The Accidental Countess (The Aristocrat Diaries 3)

ADELAIDE: We’ll even share. ; )

I laughed right as there was a knock at my door. “Come in,” I called out.

It opened, and Matthew stepped into my room. “Something funny?”

“Texting my sister,” I replied. “How’s the hotel doing?”

He’d been there most of the day, making sure everything was going smoothly, so we’d not had the time together that he’d planned. I had, however, finished my sketch from the other day and made a good start on the one of Lucky for Dafydd.

“Perfect. I’m quite happy to leave it for the weekend, so now I’m all yours.” He walked in and perched on the edge of the bed. “Have you got any ideas about what you’d like to do?”

“None. But before we discuss that, do you mind if my sister and Olympia stay with us? She’s got half-term break the week after next, and Adelaide wants to come up.”

He shook his head. “That’s fine. It’s your house, too, Eva. You don’t need to ask.”

“Oh, I know, I just…” I smiled. “I… was running it by you, then. Not asking.”

Matthew stood and reached out and cupped my chin. “Perfect. Why don’t we go out for dinner? Do you like seafood? There’s a great place not far away from here that has local crab, lobster, and mussels.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I’ll pass on the mussels, but I do like crab.”

“All right. Come on, then. I took a punt and I’ve already got us a table.” He got off the bed with a chuckle. “It’s in forty-five minutes. Can you get out of those pyjamas and changed in twenty-five?”

“Depends. Are you helping me out of the pyjamas?”

“There’s the Eva I know.” He grinned, and he raked his gaze over me. “Not right now, or we’ll definitely not make dinner. I might help you out of whatever you wear to dinner, though.”

“Now, Your Lordship, don’t make promises you can’t keep.” I hopped off the bed and walked over to the huge wooden wardrobe and opened the doors. “It’s not nice.”

He appeared behind me, put his hands on my waist, and nudged my ponytail to the side with his nose. He ghosted his lips along the curve of my neck, making me sigh at the gentle touch, and said, “Now, Your Ladyship, why would I do a thing like that?”

Our bodies were tight together, and I could feel his erection against my lower back. A fizzle of desire ran through me, and I had to take a moment for a deep breath before I begged off dinner and tossed him on my bed instead.

Honestly, the way my body reacted so quickly and easily to this man was quite frustrating.

Just once, I’d like to be able to push him away.

Evidently, today was not that day.

Tomorrow probably didn’t look too sharp, either.

“I thought I was supposed to get ready for dinner,” I said quietly, tilting my head so he could kiss down my neck.

“You are. Make it something I can get off you easily,” he murmured in my ear. “Preferably without ripping it, but I won’t complain if I have to.”

I reached around and swatted him, and he let me go. He laughed as he headed for the door, and he stopped in the doorway, looking back at me one last time.

“Bugger off!” I threw a scarf at him. It didn’t go anywhere, instead fluttering to the floor about a foot away from me.

Matthew laughed and finally closed the door behind him so I could get changed.

I had no idea what to wear, though.

Except for his instruction for it to be something he could take off easily.

Well, I wasn’t about to argue with him. Not too much, at least. Right now, the only really good thing I was getting out of this arrangement was intense, literal leg-shaking orgasms that could rock this whole castle to its core, so if he wanted something easy to take off…

Heck, I’d go in a trench coat and panties.

I ran my fingertips over the hangers in my wardrobe, eventually leaving them to hover over one that held a simple black dress. It was the kind of outfit you could dress up or down, and I was going to shoot for somewhere in the middle. I grabbed a denim jacket to go with it and a pair of heeled ankle boots, then tossed the clothing on the bed so I could do my makeup.

The last thing I needed was face powder all over a black dress. No matter how hard you tried, it never came off.

I sat down at my dressing table and looked in the huge mirror. My hair was a mess, my eyes were puffy with dark circles under them, and I was pretty sure there was a pimple forming in the crease of my nose.

Great.

That was hot stuff right there.

God bless the creator of makeup.