Page 11 of The Tempting of a Devilish Lord

For a few moments, she stared at him, feeling her heart thud hard against his chest. Or perhaps that was his heart beating against hers, she could not be certain. Then she realized she was not the only one staring. His gaze tracked across her face, to her lips, then met hers. His pupils darkened.

Swallowing hard, she tapped his shoulder. “Um, you may put me down now.”

“Ah.” He eased her down, sliding her all the way down his body, and making her feel as though she had just been wrapped in prickly wool and her whole body had become sensitized and alert.

She took a step back and placed a hand to the rock before she tumbled to the ground and found herself roly-polying down the hill. At this point, she would not be surprised if such a thing happened. He must have noticed her unsteadiness and took her arms in his hands, his fingers warm and strong through the fabric.

There it was again. The darkness in his gaze.

Before she quite comprehended what was happening, he moved in and pressed his lips firmly to hers.

She jolted back, a hand to her mouth, her lips tingling from the short contact. “What…what did you do that for?”

“Well, we did nearly die.” He shrugged, his lips quirking.

“We most certainly did not, and you cannot…” She drew in a long breath. “You cannot go around kissing people. It’s scandalous!”

“Lucinda!”

Lucinda whipped around, took a few steps toward the edge of the hill and spotted her sister, her bright red hair streaming behind her, making her way up the hill with a large man in tow—a farmer perhaps by the looks of his garments. At least it was not their mother. But either way, she did not need her sister spotting her with this man. If he moved quickly, Mary-Anne might not spy him from her position.

She hastened back. “You should go,” Lucinda urged.

“Goodness, now that’s a thank you.”

“Well, of course, I am most grateful but—”

He smirked. “You want me gone.” He shrugged, retrieved his jacket and hat. “Good day to you, Lucy. Let me know if you wish to climb any more rocks. I should be most happy to oblige.”

Well, that’s not going to happen, she wanted to blurt out but by the time she’d glanced back at her sister and then to the man, he had gone. She eased out a breath. With any luck, she would never see him again. Which was precisely what she wanted.

For certain.

Most definitely.

Chapter Four

“Is there a reason there’s a large gathering of women in the garden?” Leo asked, peering out of the window of the breakfast room. “And so damned early too.”

Alex glanced up from the newspaper and folded it and then set it on the white linen besides his half-finished food. “Mrs. Jones said there had been a few requests for tours. And it is hardly early, Leo.”

“Well, Adam is not even down for breakfast,” his brother pointed out.

“Because Adam keeps his own time.”

Leo chuckled and returned to the circular table positioned directly in the middle of the room. Sunshine streamed in through the large windows on two sides of the room, offering up a promise of impending summer. A fine time for a tour of the gardens to be certain. But he would not be going in search of these female visitors. Not after yesterday and the rescue of the delectable Lucy.

He suspected that as long as he lived, he would not forget the image of her splayed out on the rock, her red curls surrounding her and her long legs on offer. He smirked to himself. The image should have been amusing but apparently he was so starved for female companionship already, it was slowly becoming his newest fantasy.

Leo took a long sip of coffee and nodded toward the newspaper. “Any talk of us?”

“How did you guess?”

“It was the disgusted look you gave when you set it down, though the gossip does not usually bother you.”

“It does when it means we’re stuck here, and some poor woman’s situation is turned into entertainment.”

“Good Lord, you have a heart, Alex.”

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