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“My God, you are a natural,” he breathed. “Those eyes of yours could drive a man to lust.”
Without warning, he pulled her close to him, and his lips descended over hers in a stormy kiss. Her eyes flew wide open in surprise before they fluttered closed as his lips slid masterfully over hers.
Emily had never been kissed before, and the shock and pleasure of it coursed through her so powerfully that she clutched at his broad shoulders as she allowed herself to be taken away by the tide of his passion.
Her surrender only served to spur the Duke onward as one hand cradled the back of her head, anchoring her to his skillful seduction, and his other hand wandered down to her waist then to her back, pressing her against his male hardness.
“Emily,” he groaned as they finally came apart for air, his handsome face a picture of lust and torment. “We…we should not have done that.”
Realizing that she was draped indecently over him like a hussy, Emily shrank back. When she looked at him, his eyes were still cloaked with the vestiges of passion, and she sucked in a deep breath.
“What…what have we done?” she murmured shakily.
“It was my fault,” he assured her in clipped tones. “We simply got carried away.”
Carried away.It seemed like such an abrupt explanation for that storm of passion that practically turned the blood in her veins to liquid flame.
“It would be best if I left now,” he said softly, his hand reaching out to caress her cheek. “Or I fear that I might do something else entirely.”
“Like what?” she asked him.
His dark eyes were somber as they gazed back at her. “Something that we both will most likely regret.”
He took a step back from her, and she could see how his hands had been shaking as he released her. If anyone had walked in on them, if Jenny had returned or any of the other servants had stepped in, her reputation would have been torn to shreds with no hope of redemption.
Except maybe if the Dukemarriedher.
But what man on earth would want to be coerced into a marriage he had no desire for? He already admitted as much—their kiss was nothing more than a mistake.
Emily straightened up her spine and gathered what little dignity she had left. “I shall show you to the door, Your Grace.”
His smile was pained as he shook his head. “I think…it would be best if I did that for myself.”
She nodded wordlessly and closed her eyes, listening to his footsteps fade away. After she heard the front door open and close and Jamison politely bid the Duke farewell, she grabbed her skirts and dashed up to her rooms, hoping nobody saw her on the way.
As soon as she was inside her rooms, her private sanctuary, she closed the door behind her, locked it, and sagged against the heavy wood, her body falling limply as she stared out of the window.
With trembling hands, she reached out to touch her lips, still slightly swollen from the ferocity of her first kiss.
If her father ever found out about this, he would no doubt demand that the Duke answer for dishonoring her. If her stepmother heard of it, her reputation could be considered as good as ruined.
If her brother were to find out…
Good Lord, he would not hesitate to call the Duke out!Emily realized in horror.Thank heavens nobody had seen that. His Grace was right—it was nothing but a mistake, we were both simply carried away…
She put a hand over her frantically beating heart, willing herself to calm down.
However, she was unaware thatsomeonedid witness the entire scene.
* * *
Daniel left the Montgomery townhouse as if the very hounds of hell were on his heels. When he arrived in his own residence in Upper Brooke Street, he hardly said a word to the butler who greeted him before storming up into his rooms and pouring himself a glass of brandy.
He considered himself to be a man firmly in control of his baser instincts. He had no desire to be like his departed sire, who chased after every woman he lusted after with little thought to the consequences of his actions.
He had seen how his father wounded his mother so deeply, and thus, from an early age, he harbored no romantic notions of any sort. He had no intention to court an impressionable young lady the likes of Lady Emily Montgomery.
No, His Grace, the Duke of Gilleton, had long since decided that should he wed, the marriage would not be for love but forconveniencewith both parties fully aware of the transactional nature of their union.
