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“It was one of the first balls I attended—at Willoughby Manor, I think,” she carried on, biting her bottom lip. “There had been a veritable crush, and I thought I could get out for a few minutes to breathe. I managed to wander off into the gardens when there was a sudden downpour.”

He had been to Willoughby Manor himself and could attest that the ballroom in that accursed place was a fire hazard. There were hardly any windows, and too much draperies and plush carpeting. All it would take was one spark catching on all that frivolous fabric. It did not help matters that Lady Willoughby insisted on packing that ballroom full to the brim with marriage-seeking debutantes year after year.

He could picture Lady Scarlett—young and wide-eyed, naive enough to think that she could wander out of a ballroom unchaperoned without meeting any mishap.

“I was crying when they finally found me—my brother and his best friend.” She laughed. “Fortunately, the rain masked my tears, and Alexander managed to whisk me off to a carriage before anybody else saw me in that right state.”

“Your brother’s best friend?”

She nodded glumly as she stared at the fire crackling merrily before them. “The Marquess of Colton did not seem so bad when I first met him.”

But he was. He had probably taken one look at her, drenched and shivering, and felt the same hunger Hudson was now fighting to keep at bay. He had to give the man credit for at least having the patience to wait for so long, but it was not bloody long enough.

He felt something poke his side, blunted as it was by the layer of blankets. He looked down and had to suck in a breath at the sight of those sparkling bright blue eyes.

Sparkling. He never imagined he would ever use such a word, and certainly not to describe the eyes of a woman.

She prodded him again. “Say something, Your Grace. Your voice might help me relax a little bit more.”

“You findmyvoice relaxing?” he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She wanted to relax, and she thoughthecould help her?

Hudson was coiled tight as a spring. Hecouldhelp her, but it required far more creative use of his lips and tongue, none of them appropriate. In fact, none of his thoughts of her were evenremotelyappropriate.

He wanted her laid on the floor, her body soft underneath his, while he showed her just why she should not be rushing out into the rain. But more importantly, he wanted totasteher. To see for himself if those lips of hers were as sweet as he imagined them. If she was as wet for him as he was hard with need for her.

And when she sidled closer to him, he was a hair’s breadth away from making good on those fantasies.

“You should not be doing that,” he growled at her in warning.

“But I am cold,” she complained, pouting like a petulant child.

Hudson bit back a tormented groan as she pressed even closer to him. She was right—he was a furnace, and if she pressed any closer or squirmed just a little bit more, she would be like kindling to a forest fire.

Very well. If she insisted on tormenting him, then two could play this little game of hers.

She let out a surprised yelp when he grabbed her by the waist and hauled her closer to him. There was a layer of blankets between them, but he was so close that he could feel the pounding of her heart. Could see how her eyes, blue as the heart of a flame, darkened unmistakably with desire before they narrowed on him.

“You should not be touching me so intimately when you have refused to even be myfakebetrothed, Your Grace,” she snapped at him.

Oh, she had no idea just howintimatethey could get. Or how close to it he wanted to be.

Hudson leaned closer, delighting in the hitch of her breath as his lips ghosted over the side of her cheek.

“Andyoushould not test my temper, little cat,” he murmured.

A slight shudder ran through her, and he smiled against her cheek.

“Well, you are not allowed such liberties with my person!” she huffed. “Not when you clearly do not want me.”

Was that a hint of peevishness in her tone?

“I was not aware you wanted me to want you,” he grunted.

She opened her mouth as if to say something and then shut it, her cheeks flaming with indignation. She squirmed in his grasp again—right where he was already hard for her.

“Keep still,” he ordered through gritted teeth.