#MIdWeekTease with a man, a dog and a wife...

Hi all, I'm in the middle of wondering what next, so I decided to go back in time. In more ways than one.

To Regency times with a book that's been out a while.

To have and to hold?

Reluctant debutante Lady Clarissa Macpherson has never forgotten the forbidden kiss she shared with notorious rake, Lord Theodore ‘Ben’ Bennett, all those years ago. Even now, he’s the one man who sets Clarissa’s pulse racing and her skin tingling – no matter how hard she tries to ignore it!

Yet, when Ben rescues her from the unwanted advances of a drunken Lord at a society ball, she finds herself in a most scandalous predicament – engaged, to the most eligible bachelor in London!

Wedded? It appears so, but bedded? Clarissa demands more from her marriage than simply surrendering to her new husband’s sexual desires, especially when she realises she’s falling deeper in love with him every single day. Ben must prove that she’s the only woman for him – and surrender his heart!

Yet resisting her new husband’s delicious seduction may prove the hardest thing Clarissa has ever done…

and your #MidWeekTease

 (not hot, but I hope, humorous) 

‘S’it. Perfect handful. You’re p’fect.’ His arms dropped from her breast and resumed a less iron grasp around her waist. With a tiny snuffle his breathing slowed and became regular.

He’s asleep? Already?

Clarissa lay there and pondered her next move. What now? Should she laugh or cry? Stay or move? She liked where she was, and had to admit that their coupling had more than lived up to the explanations in the pamphlets. Except, she had expected her husband to be wide awake once he had deflowered her, and ready to talk, not half asleep.

So now I am a woman. What next?

With a gentle plop, his cock slipped out of her and his arm became lax. Clarissa wriggled to the very edge of the bed and stood up. Ben snored and turned onto his back to splay out with abandon.

He looked, she decided, like some pagan warrior or a pasha, waiting to be pleasured. However, not by her. She slid her nightrail down and headed for the bathing chamber to use the facilities.

Am I waddling? It felt like she’d been riding astride for hours, and over a particularly barrel-shaped mount at that. Clarissa sniggered at the thought of comparing Ben to a barrel. There was definitely no comparison. She washed thoughtfully in the cool water left in the ewer, and looked at the flannel. It was streaked with blood. The sight gave her a warm glow inside, even as she rinsed the evidence away. She was no longer a maiden.

But what would Ben say now? Would he even realise how much it had affected her? How often would he expect it to happen?

Often, and yes, often.

But what if he didn’t? What if he waited to see if she was with child, and only came to her again if she wasn’t? For the first time Clarissa began to worry. She squared her shoulders. Start as I mean to go on. She walked resolutely back into the bedroom.

Ben was where she’d left him. However, he had a companion. One he held close to his chest.

Piercing blue eyes stared up at her, pleading for help. A whimper smote at her heart. She bit back a giggle as Ben snuggled into his companion.

‘Lovely hair,’ he said. ‘It makes me want to …’ He opened his eyes. Stared at his companion and then with a wild look shot out of bed in the manner of a cork from a champagne bottle. His legs tangled with the covers and he teetered for several seconds before he landed back on the mattress. ‘Hellfire and damnation, what in hades name is this?’

‘I’m not sure what hell would call it, but I’d say it’s a whippet.’ Clarissa stared at the tiny, golden-haired, shivering puppy and her heart melted.

‘A whoppit?’ He shook his head. ‘I’m hallucinating without the brandy.’

‘No, you ninny. A whippet, a puppy. Around four or five weeks, I’d reckon. It really should be with its mama.’ Clarissa lifted the shivering animal and it whined in a pitiful way even as it snuggled in to her. ‘There, there. The silly man. He loves you really.’

Ben rolled his eyes. ‘Thank you for telling me. How the hell did it get up here?’

‘Does it matter?’ Clarissa stroked the puppy. ‘She’s not an it. She’s a she and called Brodie.’

‘And you know that how?’ Ben kicked out his legs and flung the bedcovers back before he stood up successfully.

Was he going to mention their middle of the night activities? Say something to reassure her it had been good for him as well? His pego seemed to have decided it needed to get noticed once more as it bobbed and swayed in time to his movements. Clarissa averted her eyes. Really, to have to feast on that before breakfast wasn’t easy. Mind you, his impressive chest, sprinkled with dark hair that arrowed downward towards the other impressive part of his body, made it even harder to look away.

Tell me you enjoyed what we did. Lord, I hope I didn’t say that aloud. Clarissa gulped as Ben stayed silent. Had it not been up to his expectations then?

Damn him.

The puppy wriggled and whined. She bent her head to nuzzle it.

‘I have decided,’ she said imperiously. Sadly she then spoiled it by giggling. ‘And I looked. Definitely female and she looks like a Brodie. If you don’t mind, can I keep her? I’ve wanted a dog for aeons.’ She did her best not to plead. It was very hard, especially as Ben frowned as he pulled on a banyan. This one was grey-striped. Did he have one for every occasion?

‘It’ll be eaten by the hounds.’

‘No it won’t because it is a she and you won’t let any harm befall her.’

He grinned and nodded. ‘Very true. You can break it to the housekeeper and so on when it widdles over the Aubusson.’

‘We don’t have an Aubusson.’ Clarissa looked down at the faded Wilton rug. ‘Do we?’

catch the other #MidWeekTease posts here

and if I've got you interested, find The Scandalous Proposal of Lord Bennett on Amazon, and Kobo. Here's the .com link here

Happy Reading,

love, Raven x