Page 45 of Dukes for Dessert

Sophie slid from his touch and began to walk, wandering down the darkening path toward the woods. She had no idea where she was going, but movement was better than standing still. At least she could breathe again.

David’s warm body beside her cut the chill. Sophie knew she should make for the house, find Uncle and a fire, but her feet would not obey.

“I thought I’d make you happy,” David was saying. “I might have known I had no power to do that.”

Sophie slowed to a stop at the edge of the garden, where a line of trees divided the formal park and gardens from the fields beyond. Those fields were the real world, where farmers toiled and animals built burrows. Inside the garden was gentleness, sanctuary.

But not for David. When he’d sought peace, he’d traveled to Uncle’s remote vicarage, in spite of the inconvenient trains, rather than come here. Why?

“I am grateful, in spite of what I seem,” Sophie managed to say. “You are stirring powerful people to help me, for no gain to yourself. I don’t know why you should help, except that you are a kind man, no matter how you protest to the contrary. But I’m so afraid, David. So afraid to hope.”

David watched her in silence, his eyes a glimmer in the shadows. He went so still that Sophie touched his shoulder.

He started, then caught her hand. “I am afraid to hope too,” he said softly. “Do you know? You’ve just addressed me as David.”

Sophie began to shake. “I beg your pardon. I am agitated …”

David put his finger to her lips. “I prefer it. Not Mr. Fleming. David. As though we are intimate.” He came closer. “Sophie.”

The darkness embraced them, and shadows hid them from the house. They were alone here, more than they had been on the hill by the abbey. Sophie’s heart beat just as swiftly as it had then, his nearness sending her reason to the wind.

She rose on tiptoe and sought his mouth in a kiss.

She’d meant it to be a light touch, a reassurance that he was real, and with her. But as soon as their lips met, David’s arms came hard around her and he dragged her close.

His heat enveloped her as his lips parted hers, his strength turning the kiss deep. As he swept his tongue into her mouth, hot need gripped her and would not let go.

She pulled him against her, wanting this kiss. She’d dreamed so often of being in this man’s bed—imagined David’s slow smile as he shed his clothes, firelight touching his strong body, his sure hands on her skin.

Her heart pounded, and she felt his hammering as hard. His hands were firm on her back, fingers splayed. The breeze turned cold, but David kept her warm.

Dizzily she broke the kiss but kept her hands on his shoulders. “I’m not …” She shook her head, eyes stinging. “I’m not a free woman.”

David gave her a feral smile. “If the marriage is proved invalid, that means you already are free. You never were married.”

But then she’d be ruined, having shared a bed with a man who wasn’t her husband. If she followed David’s logic, however, being already ruined meant she had nothing to lose by becoming his lover.

She laughed shakily. “You are trying to make me as bad as yourself.”

David touched her cheek. “No one, least of all your sweet self, could ever be as bad as I am.”

“You wish to be irredeemable.” Sophie gave him a tremulous smile. “Why?”

“I don’t. But it’s easier if I accept it. I am a bad, bad man and there is no help for me.”

“You’re wrong.” Sophie laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as he sheltered her in his arms. “You’re a good man masquerading as a reprobate. Uncle would never be so fond of you otherwise.”

“He’s nostalgic for the youth I was when we first met.” David’s embrace tightened, and she felt his lips on her hair. “But to hear you believe in me makes me half-hope the devil within will flee. I will become a puddle of straight-laced virtue, if that will make you happy.”

“I think that would be frightening.”

His laughter vibrated her in a fine way. “I agree with you.”

“Can virtue be a puddle anyway?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never been virtuous, so I couldn’t say.” David’s voice dropped to a softness she hadn’t heard in him before. “But I can promise you, I would never, ever hurt you. I’d never be such a fool.”

Sophie wrapped the words around her. She wanted so much to be treasured by him, the way she’d once believed men treasured their wives. Her own parents were happy, and she’d naively thought all marriage like theirs. She’d believed magic would happen when she married Laurie, transforming him into the perfect husband.