Page 80 of Five Nights with a Rakish Duke
Penelope opened her lips to try and ask him what he meant, but he dived his head toward her, trying to kiss her.
“No!” she yelped the word and angled her head away, doing her best to avoid the kiss. She attempted to back away from him and pull her wrists free, but he followed her, still having his clutches firmly on her. “Adam, stop this, please. This isn’t you.”
“How do you know what is really me?” he said loudly. As she backed away, he changed tact. He pushed her forward until her back collided with the wall of the summer house, pressing her body between his and the brickwork.
“No!” she cried again, but it did little use.
“I have done everything for you,” he said. “Yet you never really noticed, did you? I could lay my coat down on puddles for you to walk over, and you would still not see me.”
“Adam, you are practically like a brother to me. That is the truth,” she said, frantically trying to release her wrists. “You’re hurting me.” His fingers were digging so tightly into her skin that she could feel the bruises developing with the bones beneath aching in pain.
“I am not your brother. There is nothing wrong with cousins marrying, is there?” he said, bending down toward her again. She sank down the wall, hoping she could shrink away from him and disappear into thin air.
“Some people say there is!”
“I see no problem,” he said, yanking her up again. He released one of her hands. She pressed it to his chest, trying to push him away from her, but he wouldn’t budge. He used his free hand and placed it firmly over her neck though he did not inhibit her breathing.
“Adam!” she shouted his name in fear, but it did nothing. He used the grasp on her neck to keep her head in place and bent down to her, kissing her while she pulled at him, trying her best to be free. He tasted of tobacco and port, even at this time early in the day. She bit down on his lip, desperate to be free.
He yanked his head back, his black eyes turning impossibly darker.
“Let me go,” she pleaded with him. He merely shook his head, incredibly slowly in response.
* * *
Asher stopped the horse and jumped down off the saddle, throwing the reins into the hands of a stable boy that had come out at the sounds of hooves on the gravel.
He took the steps leading up to Lord Larson’s front door, taking them two at a time, and banged on the wood as hard as he could. That morning, he had gone to see Penny at Lady Chambers’ house, only to discover that Penny had left to seehim,supposedly because of a letter he had sent her.
Fake letters seem to be a habit around here.When there was no answer on the door, he struck loudly again. Eventually, it was answered with the butler only opening it a crack.
“You are not welcome here, Your Grace.”
“I demand to be let in,” Asher said with vigor. “I am here to see Lady Penelope, and nothing you can say will persuade me to believe that she will not want to see me.”
“Go, now,” a woman’s voice cried. Asher looked up, searching the windows to try to discover where it was coming from. He jumped back down off the steps and looked to an upper window where he found Lady Margaret calling out of the open space. “Leave, Your Grace, or I will call the constables.”
“On what grounds?” Asher asked, holding out his hands wide. “I am here to see your cousin.”
“Your harlot did not give you enough in her five nights, did she?” Lady Margaret said with derision.
“Never speak of her in that way.” Asher snapped the words. “I owe you a huge apology for the way I behaved toward you, Lady Margaret, but I will not hear a word said against Penny. She has a good heart, and, based on what I heard from my friend last night, you could learn one or two things from her.”
“How dare you!?” Margaret cried, slamming one hand down on the window frame.
“I was told you were the one who spread rumors about us. Is it true?” Asher asked. At this moment, he hardly cared who was responsible. All he wanted was to find Penny and discover why someone had falsely written a letter in his name.
“It is what was deserved,” Margaret said. “Now go. Or we will fetch the constables and have you arrested.”
Asher had no choice. “I will leave, Lady Margaret, but when you find Penny, tell her I am at my house, waiting for her. I have reason to believe someone wrote asking for a meeting with her in my name.”
Lady Margaret frowned instantly at the words, looking as confused as he felt. He turned with no more words and took the horse from the stable boy again, riding down the drive and heading for home.
* * *
“Adam, no!” Penelope was getting nowhere. Adam had forced her down to the cold floor of the summer house with one of his forearms braced across her shoulders, pinning her down, and the other hand was reaching for her sodden gown.
“You wouldn’t do this to me. Surely not!” No matter how many times she screamed, it did little use, and she knew if she cried for help, it would get her nowhere, for they were too far away from the house to be heard. “You are too kind to do this, Adam. This is not you. You are like a man possessed!”
