All his playfulness was gone, the mood broken. Her pleasure in the evening destroyed by a moment of panic. She had never felt such sensations take a hold of her before. It was absurd to have panicked so, he would think she had never been kissed, and that wasn’t true. But no other kiss had stirred such a reaction in her, and all from the merest brush of his lips.
And then to run into the Earl of Lannister like that. Had he recognized her? His words implied that he had. He certainly knew she was with the duke. Would he spread the tale as the duke feared?
Am I ruined, all for an innocent kiss?
*
Robert’s sleep thatnight was disturbed by a dream. He was dancing with a woman in a mask in the moonlight, among the trees. He was kissing her, and the tingling desire was intoxicating. Suddenly, she was beneath him on an altar in themiddle of a clearing, and he labored to bring them both to crisis. The desire curled through his body, persistent and strong, yet the peak was out of reach. The trees moved closer and closer the more urgent his growing desire became until it was a race to reach the finish before the trees devoured them...
He woke with a jerk and gasp, his cock hard and throbbing on his belly.Sarah...
God, my physical needs are becoming demanding.
He touched his rigid cock with a tentative hand. This wasn’t going away on its own. He tried to think of Madeleine, his former mistress, but his mind kept slipping away to Sarah. It was undoubtedly her he’d been making love to in that clearing. Actually, he’d been rubbing himself on her in the most lewd fashion imaginable, he was shocked by his own dark need. Yet it wouldn’t let go. As he stroked himself, he tried to block out images of Sarah and failed miserably.
With a groan he stroked harder, the wild action of his dream taking over his imagination and he came hard, hot seed spurting across his belly and the tingling pleasure of release pervading his whole body with an intensity that made him groan repeatedly. Catching his breath as his heart rate dropped to a slow heavy beat and his body relaxed into a blissful lethargy, he blinked in shock.
That was so intense!Even now his body was still tingling with the aftermath.Three months without a woman were starting to take their toll.
One thing he was sure of, after tonight he couldn’t deny that he wanted Miss Sarah Watson, and in a base, physical way that shocked him. She was an innocent, virtuous woman. She had run from him tonight because he’d frightened her with a simple kiss.What am I going to do with this passionate desire? If I let that loose on her, I’ll terrify her.
He moved his feet restlessly and a disgruntledmrrptold him he had disturbed Emerald. The cat had quickly decided his bed was her favorite place to sleep, and no attempts to remove or keep her out had succeeded. Not that he tried all that hard. Her presence was a comfort, and he now allowed her free run of his bedroom, day or night, as she saw fit. In fact, she had full run of the house from basement to attics and had become a fast favorite with many of the staff. Including Le Bow, their very superior French Chef, who saved the best tidbits for her from his cooking and spoiled her rotten.
He rolled over and closed his eyes, letting sleep take him, insensibly comforted by the purring of a stray cat with a torn ear and the greenest of green eyes.
Chapter Seven
The next dayRobert waited for the rumors to circulate, so convinced was he that Lannister would not be able to keep his mouth shut. The question was, had Lannister recognized Miss Watson as he had himself? If not, the story was probably not worth much. Catching the duke in a mask with an unknown damsel at Vauxhall might cause a minor ripple, it was after all out of character, but if the identity of the damsel became known... Therein lay the main issue, for it would ruin Sarah’s reputation instantly.
However, two days later there was not so much as a murmur as far as he could tell, and he had Ravenshaw, Ashford, and Caro all keeping an ear out. Nothing. And nothing in the gossip columns of the papers, either. No veiled hints of the activities of a certain duke with a Miss W or anything of that nature. So, he must conclude that Lannister was choosing to remain mum. But why? What could he stand to gain by not spreading such a provocative rumor? The man lived for the salacious tales and delicious gossip that greased the wheels of his precarious career. It made no sense. Robert could only conclude that he hadn’t recognized Sarah and saw no point in antagonizing the duke over a minor indiscretion.
Lannister’s peculiar behavior notwithstanding, the results of the night at Vauxhall were mixed at best. He had achieved his aim of testing the physical attraction he felt for Miss Watsonand established that he did indeed find her alluring, damn near irresistible in fact. But her flight from him argued that she didn’t feel the same. If she hadn’t run into Lannister, he might have been able to salvage something from the evening, but as it was, the encounter had ruined all the ground he thought he had gained with her, and he was back at the starting line again.Never had a knight struggled so much to win the hand of a fair lady,he thought gloomily.
Buttonholing Ashford at the club over a late breakfast, he gave him a summary of the situation and said, “What do I do now?”
“What makes you think I can advise you?” Ashford cocked an eyebrow at him as he cut into his eggs.
“You’re married—how did you persuade Caro to marry you?”
“We were in love; she didn’t need persuading.”
“So how did you make her fall in love with you?”
“I didn’tmakeher do anything. She just did.”
The duke sighed with frustration and sipped his ale.
“It ever occur to you, old chap, that you might be coming at this all wrong?” asked the viscount.
“Well, I’m certainly doing something wrong, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Tried talking to her?”
“What do you mean? Of course I’ve talked to her.” Confused, Robert stopped with the forkful of ham halfway to his mouth.
“No, I mean really talked to her—about the things that matter. Your dreams and aspirations. Have you tried to find out what she wants? What she is interested in?”
“Oh.” Robert frowned, chewing that over with the ham.
