127
" She isn’t just any woman. She’s different.”
“So every man has said since time immemorial.”
“Yes, that’s true. I’ve met plenty of women, Mr. Sutton. From a young age, I have had mistresses whose beauty and skills would astound you. Skills they taught to a young man, because I was ever so rich. I also got to know them—courtesans are living, breathing women, you might be surprised to learn. With dreams and ambitions, some longing for a better life, one in which they won’t have to rely on wealthy men’s sons for survival. I became quite good friends with some of the ladies and am still. And then I met Violet.”
Mr. Sutton was listening but striving to look uninterested. “Another courtesan?”
“She’s neither one thing nor the other. Which is why I say she’s different. She’s not from the upper-class families whose mothers throw their daughters at me with alarming ruthlessness. She’s not a courtesan, selling her body and skills in exchange for diamonds and riches. She’s not a street girl from the gutter, selling her body to survive. She’s not a middle-class daughter, striving to live spotlessly and not shame her parents. Violet faces the world on her own terms, making a living the best she can with the skills she has. And everywhere, everyone has tried to stop her. They’ve used her body to pay their debts. They’ve used her cleverness to bring them clients. They’ve used her skills at understanding people to make them money. Everyone in her entire life has used her in every capacity she has, and yet, she still stands tall and faces the world. They’ve beaten her down at every turn, and still she rises. This is a woman of indomitable spirit. And I want to set her free. "
― Jennifer Ashley , The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie (MacKenzies & McBrides, #6)
132
" Beth ached where they joined. The friction burned on her petals too long untouched, fire that made her want to open her legs wide. She did, sliding her feet on the covers, letting her hips arch upward.
"Do you feel it?" Ian asked.
A dozen phrases went through Beth's head, but she gasped out, "Yes."
"Your cunny is tight, my Beth. Squeezing me so hard." He smiled when he said it, feral and raw.
No man had ever done bawdy talk with her. Game girls had told her of it, but she'd never dreamed she'd hear it hot in her ear, spoken by a beautiful man.
"Squeeze me some more, love," he murmured. "You feel so damn good."
"Good," Beth echoed. She tightened her muscles, and he groaned.
He felt good. All full and hard and moving inside her. "
― Jennifer Ashley , The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies & McBrides, #1)
133
" She was his lover. Beth laughed for the delight of it. Being with Ian was decidedly unrespectable, and she felt freer than she'd ever felt in her life. Under him, she could spread her wings.
Beth laughed again. She was spreading herself as far as she could. Ian's eyes were closed, his face twisted in pleasure. His thrusts accelerated, his hips pounding as if it were the last coupling he'd ever have.
He drove her into the mattress, his body heavy on hers, his sweat dripping onto her skin. Rain streamed against the windows, and a boom of thunder swallowed Beth's sudden cry of ecstasy.
Ian shouted, not waiting for thunder. "
― Jennifer Ashley , The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies & McBrides, #1)