Page 63 of Anything But a Duke
The rightness of it wasn’t something she was prepared to examine, but she very much wanted to help solve his mystery.
“There is something you can do for me.” He stroked a hand down her back, almost absently, as he spoke. “Will you call me Aidan? At least when we’re alone.”
“I—”
He lifted a finger and let it hover over the edge of her mouth.
“You’ll say it’s inappropriate. But when have we ever bothered with that?”
Then he touched her. One tender stroke along the edge of her cheek, a hairsbreadth from her lips.
He’d touched her that way once before. She remembered every second. The rain, the warmth radiating off his body, the taste of his lips.
His eyes traced the movement of his finger, his gaze focused and intense.
Diana lifted onto her toes and pressed her mouth to his. Purposefully. Slowly. This wasn’t the impulsiveness of an unexpected encounter in the rain. She wanted this.
Aidan couldn’t think. His brain refused to form a single rational thought. All of his strategies failed him.
What was worse, he could feel the walls he’d constructed beginning to crumble.
There was only what he wanted. What he needed. This moment. Diana, soft and warm and in his arms. She’d stepped there of her own will. In her fearsome determination, she’d chosen him, and he wanted to give her everything in return.
But some part of him resisted. Some instinct urged him to plot and plan how this should go, to hold on to some shred of control.
Yet one blink of sable lashes, one look into her eyes, and she unraveled every bit of him.
He cupped her face in his hands, marveled at her softness, and told himself not to frighten her. Not to ruin this moment as he had others.
Dipping his head, he kissed her softly. But it wasn’t enough. He deepened the kiss, urging her to let him in. Then she did, moaning into his mouth as he kissed her.
He deepened the kiss. She set something loose inside him. Made him believe in possibilities that terrified him. She made him want to risk everything, anything, if he could keep on holding her. Kissing her.
“Aidan,” she whispered.
The sound of his name on her lips shot a rush of pleasure straight down his body.
“Diana.” She was what he needed. To all that he kept locked inside, somehow she possessed the key.
There was much he wished to tell her. Things he needed to make her understand.
Before he could gather a coherent thought, two distinct raps sounded on his study door and she dropped her arms from around his waist.
“It’s all right,” he promised, and held her a moment longer.
When he released her, the loss hit him like a blow.
He let out a long exhale, struggling to rein in his urges and gather his thoughts before stepping over to open the door.
“Repton,” he said jovially to the stout man across the threshold. “Right on time.”
“Anything other than timeliness is inexcusable,” the older man said with a hearty chuckle. He had a round belly, a bald pate, and a laugh that made his jowls wobble.
“Miss Diana Ashby,” Aidan said as he gestured toward her.
Of course, one glance at her and he didn’t wish to stop looking. Her cheeks were pink, her mouth flush from their kisses. There was a fire in her gaze that set off an answering inferno inside him.
“I’ve heard a great deal about you from Mr. Iverson.” Repton strode forward and offered her his hand.
