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“Let’s go.” He helped her into the small curricle.

“Wait. Where is the driver?” Diana asked as she lowered herself onto the bench.

Instead of answering, James climbed in beside her and grabbed the reins. Like he had been doing since they met. He turned to her and smiled at her. A taunting smile at her surprise. Then, he clicked his tongue, and the horses took off.

The night stretched out before them, the road dark and open, and James stole her away into the night.

CHAPTER 15

Sweet Pastries

James was trying not to drive like a madman through the town. His grip on the reins was unrelenting. If he didn’t keep his hand in check, he would do something too reckless even for him. He didn’t know what he expected from the night. This was the first time in his dishonest life that he had asked a lady to sneak out with him.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t this.

Not her draped in black temptation, in that scandalously torn dress that revealed the flesh he wanted to devour so badly. She had no idea, no idea what she was doing to him, sitting right next to him, her perfume tickling his nose, her thighs brushing against his with every little bump on the road. And that kiss…

Diana didn’t know how lucky she was that he had more self-restraint than he himself knew. He almost took her right there, against the curricle. He wanted to.

God, how he wanted to!

But he had even more delicious things in mind than a quick, heated tumble out in the open. And he was a man who knew how to enjoy the good things in life. And right now,shewas the best thing.

“Are you usually this quiet when you steal a woman into the night?” Diana asked, breaking the silence.

“But I didn’t steal you, My Lady. You came to me. Willingly.”

Diana blushed, and he smirked. He might have made the proposal, but she was an accomplice. She accepted it.

“Details. Anyway, where are we headed?”

“I have a small manor in the city. It’s not empty, but it’s quiet. We will be alone there,” James said with a dark promise.

James expected her to blush or jump up at the innuendo. But it seemed that this night, he was the one being taught control. Diana smiled. A knowing smile. He urged the horses to go even faster.

The small estate was up ahead. Ashbrook House has been in his mother’s family for generations, and now it was his. It was a cute, little house that had nothing of the grandeur of the Pembroke estate or his residence here in London. It was, above all, charming.

He had ordered some of his servants to prepare everything for the night and then leave. Only the steward stayed in the house that was rarely used, but tonight he, too, was given leave to spend the night elsewhere.

James wanted Diana all to himself, away from prying eyes.

He stopped the curricle and went to help her down. She took his hand graciously as she pulled down her hood, admiring the place. James felt a little pang in his heart when he saw her admire something that felt a little too intimate to him.

“This is so beautifully charming,” she remarked.

“I am glad you like it.”

Diana looked up at him. Perhaps their previous encounters had given the illusion of something rushed, something to be stolen on dimly lit balconies, against the trees of St. James Park, inside dubious gazebos. But this time was different. James had every intention of wringing every last drop of pleasure from her body that night.

He guided her inside the house. The entrance hall was warm, inviting, with polished wood and a staircase leading to the upper floors. The air smelled faintly of cedar and the lingering scent of something sweet.

“Come,” James said after he took her cloak.

“You say we are alone?”

“Yes, My Lady. There isn’t much stuff here anyway.”

Diana followed him.