Intimate Deception by Laura Landon

perspiration that evidenced the ferocity of their lovemaking.
    Then she lifted her face and kissed his flesh while tears of elation and sorrow streamed down her cheeks.

    Vincent awoke alone in bed.
    He opened his eyes slowly, then looked around the room, trying to remember where he was and who he’d been with. He felt like hell. His head throbbed from a combination of the whiskey he’d had before he’d arrived and whatever it was Genevieve had put in his drink.
    And it came back to him in a rush. The girl. Their incredible night of lovemaking. Her hands touching him, her lips kissing him, her legs wrapped around him, enveloping him. Her soft, willing body. The barrier he’d broken.
    Bloody hell!
    His mind raced to the hours he’d spent with her in his arms. He’d been powerless from the minute he’d kissed her.
    Lost to her from the minute he’d touched her. Desperate to bury himself deep within her and never let her go. And that was where he’d found his release. Deep inside her.
    He remembered taking her that first time and remembered taking her again later. Remembered her pulling him to her, remembered her urging him to move harder, faster. Remembered her crying out her release.
    Remembered spilling his seed inside her.
    The memory left him cold. A rush of panic washed over him, stealing the breath from his body.
    His head bolted off the pillow and he looked around the room, thinking perhaps she might still be there. Knowing she wouldn’t be. Only her robe still lay in a puddle on the floor where it had landed when he’d pushed it from her body.
    He was desperate to find her.
    He threw back the covers and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. His first attempt to stand ended in defeat and he sank back dizzily. He cradled his head in his hands until his vision cleared. When the world righted itself, he eased himself to his feet and reached for his clothes. He was just buttoning his waistcoat when there was a knock on the door. Genevieve stood in the open archway.
    “You slept late, Your Grace.”
    Raeborn gave her his most intimidating glower, but she knew him too well to be cowed by it. The smile didn’t leave her face.
    “It’s been a long time since you stayed the night. Years, in fact.”
    “Where is she?”
    “Would you care to join me for breakfast before you leave?”
    “Where is she?”
    He heard her sigh. “She’s gone.”
    His heart lurched in his breast. “What do you mean she’s gone?”
    Genevieve shrugged her shoulders. “She left early this morning.”
    “Where’d she go?”
    “I don’t know, Your Grace.”
    “You have to. You know everything about each and every one of your girls.”
    Genevieve didn’t answer, and he looked at the stoic expression on her face. “She
is
one of your girls, isn’t she?”
    Genevieve turned away from him.
    Raeborn felt a niggling desperation. He reached for a cup of hot coffee someone had left on the table earlier and drank some. “What did you put in my drink, Genny?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “What?”
    She walked to the open window and looked out. “Just something to help you relax. Nothing that could hurt you or make you do anything you ordinarily wouldn’t.”
    He couldn’t believe this. He needed to think but couldn’t. His head thundered as if two teams of horses were racing through it. He rubbed his hands against his temples. “What’s her name? Her
real
name!”
    “I can’t tell you that, Raeborn.”
    “Why not?”
    “I gave my word.”
    “I don’t give a damn about your word. She was a virgin.”
    “I know.”
    “Then you know I have to find her. I could have left her pregnant!”
    A confused expression covered Genny’s face. “That’s not likely. You always pull away before you spill your seed. You never—”
    Vincent raked his fingers through his hair. “Well, I didn’t with her!”
    A suffocating silence hung over them. “I see.” She reached out her hand and braced it against the settee.
    “Now tell me who