Page 50 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
She backed up until the trunk halted her progress, clearly surprised by his anger.
She frowned at him. ‘What does it matter to you?’
What indeed? It shouldn’t matter atall, but for some reason it did. ‘You asked me for advice. Now I am giving it.’
‘Then what are you suggesting?’
‘It all depends on whether or not you were recognised.’ He removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. ‘Why the devil would anyone think going to a gentleman’s club would not be a problem?’
Defiance filled her gaze. A dare. A challenge. ‘In Paris a lady is welcome everywhere.’
He stepped closer, forcing her to raise her gaze to his face, reminding her that for all that she was tall, he was taller. Larger.
Her soft lips parted on a breath. Her eyelids dropped a fraction. Her chest rose and fell with short sharp breaths.
His heart pounded in his chest. His blood, a moment before warm with anger, now ran like fire through his veins. Desire.
Only by ironclad will did he restrain from unbearable temptation.
‘I—’
She raised her palm, face out as if holding him at bay.
He took a breath.
Her hand pressed against his chest, then slid upwards, around his nape, and she went up on tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his.
Luscious, soft lips moving slowly.
He pulled her close, responding to her touch in a blinding instant, ravishing her mouth, stroking her back, pulling her close and hard against his body.
For a moment his mind was blank, but his body was alive as it had never been before. Out of control.
He pulled back.
Gasping, they stared at each other.
Her fingertips touch her full soft lips. ‘Oh,’ she whispered. ‘My word.’
Ashamed, that he had let his desire control him, he glanced down at his hat lying on the grass at his feet. He must have dropped it.
Barbara’s heart pounded so hard she could scarcely breathe. She wanted to twirl, to laugh, to skip. All she could actually manage, given the trembling in her legs, was to brace herself against the rough bark of the tree trunk behind her.
She had never felt quite so giddy.
The Duke, on the other hand, looked positively appalled.
Shocked from his head to his toes.
But he had kissed her back. Most definitely he had, and with unmistakable ardour.
He bent and picked up his hat.
When he straightened, he stared at it as if he had never seen it before, turning it by the brim. Finally, he looked at her with a shamefaced expression. ‘I beg your pardon.’
Not what she had expected.
She wasn’t sure what she had expected him to say, but it was not that. After all, she had kissed him.
