking to him, for he didn’t remember being formally introduced to her.

“Oh, I’d like to do something much more fun and satisfying. Come with me.” With a bold wink, she led him from the drawing room and the crush therein.

“Where are we going?” Not that he minded, for if she was after a quick roll in the proverbial hay, he wouldn’t bid her nay. One woman was as good as the next in that regard.

“I thought perhaps a lovely walk would prove a good break from the crush inside.”

To be fair, it was a beautiful spring evening, and miraculously it wasn’t raining when they quit the house and moved into the rear garden. “To what end? I am neither a horticulturalist nor a stargazer.”

“Oh, I think there will be something out here you’re interested in.” Then, with a quick glance over her shoulder, Miss Delaney opened the gate at the back of the garden and slipped into the square beyond.

He uttered a huff, for this was largely a waste of time. “Enough of this foolishness. Let us return. We can share champagne and kisses in the butler’s pantry.” It was one of his favorite places to hide with women for a bit of slap and tickle.

“Why are you grumbling before you even know what I have in mind?” Under the cover of the darkness around them and shielded from prying eyes by a few shrubberies on that side of the garden wall, the bold young woman rested her gloved palms on his chest, lifted onto her toes, and then pressed her lips to his.

What was this? He was being propositioned? That was a twist.

And he wouldn’t be the rake that he was if he didn’t kiss her back. The young woman was no slouch when it came to teasing a man with kisses, so it didn’t take long for hot interest to rush through his veins to pool in his shaft.

“Tell me and ruin the surprise,” he said between kisses. “Are you trying to get up to scandal, then?”

“Yes, and I’d like to do that by getting something else up as well,” she replied as she dropped to her knees before him.

Before he knew what she was about, Miss Delaney had the buttons of his front falls undone and the placket down.

When his rapidly engorging shaft sprang out, she gasped and stared at it with hunger glittering in her eyes.

“I’d heard you were well hung, but the rumors didn’t say just how much. ”

Amused but curious as to how she’d do this, Nathaniel remained as still as he could. If she wished to explore, he would let her, for he’d nothing else to do this evening. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why not? I wanted to see your equipage, and find out for myself if you were as good as the gossips say.” She traced a fingertip along the side of his member.

Dear gods!

The light touch paired with her tart mouth and the texture from her gloves had arousal streaking through his body. “Proceed at will.” For a few seconds, he watched her in the dark and shadows. The moonlight flirted with clouds, sending silvery wisps of light over her face and her blonde coif.

“This is going to be quite delicious, I think.” She wrapped her hand about his hardened length, but it was her words that made him more randy than he’d been in a while.

“Do you do this to every man you meet?” Not that he cared or had latitude to judge, for he had quite an impressive record himself.

On a first stroke, she said, “Only the interesting ones.”

Obviously. “And you’re a social climber.” It wasn’t a secret, he’d wager.

“Something like that.” Then she held him more firmly and drew her curled fingers up and down his shaft.

Bloody hell. He sucked in a sharp breath, for her strokes and caresses had awareness shivering along his spine.

“Let me show you how I like it.” So she wouldn’t think he tried to take control, he settled his hand over hers, showed her how to hold his length to maximum advantage.

“Build up the heat. Some men enjoy that, but mine doesn’t respond well to rough handling. ”

At first. There was a time and a place for that, but he rather doubted his relationship with Miss Delaney would last past this act.

After a few minutes of experimentation, a faint smile curved her lips.

“I’m quite certain I can get you off, my lord.

” Soon she was stroking his flesh as if she’d been doing it all her life.

Up and down her fingers went, then she had this little quirk that she did at the root, where she twisted her wrist and flexed her fingers, that had heated reaction streaking through his member and into his stones.

With every pass, he hardened further. Need tingled in his balls, but just when he suggested she stop, the damned woman cupped those stones in her other hand, squeezed them with a firm insistence that had his eyes ready to cross.

“I can only imagine how you pleasure women with this prick,” she breathed as she glanced up at him with shining eyes in the shadows. “Perhaps I’ll find out some day.” Not once did she pause in her stroking.

“Mmm.” He didn’t comment further because they wouldn’t meet again. If she wanted to suck him off, of course he’d let her, but she wasn’t quite his type for bedding.

“Let’s see what else you can do.” One of her blonde eyebrows rose in challenge, then with a husky chuckle, she leaned forward and closed her pink lips around the head of his shaft.

Shit!

Nathaniel’s whole body jerked as if it had come awake from a shock.

She giggled, and the vibrations buzzed around his length, enhancing the exquisite torture she’d already given him.

While still holding his stones in her hand, the woman moved closer to him and slowly, so damn slowly he thought he might die, she took his member into her mouth as far as he could go until his tip hit the back of her throat.

To her credit, she didn’t gag like most women would. Then, she swallowed, and the contracting muscles gently squeezed his shaft. He nearly shot his wad right there, but he bore down on the urge and gritted his teeth.

“Damnation…”

She drew off his shaft with a slight pop. “God, your member is amazing. A real tasty mouthful.” At least she released his stones, and he knew a moment’s relief, but it was short-lived, for she slipped that hand around the back of his thigh and took him once more into the warm cavern of her mouth.

In seconds, he was lost in the wonder that was this stranger as she proceeded to suck him off.