Page 8 of The Dangerous Love of a Rogue
When she’d danced with him last season his glittering light brown eyes had melted her bones. She’d fallen irrevocably in love with him during that dance. But afterwards John had advised her that Lord Framlington was a beast. A fortune hunter, chasing dowries. Worse, he was a rake, a philanderer, a seducer, not to be trusted in the least.
It is folly talking to him.
‘Then let me rectify that.’ She moved to pass him.
His hand wrapped about her upper arm, stopping her and turning with her, so they stood side on, facing one another in the narrow gap between the dense greenery of the yew hedges.
‘Stop running and pretending you do not like me. I am not blind. Besides, run, and my predatory instincts say, chase.’ On the last word he leaned forward, pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers. His other hand came to her nape, urging her not to turn away. His lips brushed across hers.
Mary’s mind screamed,run, but her body had longed for this kiss. This was her first kiss.
Her hands lifted to his shoulders and she clung to him, opening her mouth at his urging, and when his tongue invaded her lips a rush of twisting need slid through her stomach reaching to the central point of femininity between her legs. This was what she’d imagined and longed for.
He moved closer. The thin neatly clipped branches of the yew trees pricked her back, as the intensity of his kiss increased, growing in determination, the connection intoxicating. His palm rested over her breast and squeezed it through the thin muslin of her gown.
A sweet sharp pain travelled from her nipple, catching her breath. It was delicious, but still it was pain and it was enough to rip her focus from his kiss to rational thought.
What am I doing? What am I letting him do?
She ended their kiss so abruptly, it caught him off guard. He stumbled back and gave her the chance to escape.
She fled, not daring to look back for fear he’d follow.
‘Miss Marlow!’ he called after her, a note of humour in his voice. ‘I know you feel the same for me as I feel for you! Stop running and come back to me!’ When she did not stop, or look back, he called again. ‘Well then, if not now, whenever you wish! Simply give me a sign and I shall find a way we can meet!’
She lifted the skirt of her dress and ran along the path, her breathing heavy and her lips burning.
Only when she reached the end of the path did she slow to a walk and let her dress fall.
The lawn was crowded with elite society.
Her fingers pressed against her breastbone. She must be blushing. She had let a man her father and brother had explicitly warned her against kiss her.
‘Mary, there you are.’ She turned as her brother’s voice cut the air. ‘We were coming to find you. Katherine was concerned.’
Mary looked at Kate, who held her brother’s arm. Her sister-in-law was kindness incarnate, but Kate was Mary’s chaperone today.
‘I walked down to the Jerseys’ shell grotto. I wished to see it and I did not like to interrupt your conversation.’
John’s eyebrows rose, saying,you should not have gone alone. She knew that now.
But the kiss had been more beautiful than she’d imagined. She had never thought it would cause her body to ache so warmly… and ache in unspeakable places.
Behind John, Lord Framlington walked out from the end of the path. The rogue smiled at her, then walked on across the lawn, implying, without a word, that something had happened between them.
Warmth rose under her skin. She must be as red as a strawberry.
‘What happened?’ John whispered, in a harsh, condemning tone.
Mary looked into chilling blue eyes. When he was angry his eyes were like ice.
She tipped up her chin, defending herself against her domineering half-brother. ‘I bumped into him. Literally. It was an accident.’
John’s eyebrows drew together as he frowned. ‘I doubt it was an accident. Do not speak to him, Mary, and certainly, never in private. If you are compromised, you will be tied to him. That is probably what he wishes. Have more care. No wandering pathways alone. You’re lucky he did not ravish you and wait for someone to happen along and see the two of you. His desire for money is more desperate than last year. He cannot curb his spending. There is not a prudent bone in his body. His debt is spiralling.’
Mary’s gaze fell to the twinkling diamond in John’s cravat pin. She did not argue. Lord Framlington had proved John right. Every word John spoke was true, but something within her still burned for Lord Framlington. He had lit a flame in her a year ago and it refused to be snuffed. Her heart had longed for Lord Framlington for nearly a year, and now it screamed… He had kissed her and fulfilled every expectation fostered in her dreams.
She shut her eyes for a second to escape a giddy sensation. Denying her inner clamour. When she opened her eyes, John was looking at her far too intently. ‘I know, it was a mistake,’ she told him. ‘I will not do it again.’
