Page 38 of Tempting the Marquess

“Well, I was relatively close. So many times I have gone over that day in my mind, wishing I had accepted the invitation to Nexham’s. I might have been able to help Gregory. Or stopped Uncle Andrew from getting on that horse with the bloody doctored saddle. Instead, I had to help pick up the pieces of two shattered souls left behind. It might not seem like it to others because Southby is, well, you know how he is, but he cares about his brother very much. To lose Robert would…I will not permitthat.”

Samantha stared at him, wide-eyed. Truth be told, he was off-balance himself. He’d never shared his thoughts on the terrible aftermath of those two murders with anyone except Stephen. It brought to the surface paralyzing memories of another time, the hideous, cruel day he’d been orphaned. And he couldn’t think about that and remainsane.

“I understand,” she said, swaying forward until her forehead came to rest on his chest. “But I still think you are too loyal and dutiful for your own good, William.”

He wrapped one arm around her waist, while his other hand cupped the back of her head. Samantha might call him dutiful, but that was about the last thing on his mind right now. A dutiful man would be marching this twenty-year-old virgin to an unmarked carriage while giving her a blistering lecture about propriety. Not inhaling the scent of her floral soap and holding her so close that her lush curves pressed againsthim.

“So you say,” he answered, reluctantly stepping back and taking her hands in his instead. “However, I think we’d better get you home before I forget I’m saintliness incarnate.”

“What if you did forget?” she whispered, her cheekspink.

“Excuseme?”

“Would it really be so bad…if you sinned?”

William froze. Or at least most of his body did. His cock jerked, hardening and straining against his trousers at the thought of sin. Hot, naked, pleasurable hours of sin. “Yes.”

“I disagree.”

Hell. Her cloak had parted, and all she wore underneath was a chemise. Knee-length, but damned near-transparent, and in the well-lit foyer he could easily make out the outline of large pink nipples ready to be teased. Sucked hard until she moaned. And further down, the curve of her belly and the shadow of soft hair guarding the succulent folds of her quim. Even now, her clitoris could be swelling. Her thighs pressing restlessly together as her body grew wet to receive his cock so very, very deep insideher…

No. No! What the hell is wrong withyou?

She was a virgin. Alady.

Near the center of a treason investigation.

“Samantha,” he said hoarsely. “You need to leave. Now.”

* * *

His mouth said one thing,but his body said something else entirely.

Samantha stood her ground, her keen gaze traveling from head to foot and back again. William’s blue eyes were glittering. His grip on her hands was firm, and his thumbs were rubbing over her knuckles so sporadically, he probably didn’t even know he was doing it. But most telling of all…the huge bulge pressing against the front flap of his trousers.

He wanted her. She wanted him. Tomorrow he would be sailing away, potentially into great danger. Why couldn’t they have tonight?

“I don’t think you want me to go, William,” she said softly. “I don’t think you want that at all. I think you want me to stay and keep you company, so you won’t be alone with thoughts dark enough to drive youmad.”

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” he bit out. “What matters is propriety. Duty.”

Samantha shook her head. “I care about you. But if you aren’t attracted to me, if you haven’t thought about us kissing again, touching each other everywhere…tell me truthfully and I’ll leave atonce.”

He shuddered, and the bulge between his legs grew even more prominent. “I haven’t…haven’t thought aboutit.”

“Liar,” she whispered, and loosening one hand from his grip, she delved into the gap below the collar button of his shirt and splayed her fingers across warm, hard flesh. His skin was smooth, but crisp hair lightly scratched her fingertips, and she wanted to tear the fabric away and explore him fully.

“Goddamn it, Samantha. Don’t do this tome.”

“Do what, mylord?”

“Make me want you so badly, when I can’t haveyou.”

Samantha leaned close to him, and pressed her lips to the bare flesh her fingers had found. “But you can have me. Tonight. Well, we can have each other, because I want to kiss and touch you so much. I’ve thought about it over and over since that taste at the Hartley’s.”

“No,” said William, rigid as a statue even as his heart pounded near her ear. “You’re a virgin. And I won’t make promises I don’t know if I can keep. My work…I won’t put you at risk. Not for the world.”

She stilled, her cheeks heating. This was it, the moment of confession for a foolish act from her past that she couldn’t change. It was a thoroughly humiliating subject to discuss, but if she didn’t, he would send her away for sure. “I’m not. A virgin, I mean. A few years ago…I was with a gentleman in Yorkshire, just once. He was the son of a viscount, so persuasive, so full of flattery…promised it would be marvelous and just the start of our future. Actually, it was swift, on a chaise, and, um, hurt a lot. Much ado about nothing, as they say. Two weeks later he married another lady, and I refused all invitations after that…until you kissed me at the Hartley’s.”