Once Upon an Accident 02 - Lessons in Seduction by Melissa Schroeder Page B

library.
    Sebastian looked up from the task of massaging her foot. Damn, but he was a lucky man. Colleen had reclined on the sofa, her hair unbound.
    She was his Aphrodite come to life.
    “What did you say?”
    She laughed. “You’re so easy, Sebastian. I said, my cousin seemed to pay particular attention to yours.”
    “Do not think about it.”
    She blinked, the look of pure innocence flashing in her grey eyes.
    “Whatever do you mean?”
    “Do not try and match them.”
    “Why not?”
    “Douglas is way out of her league.”
    She gasped and sat up. “Why ever would you say something like that? She saved my life, Sebastian. If it had not been for her, I would have never survived. We would have lost everything.”
    Her staunch support of the younger woman warmed his heart even as the memory of that night years earlier chilled his blood.
    “Now, Colleen, I just mean in experience. Your cousin does not have the best reputation. He is known to be a bit of a rake.”
    She sniffed at that, settled against the leather again and crossed her arms. “I know another man who was a bit of a rake before settling down.”
    He smiled. “Well, there is that. I am sure her appearance just took him by surprise. There is a…significant change in her figure.”
    “ Sebastian . I cannot believe you said that.” But he could hear the amusement in her voice.
    “He is a man.”
    “But he had seen her earlier today at The Historical Society meeting.”
    That caught his attention. Briefly, he pondered it. “He attended a meeting?”
    His wife nodded. That made Sebastian pause. Colleen wiggled her foot to get him to continue. As he did her bidding, he thought back to the look Ethingham had given his cousin and sighed. Ethingham was a hard man to read. He should be. He’d spent years building up the walls around him. He’d had to be three different people all the time. The proper son, regardless of his improper parents. The duke, inheriting the title too early to be easy. And the man he was with his friends. Counting himself fortunate to be among the few Ethingham considered friends, Sebastian wondered if he even knew the real Douglas.
    “I don’t know. I’ll keep an eye on him and make sure Daniel does too.”
    She smiled at him. His body vibrated and his cock hardened in record time.
    “Now that I have pleased you, wife, how about coming over here to please us both?”
    She slid over the sofa and pressed her body against his. “I will see what I can do about that, husband.” It was the last coherent thing either of them said for quite some time.
    Douglas frowned at the Earl of Cummings as he once again dipped his attention to Cicely’s breasts. It was the third time in less than ten minutes the fool had done that. It wasn’t as if he was the only one, either. Every man who had chatted with her that evening had not been able to tear his gaze away from her chest. As if they had not seen bare flesh before.
    At that moment he was ashamed of his sex. Never before had he witnessed such an embarrassing display. Granted, being a man, he understood the fascination, but he could control himself. Apparently, he was the only male in the vicinity who could. Cicely had managed to gain lustful looks from every eligible—and not-so-eligible—gentleman in attendance. From the second they’d entered the Smythe mansion, men had been buzzing around her. Their behavior was worse than the slavering idiots from The Historical Society earlier today.
    As for Cicely, she had said little to those attending her, but she’d held her own. He could tell by the way she hesitated before speaking that she was nervous with the attention. Still, Douglas worried that with the interest she was garnering, she might seize the opportunity to find a willing man from her list. That he could not have, so he had stayed by her side since they had arrived. It had not deterred the men one bit.
    She drew in a deep breath, attracting his notice and that of her gathered