Page 10 of Her Wicked Highwayman
“On one condition.”
“What condition?”
The wicked gleam in his eyes was her only warning as to what he would demand of her.
“Ye give me something ye’ve given no other man.”
CHAPTER 2
“Ye give me something ye’ve given to no other man.”
It took Diana a moment too long to fully comprehend his meaning. He wanted her to give herself to him... That was the only thing he could possibly mean. His gaze was still wicked, but there was an underlying warmth that had never been there with other men who had attempted to take liberties with her. She was both affronted and curious, because she was not repulsed by the thought of kissing this man, nor indeed doing anything else with him. He was intriguing, perhaps too much so, but she’d always loved a mystery. Her mother had warned her as a little girl that curiosity could be dangerous.
But wasn’t life supposed to be full of discoveries and explorations? Wasn’t curiosity meant to be satisfied? She licked her lips and challenged him.
“You would ask that of me?” She raised her chin and met him with a defiant stare.
“Aye, I would, lass. And I wager ye are brave enough to agree, are ye not?” he challenged with a sinful smile.
Diana was standing on a precipice. Her next step might send her spiraling into a world she wasn’t ready for. But not to move, not to take a step in one direction or another, was impossible.
This man before her took up the entire room with his presence, making the hunting lodge seem so very small, so very closed in. Yet she didn’t feel dwarfed by him. She felt... drawn in, if that were possible, like when a small flame touches tinder and reaches out, bleeding its heat into another tiny flame.
He was a stranger, yet something in her blood felt a... connection, like she was staring at herself, only in another life, another body, another gender.
Two sides to the same coin.It was a strange and eerie feeling to look into this man’s eyes and see herself reflected in their piercing stormy depths.
“I promise ye will feel great pleasure,” he said softly. “I am a stranger, but if ye trust me tonight ye willna have regrets.” He held the pearl necklace out to her, and she curled her fingers around it. Was this how Persephone felt when she sank her teeth into the juicy pomegranate seeds, knowing that she would forever belong to the lord of the underworld? For this highwayman was surely Hades himself, disguised in black breeches and a domino.
How could she evenconsiderdoing what he asked, let alone agree to it? A decent lady would rather die than give herself to a man like this. But she’d stopped feeling decent the moment her father had died and she’d had to do whatever she could to keep her home and her servants—her family—together. What was one more transgression against the rules of polite society, that same society that had failed to help her when she needed it most?
Her grip tightened on her mother’s pendant, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. She nodded. She would do just about anything to keep her mother’s necklace. She hada feeling that being with this man might not be a hardship, that she might actually enjoy it. The way he watched her made her feel that was certainly possible. She’d heard whispers that the best lovers were often the most wicked, and this man was certainly that.
“I will do it,” she agreed.
Tyburn lifted her hand to kiss her fingers. His lips were soft, warm, and the gesture was oddly tender rather than seductive. “Then let us retire to my chamber.”
He led her into one of the rooms within the lodge that held a cozy little bed just big enough for two to share, leaving no question as to what would be happening this night. There was a washstand in one corner and a little armchair that had seen better days, with its faded blue cushions that had been crudely stitched back together in places. Tyburn kept a hand upon her lower back, the heat of his palm surprisingly welcome. It made her feel connected to him, as though they were together in a way that went just beyond what they would share in bed. It was the sort of gesture a gentleman did with a lady he was in love with, a lady he had the right to touch in a possessively tender way.
Heavens, when had she become so sentimental as to crave something like that? Diana shook her head, but it didn’t dispel the highwayman’s effect on her. Even the way he moved about the room, with slow, sure strides, and how his clothing fit him so perfectly as to reveal his slender hips and broad shoulders had her rapt attention. The man held her in his thrall by simplybeing. A flush rushed to her cheeks as a sudden noise from the outer room had her turning to the open door. She’d forgotten about the other man. Would he want to have her as well? Would Tyburn share her? She shivered with a new fear.
“What about your companion?” she asked as he closed the door, sealing them inside the little room and silencing the noises from the outer chamber.
“Cambridge willna disturb us,” Tyburn promised. Strangely, she trusted him. She relaxed, but only a little.
She turned to face the bed. Hesitation made her put her mother’s necklace on the little side table. She straightened and breathed deep, steeling herself. But he hadn’t grabbed her and thrown her down on the bed to take what he wanted. She let out a breath of relief.
He lounged against the closed door, a reminder that they were not to be disturbed, but also that she had no escape. While lust glowed in the man’s eyes, she also saw something softer there. Deeper. A melancholy born of longing. Her lower belly stirred with rebellious butterflies as she stared at him. He seemed so relaxed, so confident, whereas she felt as though a single breeze would knock her down.
I shouldn’t be frightened. He hasn’t hurt me, and I do not believe he will.
But Diana had never liked not knowing what came next. She liked to plan and strategize, and this wildly hasty decision to sleep with a stranger was now overwhelming her. How many other young maidens had stood where she was, seeing this man’s place of solitude and knowing they would share his bed?
“Do you often bring women here?” She asked her question a little too loudly as she tried to cover her anxiety. She focused on the sharp line of his jaw and what little she could see of the shape of his nose, which wasn’t much. She wanted him to remove the mask, to see if the rest of his face was as beautiful as his eyes and mouth promised him to be.
“Never,” he said as he slid his black greatcoat off his body.
“Truly?” That stunned her. She imagined he would have a great many women ready to come to his hideout with him and taste the dark magic of this man’s seductive powers.
