Page 76 of The Favourite

“Let us have a love affair,” he said with relish. “You and I.”

The expression on her face was priceless. “A love affair?” she croaked.

He nodded. “Take me for your lover, Jane” he urged huskily.

“But you—I—”

“What?” He smiled lazily at her. “You think I can’t be your lover because I am your husband?”

“Well—”

“Let us think of it this way,” he suggested. “Lord and Lady Bardulf are a staid married couple of impeccable reputation, but Alisander de Balon and Jane Cecil … now they are a different matter altogether.”

Jane swallowed convulsively. “They are?” she whispered.

He smiled at her wolfishly. “Oh, yes.”

“I—I think you’ll find that Jane Cecil is also sadly staid,” she said shakily.

He shook his head. “You mistake her entirely. Take another look.” He turned his head toward the large-looking glass on the opposite wall. After a moment, Jane followed suit. She gasped, seeing their combined nudity reflected there. “It’s a good thing my imagination was not so vivid,” he said thickly, “or I would have been driven wild with wanting you, Jane. And I was already far too taken with you.”

Jane’s head turned sharply back to face him. “With me?” There was a wealth of disbelief and longing there.

“You don’t believe me?” He gave a short laugh. “When you were gone from court,” he confided, “I was bored out of my brain. I can’t tell you the disappointment I felt every time I entered the Queen’s chambers and found you missing. It got to the point where I would simply turn around and walk back out again.”

Jane looked more shocked by this than she had by the sight of his hard cock. She blinked at him. “You—you mean, you missed me?” She could not quite meet his gaze.

He leaned forward. “I mean, that without you, Jane, court was unbearable to me.”

“Alisander,” she whispered, and to his utmost shock, she pressed forward, pressing a clumsy kiss to his mouth. So surprised was he, that he did not turn his head to catch it, so it landed somewhere to the left of his mouth.

“Jane, do that again,” he all but begged, rolling onto his back and taking her with him so she lay now on top of him. When she hesitated, he added, “I was miserable, my darling, desolated without you.”

Her eyes flew wide as she drank in his words, and her lips parted. “Desolated?” she breathed, “because of … me?”

Gods, her reaction. He nodded. “It was bad enough today,” he admitted raspily, “but at least I had the consolation that you were tucked away in my rooms awaiting me.” Unable to resist any longer, he let his hands slide from her hips to caress her lovely backside.

She shivered, her arms tightening about his shoulders and, as though unable to do otherwise, lowered her face to his. He was ready this time and made sure to catch her kiss with his lips. To his embarrassment, he could not help a slight reactive buck of his hips.

Jane gave an exclamation and clung tighter to him, as though afraid she’d be dislodged. Fuck, he liked that too. More words, she needed more words, he thought, and for once in his life, struggled to find them. “Rest assured, wife,” he wheezed, “if you find it dull to be confined to these rooms, you should walk in my shoes for the rest of the week.”

She licked her lips, and he could not help but thrust up again with a stifled moan. He wanted that tongue in his mouth. He was close to begging for it.

“You—you will wish I was there?” she asked, her expression so hopeful, it squeezed his chest and distracted him for a moment from his throbbing cock.

“Yes,” he panted. “Always. Always want you there, Jane.”

She gasped at his words, a tremor running through her, her gaze riveted to his face. He couldn’t stand it any longer, rolling her underneath him. She winced, and he realized the longer necklace had caught in her hair.

“Here, let me take that off.”

“You can leave it,” she protested, even as he untangled it from her hair.

He frowned. “No Jane, I can’t,” he said, flinging the longer chain over the side of the bed. “Not if it’s causing you discomfort.”

Her hands flew to the choker before he could remove it. “Leave this one, then,” she said hurriedly.

“Why?” He hesitated.