The Sinners Club by Kate Pearce Page B

Simon strode toward the collection of their hastily abandoned clothes and extracted his garments. He didn’t bother to dress and just bundled everything up in his arms.
    â€œThank you.”
    Jack nodded. “It was a pleasure.”
    â€œOne that I would be more than willing to repeat.” Simon jerked his head at the tower door. “You know where I am if you need me.”
    â€œI do.”
    Simon retreated after a last smile, leaving Jack staring up at the ceiling, his body pliant and humming with the echoes of pleasure. As sensation retreated, common sense returned and he considered what he now knew. Simon was no stranger to a man’s touch and had willingly allowed Jack to take the lead in their encounter. He obviously hadn’t attended public school, so where had he picked up the “English habit” as the French called it? It was possible that a female lover had introduced him to it, but he sensed there was something more. That Simon hadn’t always offered such services willingly... and if that was the case, how did that impact his sister, the supposedly virtuous and aristocratic Dowager Countess of Storr?
    Jack washed in the now cold water, pulled back the covers, and got into bed as tiredness overtook him. Tomorrow he would probably discover that the Picoults had no evidence to support their claims to the earldom. What would they do then? Did Simon believe that by bedding Jack he’d created an ally to deceive the new earl?
    Jack’s sense of well-being dissipated completely.
    No one was going to deprive him of his inheritance this time. He’d wandered for too long. Now that his sister had found happiness, the lack of a place to call home had finally become plain to him. If the Picoults thought he could be bought that easily, with sex, they were due for a terrible disappointment.
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    Mary knocked gently on Simon’s bedroom door and held her breath until he opened it and beckoned her inside.
    â€œIs Mr. Smith here?” she whispered.
    â€œNo, he’s asleep in his own bed.”
    â€œThen you didn’t—?” Simon smiled at her and she blushed. “Of course you did. You’re still naked and you smell of sex.”
    He turned away from her and went to wash, sluicing quantities of cold water and soap down his chest to pool at his feet.
    â€œDamn, that’s cold.” He took the drying cloth she offered him and rubbed vigorously at his chest and torso.
    Mary walked closer and placed her hand on his upper arm. “Well?”
    â€œWell what?”
    â€œWas he grateful for the attention?”
    â€œYou mean, was he willing to fuck another man? He was, my love, and very experienced at it too.”
    â€œOh.” She pouted.
    â€œAre you jealous that I got to see him naked first, to suck his cock, and have him sucking mine?” He caught her hand and placed it on his already rising shaft. “You are, aren’t you?”
    She squeezed him hard and his breath hissed out.
    â€œBe careful with that.”
    â€œWhy? You’ve done what you needed with it tonight, haven’t you?”
    He smiled down into her eyes. “That depends.”
    â€œYou are irrepressible!”
    â€œI know and that’s why you like me.” He pushed against her palm, his crown now slick and throbbing against her skin. “Do you want me to tell you about it?”
    Before she could protest, he picked her up and deposited her on his lap on the chair by the fire. She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he held her steady, one warm hand cradling her hip, the other blocking her escape on the arm of the chair.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œWhat if he wakes up and comes looking for you?”
    â€œThen we’d hear him, you could make a run for it, and I—well, I’d be a very well-satisfied man.”
    â€œHe was really that proficient?”
    â€œMary, he had all the skills of a professional, and I should