Page 24 of A Scandalous Proposition
He smiled at her. ‘Do I look like a man whose spirit is broken?’
‘Well, no, but gentlemen do not customarily wear their hearts on their sleeves. It simply isn’t done. Besides, your mama predicted that’s how it would be.’
‘Enough talking,’ he said gruffly.
Adam put his glass down, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. He circled her slender waist with his arms, his eyes focused on the dark shadow of areola visible above the line of her bodice. His hands slid smoothly across the silk and came to rest on the small globes of her derrière. His breath peppered her face as he pulled her against him and felt the already frantic rate of her heartbeat increase quite alarmingly. In spite of the fact that she made her living by this means, could it indicate that he’d penetrated her defences and she returned his desire to some small degree?
Determined to find out, he dropped his head and captured her lips in a deep incendiary kiss.
*
So this was it. Florentina was unable to control her trembling limbs. The moment she had been dreading, and anticipating, had finally arrived. His lordship’s lips were firm, his tongue warm as it forced its way into her mouth and began a slow, sensual journey of discovery. Now that it was actually happening, it didn’t seem so very bad. In fact, being held against his firm body was generating some exceedingly agreeable sensations deep within her core. She didn’t try to fight them, and with a soft sigh of capitulation relaxed into his embrace.
Only to freeze in his arms.
This was all wrong. She shouldn’t be a-party to such a deception. There had to be another way to persuade him to keep her secret. But by the time the thought had filtered through her addled brain, her arms had somehow twined themselves around his lordship’s neck. She was endeavouring to kiss him back like the seasoned courtesan he considered her to be when, with a smothered oath, he released her. She was horrified when a groan of disappointment escaped her lips. Quite without her knowledge, she’d pressed herself against his body. She’d been enjoying the extent of his arousal, feeling empowered because she knew she was responsible for it.
‘Is something amiss?’ she asked in a husky voice.
‘No, nothing.’
‘Then I don’t understand.’
‘Perhaps I’m different to your usual customers. I prefer not to rush my pleasures and the way things stand, so to speak,’ he said, waving a hand in the direction of his groin, ‘it will all be over in an instant unless I put distance between us. You’re a terrible tease, you know.’
‘That’s why I get so well remunerated.’
‘I dare say.’
He reseated himself and pulled her down beside him, draping an arm round her shoulders.
‘Do you have much to do in the card rooms at Chamberleigh?’ he asked.
Florentina knew that a number of gentlemen really did go there just to play cards. Since she herself had never set foot in those particular rooms, she was at a loss to know how to answer him.
‘Only occasionally.’
Lord Fitzroy regarded her with a slight frown. ‘Tell me, does old Witherington still favour backgammon?’
‘Oh yes, he often challenges me to a game but is too good a player for me.’
To her mortification, he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘You are, sweetheart.’
‘And what’s so diverting about me?’ she asked huffily.
‘Nothing whatsoever.’ He refilled their glasses, clinked his against hers and drank deeply, looking smugly satisfied.
‘In spite of what you say, I believe you are disappointed in the duchess, my lord, and can’t bring yourself to look favourably upon me as a consequence.’
‘Firstly, my name is Adam.’ He placed three long fingers beneath her chin and lifted it until she was compelled to look directly into his eyes. ‘And secondly, you couldn’t be more wrong.’ He was smiling again, his eyes containing a warmth she’d not seen in them before. And something else. If she hadn’t known better she would be tempted to think that was admiration. But she did know better. A great deal better. He had rejected her and was now laughing at her. Her humiliation was complete. ‘I’m delighted to be rid of Philippa. I swear it on my mother’s life.’
‘Oh, well then, in that case…Adam.’ If he swore it on his mother’s life then it must be true. Emboldened by her use of his name, she touched his face, much as he’d touched hers a short time ago. She was determined, for some obscure reason, to rekindle his interest in her. Her fingers snagged on the bristles on his chin.
‘I’m sorry. I ought to have shaved again this evening.’
