Page 37 of Dukes for Dessert

Sophie felt herself soften. “You spoke up for the ladies, did you?”

“I always do. The laws that keep them bound to tyrannical men are ridiculous and should have been done away with long ago. You are in the delicate position you find yourself because of those stupid laws, created to make women property so they’d be easier to control.”

His face had flushed, his anger high. Sophie softened even more.

“I was also a giddy young woman who fell in love with a handsome man. What a fool I was to do that.”

David took a minute step closer to her. “I don’t think you fell in love, not really. You were charmed, is all. Lackwit Laurie is, I suppose, good-looking and can make himself agreeable.” He gave her a wavering smile. “As I am not handsome and never agreeable, you have no need to worry about that in my case.”

Sophie’s heart beat faster. “You do yourself a wrong. I find you quite handsome.”

His gray-blue eyes flicked to her, something in them she couldn’t read. “I noticed you left off agreeable.”

“I did.”

“I love when you smile.” David reached for her, cupping her face. “It’s like the warmest sunshine.”

Sophie strove for another quip, but thoughts deserted her as he touched her cheek, soft glove over a strong hand.

The memory of his kiss before he’d stormed away to London hadn’t left her. It still seared on her lips, the tingle as fresh as though he’d kissed her a moment ago.

Sophie’s body felt like water, her need to flow to him strong. As much as she’d been beguiled by her husband, she’d never felt for Laurie this attraction, the desire to touch and be touched by him.

The difference between a naive girl and a wiser woman, perhaps.

Or perhaps it was simply David—his haunted eyes, the lines around his mouth that deepened with his smile. His amazing strength, apparent in every move, the athletic hardness of a body he hid under well-made suits.

The way he looked at Sophie, truly looked at her, as though she was a person, not a female in attractive clothes meant to impress her husband’s cronies. David listened to her when she spoke, argued with her or agreed with her, as though her opinion on a subject mattered.

Wind blew through the broken arches of the cloister, stirring Sophie’s hair. It strengthened, taking David’s cap. The tweed hat sailed down the hill and through the grass like a strange, flat bird.

“Damn and blast,” David growled, and Sophie laughed.

He was off, chasing it. Sophie caught up her skirts and ran after him, David trying to pounce on the wayward headgear. The wind caught it again, snatching it from David’s hands.

Sophie hurried down the hill, picking her way through the slippery grass, warmed by the sun. David missed again, but Sophie managed to stop the hat as it tumbled away by stepping on it.

She reached down and lifted the cap, gazing ruefully at her muddy boot print in the middle of the fabric. “Oh dear. I will order another one for you. Or you can wear one of Uncle’s, though they are rather battered—”

David snatched the cap from her and threw it to the ground. “I don’t care about the be-damned hat.”

They stood on the steep side of the hill, the ruins looming above them. Easy to fall the short way to the grass touched with spring green, David’s arms cushioning her.

They landed together, sprawled against the hill, David turning Sophie to him to cover her mouth in a burning kiss.

11

Time slowed to a trickle as David kissed Sophie, an amazing, beautiful woman. Her mouth softened to his, she kissing him in return as she brushed his hair back with shaking fingers.

Grass tickled his leg, and the wind was sharp, but David ignored all but Sophie beneath him. Her breath touched his cheek, mouth caressing, teeth gently scraping his lip.

David eased the kiss to a close and took in her green eyes shining in the gray light, her face that haunted his dreams.

He touched her mouth, red and warm. “The beauty of you,” he whispered. “It tore at me the moment I saw you.”

“That sounds frightening.” Sophie’s smile was faint. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Too late for that. Being with you hurts me, and being without you is even worse.”