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Pippa was silent for a long time, and William did not rush to fill the space.
“I gather you have never fallen in love with a lady,” she murmured.
William glanced at the back of her head, noting how still she held herself. “No. Have you?”
“I do not believe I’ve been in love. However, I am certain I have experienced the beginning of it, William.”
She attempted to twist around to face him, and William prevented her with a firm grip on her hips. She stilled at his touch, and his fingers tightened on her body.
“Do not turn around,” he hissed, aware of how harshly foreboding he sounded. But it would be damn well better if he did not see her lovely face or the heated invitation that glowed in her eyes whenever she peered at him. His restraint around her was already tenuous, her closeness far too bloody intoxicating.
“Why not, my lord?”
The little minx’s voice was a purr of laughter…and satisfaction. Somehow she had sensed his want, and it damn well pleased her. William smiled at that, almost chuckling aloud.
“I know you want to kiss me,” she said with a sigh. “I can feel the tension in your body. We ladies at Berkeley Square discuss gentlemen enough for me to be sure my wonderful presence is tormenting you.”
This time, there was no mistaking the petty pleasure in her words. William gave up and vented a laugh. “Do you feel vindicated?”
“Of course I do! Though it is very curious that a gentleman who is reputed to be a wicked rogue is being anything but a rogue.”
“I am only not a rogue with you.”
“How dreadfully boring,” she drawled mockingly.
Her tone pricked at his vanity and that part of him that wished to slip her beneath him and sink his cock into what he knew would be sublime tightness. He wanted to make her cry from the sweet agony of releasing over and over again. William gritted his teeth until they damn well ached. “You are reckless, Pippa,” he growled.
The slippery chit twisted in the cage of his arms to face him. Her eyes were gleaming with delight and temptation. “Why is behavior that is acceptable for you reckless for me?” She reached out and lightly touched his chin before lowering her hand. “What men have done…”
“Hmm, ladies can most certainly do?”
“Perhaps I am a bit of aroguess.”
Her teeth flashed with her silent laughter.
“You like teasing me.”
“I admit it is a naughty pleasure. There are times you are entirely too serious. Old age, I suppose.”
“Go to sleep,” he said with an irritable grunt.
“As if I can do so because you command it. I am not the obedient sort, you know.”
He bloody well knew it. William craved her with a remarkable yet disquieting urgency but ruthlessly tempered himself. He leaned forward, and her breath hitched, but what he did was press a kiss on her forehead. William could not say why he did it, but they both stilled at that chaste contact. Her lashes fluttered closed, and a rosy blush crested over her face. When she opened her eyes, he could not decipher the tender look inside them. But something within him responded, and he swore she could feel and hear his increasing heartbeat.
She turned back to her side and snuggled down to sleep. A peculiar emotion clutched his chest as he listened to her soft prayer, hoping that the duchess or her friends did not worry about her absence. He choked on the bit that said she hoped she did not annoy him with her presence but that he would be wretched with temptation.
Silent laughter shook his shoulders, but he was careful to not make a sound lest he interrupted her prayers. This time when her breathing evened out, he knew Lady Pippa slept soundly, clearly tired from the agitation of the day. William closed his eyes and tried to sleep. As he edged closer to the dark call of slumber, he was jolted awake by Pippa’s leg with her hurt ankle being slung over his hip, and then somehow she lodged one of her elbows right below his throat.
Not wanting to jostle her foot and suspecting she placed it on him because it pained her, he left that appendage alone. William carefully removed her elbow and inched away from her. Finally, he fell asleep to come awake with half of her top body on his face. A sound of disbelief wrenched from him, and he found himself glaring at her swaddled chest. What was even more unbelievable was that she slept soundly still.
Bloody hell. It was going to be a long night indeed.
CHAPTERTEN
The following morning, Pippa woke in the small but well-padded bed alone. A quick peek through the single window showed that the sky remained quite ominously blackened. The trees swayed under the winds, but the rain had lessened to a mild drizzle. There was no sight of the marquess in the bed, and she blushed, recalling waking atop the man earlier that morning. She had met his gimlet stare and had hurriedly scooted over, her knee somehow knocking into his man’s part.
Pippa winced, recalling the grunt of pain from the marquess before he vaulted from the bed and marched from the room. A mortified giggle escaped her, and she gingerly pushed from the bed, careful of her ankle.
