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“Has Montgomery said something, then? Shall I challenge him? Really, I am not afraid, you know.”
The quiver in his voice betrayed the truth, but she admired his bravery, nonetheless. Into the gardens she led him until, entering the deep shade of a rose arbor, she spun on her heel. “The only challenge you need face is the one standing before you now. Kiss me.”
His eyes widened and he stumbled back, lumbering into one of the arbor’s posts.
She advanced and pressed him against it, ignoring his hard flinch at the contact. He wriggled and squirmed, his hands flailing at his sides, as though he was unsure where to put them. When he clutched at the latticework behind him for support, his left thumb caught on the thorns of the climbing roses adorning it. Wincing, he snatched it away.
A fine line of scarlet beads formed on his flesh as they both stared at it.
Sabrina took his wrist and slowly pulled his hand up to her mouth, placing his thumb between her lips. She drew gently upon it, and his soft moan—half protest, half desire—told her she was successful in stirring him.
All she needed was to break his restraint and unleash his passion, as well as her own. If she could just feel something akin to what she’d felt last night, even the tiniest twinge of desire, she would know it was possible to want someone else, and Montgomery’s hold on her would be broken.
Releasing his thumb, she stretched up to meet his lips. This time, though he still jerked violently, he did not attempt to evade her. But though she employed every trick she’d learned from listening to her sisters—and, ironically, her limited experience with her enemy—she remained utterly unmoved. Infuriated by her own lack of response, she rubbed her breasts against his chest, hoping…
Chadwick’s muffled yelp of protest was like a bucket of cold water dashed in her face.
She broke away.
Breathless, he lay back against the sharp thorns, uncaring that his jacket was being shredded. The look in his eyes was much like that of a cornered rabbit facing a hungry fox.
Turning away, she sat on a little stone bench beneath the arbor’s shade, defeated.
The rustling of leaves followed by several soft curses told her that her victim had at last managed to extricate himself from his botanical prison. “I suppose you must think me a shameless wanton,” she said woodenly.
“No, no, I—I don’t.”
She looked up at him in disbelief. “Tell me, then, what are you thinking?”
“I suppose…” His throat bobbed as he swallowed compulsively. “I suppose I’m wondering why you kissed me,” he said lamely.
Hot tears slid down her equally heated cheeks.
He mistook her reaction, naturally. “I’m sorry if I bungled it. It’s just that, until now, no woman has ever shown the slightest interest in kissing me. If I’m not everything I should be, I’ll—I’ll learn,” he stammered, flushing an impossible shade of red. “I’m no fool, Sabrina. I know you’ve kissed Montgomery. And I know he’s kissed more women than I—many more, I’m certain. You’re my first, actually. I may be inexperienced, but I will make every attempt to please—”
“It’s not that.” Never had she felt so ashamed.
He knelt beside her. “Then, what is it?”
An inexplicable sadness filled her. It was so stupid, really. “If you really wanted me, you’d have tried to kiss me back.”
He blinked.
“You wouldn’t have tried to back away. You’d have taken me in your arms and—”
“You wanted me to ravish you?”
The look on his face was one of such comic astonishment that Sabrina, unable to help herself, giggled through her tears. “I only wanted to know if you felt any passion for me,” she said at last.
His eyes grew round with comprehension. “My darling, of course I do! How could I not? You’re so lovely, so incomparable—”
“Then show me,” she demanded, standing. Perhaps if he were more forceful this time, she might feel something.
Chadwick stood, but he made no move toward her.
“You see?” she laughed, swiping at her eyes. “You’ve been thinking you’re in love with me. But if you were, you’d do more than just stand there.”
His shoulders sagged. “Sabrina, I’m not a seducer of women. I’m not capable of—”
