Blood Lust Read Online Free PDF Page A

waiting, pawing at the earth in eager anticipation. William took the horse from the stable boy and swung into the saddle. In the window behind them, the candles flickered in his father’s library as his father strode out into the hall, then the sound of a door slamming that echoed through the mansion.
    A faint feeling of uneasiness ran through William’s body. His father surely would not follow him back to the inn. Even a stubborn, arrogant man like his father would never go that far.
    William watched a moment longer, but his father did not appear. Breathing a little easier, he directed his horse toward the road away from the manor. He was glad that the confrontation was over, at least for now. He urged the gelding into a canter, relaxing to the animal’s rhythmic pace. Bright rays of moonlight shone down through the tree branches.
    As the miles passed, his thoughts moved away from his father’s harsh words to those of a woman whose warm body awaited him. Jane Roberts, Lady Cromwell. Slender, beautiful, from the top of her elegantly coifed auburn hair, to her supple breasts and narrow waist, all the way down to the high, feminine arches of her feet.
    They had been seeing each other for the past six months, often meeting at an out of the way, well-appointed inn, the Lion’s Den. Tonight they had planned just such a rendezvous, and William grew hard inside his snug black breeches, just to think of the pleasure he would find when he joined Jane.
    It was a little more than an hour until the familiar wood arch marking the inn appeared in the courtyard, making his blood pump harder again. He rode into the walled courtyard of the inn, his horse’s hooves clattering on the cobbles. He dismounted, patted the huge gelding’s neck as he handed the reins to a stable boy.
    With long, eager strides, William began walking toward the rear of the building. Accessible from inside the inn, as well as having a second private entrance outside the room often served wealthy patrons. William walked even faster, as he took the stairs two at a time to the second floor. A brief knock on the door and Jane beckoned him inside.
    “My lord,” she said, her voice almost a whisper, smiling as she found herself in his arms. She was slim, but voluptuous, a portrait of beauty in the glow of the fire burning in the hearth. “William, my darling, I am so glad you came.”
    She pressed her lips against him and kissed him with fervent discard, making him instantly hard. He kissed her back with the same hot need he sensed in her.
    “Jane, my God, it seems like it’s been an eternity instead of just a week.” He kissed her on the spot below the rim of her ear, trailed kisses along her bare shoulders, and frantically began to work the buttons on her gown, a heavy green silk gown.
    For a moment Jane nearly faltered, “I was afraid, I know how your father feels. I thought you might not come.”
    “My father’s opinion does not matter. Not in this.” He kissed her again, as if to prove it, then began to kiss a path along the arch of her throat down to her breasts, but a pounding at the door stopped him.
    He wouldn’t , William thought, imagining the angry, reddened face of his father earlier. But as he had feared, when he opened the door, the duke stood in the opening.
    “I have come to have a word with both of you.” Eyes clashing, his father’s gaze darkened with a hint of steel. The duke’s fierce glare took in Jane’s dishevel, her rumpled gown and mussed up hair. “I won’t leave until I do.”
    William, fury, along with humiliation for Jane as well as himself, clamped his jaw tightly. “Just say what you came for, then leave.” He stepped back as his father walked into the room and closed the door. Sliding a protective arm around Jane’s waist, he silently cursed his father.
    The duke of Sussex met them with an icy stare and began to speak. He frowned, his eyes moving toward a movement at the door on the other side of the room. For a