Page 86 of The Confessions of a Lady

‘I always believed I was nothing more than a poor maid born in St Giles and raised in the Steel. That my place was below-stairs. But you helped me to understand, no one is destined to be anywhere in particular. Not really. Not even the Queen on her throne.’

Liam’s hand paused on the underside of her knee. ‘Is that sedition? Because if you go back to the Steel, I’m going to have tocome with you. And I much prefer to stay here.’ He smiled and leaned forward, licking the sensitive spot where her ear met her neck.

Penny moaned even as she pushed him back. ‘Perhaps. But it is true. And you told me to always be honest, Liam.’

‘If no one belongs anywhere, then why are we here?’ He loved sparring with her. Even if it interrupted his seductions. Or sometimes enhanced them. His intrepid fingers skated along the sweet inner side of one thigh.

‘Because of our choices. Because we won’t let the fates, or stars, or the bloody beau monde determine who we love. How we love. Or where we love.’

Liam nuzzled her neck, inhaling vanilla, cloves, and soap. ‘Speaking of where we love, I would very much like to love you on my settee, in the study, right now.’

Penny giggled. ‘Impossible man.’ She sank into his kiss as Liam sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, scraping his teeth against the skin, biting hard enough to provoke Penny to tug sharply on his hair. His beast purred in pleasure.

He pulled away from the kiss with a question of his own. ‘Do you think some loves are meant to be?’

‘Ours is meant to be,’ Penny said without hesitation. ‘We altered our destinies so our paths could align.’

He pressed his forehead against hers, his hand questing higher up her thigh. ‘We did. The lady and her lord.’

She gasped as his fingers slid into her. ‘The maid and her marquess.’

‘Us,’ Liam whispered against her lips.

‘Us,’ Penny whispered back.