Page 13 of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal
‘Bartholomew, please.’ Lord Whittenburg followed his friend into the hall, leaving Millie alone with Drake.
This was her chance. Before her father returned and took her control away… again. Major General Drake obviously did not wish to marry her. She just needed to make it clear she held no such expectations of him.
Standing, she threw back her shoulders and walked around the couch to face him.
I will not show fear in the face of a tall, muscular, dashing, very angry man. Philippa has trained me better than that.
‘My lord, please understand, I have no intentions of trapping you in marriage. I release you from any expectations.’ There. Clear, concise, assertive. All he needed to do was thank her and be on his way.
Major General Drake’s eyebrow rose like a bird of prey taking flight.
What a wonderful trick. Quite intimidating. I wonder if he’d teach me how to do that.
‘You release me?’
Millie nodded, taking a step back as he strode closer. ‘Yes. I was trying to explain myself earlier. I don’t want to marry you.’ She just needed to be ruined. So she could be free.
Major General Drake’s lips pressed together in a tight line. ‘Really? You didn’t seem so repulsed by me on the veranda.’
Her brow drew down. ‘Repulsed?’ He misunderstood. ‘This has nothing to do with attraction or repulsion.’ She was freeing him of his duty to marry her. It was so simple, but he seemed determined to complicate matters. ‘I know you don’t want to marry me, Major General Drake. And luckily, there’s no need.’ She kept her voice cheerful. ‘After all, it was just a kiss.’
He took another step, his wide chest encompassing her entire frame of vision. ‘Just a kiss?’
‘Yes.’ The air must have thickened because it was almost impossible to breathe. ‘A kiss isn’t worth sacrificing your life over, is it?’
Even a wonderous kiss that still sparked through her veins like firecrackers.
Major General Drake drew closer, forcing Millie against the back of the couch. She gripped the leather sofa to steady herself. His heat washed over her like a gloriously tropical wave.
‘I think that depends entirely on the kiss.’ The muscle in his jaw jumped as he inhaled her.
Cheese and crust!
She had to tilt her head back to meet his icy-blue gaze. Millie forced herself to focus on the scar cutting through his eyebrow, nearly catching the lid of his left eye. ‘Exactly. Err, I mean, that isn’t what I was trying… You’re muddling my words. I’m trying to tell you, you’re free to leave, Major General. Before Father comes back. I shall tell him you refused to marry a… whatdid Viscount Tread say? A h-harlot, I believe.’ She hated her wobbling voice. Her cheeks were flaming. To be called such a thing by an old, smelly man was embarrassing, but to own the title herself in front of Major General Drake was even worse.
Sacrificing a bit of dignity is worth the price of freedom.
She couldn’t maintain eye contact, so instead, she examined his neatly tied cravat. Severe. Controlled. Efficient. Much like the man himself.
He leaned forward, putting both hands on either side of Millicent’s hips, trapping her. His chest almost brushed against hers as cloves, leather, and smoke embraced her like a lover.
‘One kiss doesn’t make you a whore, Millicent. And neither of us are free. Not any more. You made a bargain with the Devil tonight, damning us both.’
Bollocking bloody shit shovelling fuck.
They were all the bad words Millie knew, though she wasn’t sure she’d used them correctly. Still, she wanted to scream every one of them at his stupid, smug, devastatingly attractive face. His mouth was only a breath away from hers. She licked her lips, suddenly unable to look away.
‘B-but why?’ She couldn’t fathom his reasoning. He hated women, her in particular. Why wasn’t he running for the door?
He opened his mouth to answer, but Millie’s father returned.
‘I say, what’s all this?’ Henry Whittenburg’s gaze skipped over Major General Drake to land like an anvil on Millie.
Drake straightened, taking a measured step away from her. He faced her father. ‘Lord Whittenburg, I would like to marry your daughter. I think a quick engagement would be best, don’t you?’
4
He had done the inconceivable. Offered marriage. To Millicent. And her father had agreed. Major General Drake planned to get a special licence the very next morning.
