Page 137 of Dukes for Dessert

“No. I mean…” She struggled with her skirts, shoving them back over her knees and sitting straight. “I have to go to Penelope. There is too much to do… Weller could be returning for them.”

He pushed himself away from the desk with a tortured groan. “Say the youngsters escape without a hitch and are on their cheerful way to America. Then would you consider my offer? If I don’t taste you, I’ll probably expire of thirst.”

“I’ll be going with them.”

Pursing his lips, he considered this. “I’ll meet you in Le Havre. There’s a lovely grand hotel—”

“I’m not going to have intercourse with you.” She wriggled away from him, doing her best to ignore the curious pulses and aftershocks of what he’d done to her.

“You’ve said that already,” he reminded her with a solicitous smile. “It’s a stipulation I’ve unenthusiastically agreed to.”

Veronica attempted to stand on legs now made of wet clay and shot him a look of disbelief. “Then why offer to—that is—what do you get out of it?”

He shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of orgasms. This was your first. You have some catching up to do. I promise you’ll enjoy yourself.”

She pressed her hands to fevered cheeks. “The question is why you would enjoy it when I’m giving you nothing in return.”

“Because...” He lifted his finger and pressed it between his lips, his eyes never leaving hers as he drew it out slowly. “You have no idea how divine you taste.”

“Dear God, don’t do that.” She seized his elbow and tugged on it.

His smile was utterly wicked. “You cannot stop me unless you relent. This cannot be the last time I appreciate flavor of your—”

Surging forward, she slapped a hand over his wicked mouth. “Christ,” she huffed.

“Blasphemer.” The accusation was muffled by her palm, which he licked, playfully.

Snatching her hand back, she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, actively refusing to be charmed. “You’re impossible.”

“Come now, Countess, you must admit. The danger is splendid, isn’t it?”

Her head snapped back up. “What are you talking about?”

“It makes everything better. More intense. The secret meeting in a place we might be discovered. The excitement of a clandestine adventure to facilitate two young lovers. I can see it in your color, in the brightness behind your eyes. You are made for this, and you are magnificent.”

“And you are categorically mistaken.”

He laughed at her then before swooping in for an intoxicating kiss.

“Until tonight, my lady,” he vowed before sauntering out and leaving her in the chill of the cargo car, still trembling with the memory of his heat.

And the impossible hunger he’d awakened inside of her.

7

Veronica didn’t allow herself to breathe until she spied Penelope Weller and her lover, Adam Grandville, making their careful way toward her on the train platform.

Parisians and travelers blurred together in the colorful chaos of the Gare de Lyon, performing a polite waltz as they either disembarked or boarded the train. Any other day Veronica would have enjoyed the spectacle, but she couldn’t allow herself a moment’s peace until the train pulled away from the station and the young couple was out of Weller’s reach.

Pasting on a smile at their approach, she felt it melt immediately from her face as she took in their identical expressions. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Rather than answer, Penelope and Adam stepped to the side, revealing a third companion.

Adrienne.

She’d a carpet bag gripped in two hands and even the veil of her emerald velvet hat couldn’t hide her swollen lip and blackening eye.

Blast and damn. While Veronica was dallying with Sebastian in the cargo car, the poor woman had been suffering her husband’s violent displeasure.