Page 46 of Wedded to the Scottish Duke

“What?” He stepped toward her, but she stepped back.

It was as if his veins had filled with ice. Any chance of stealing a kiss before she left was clearly out of the question.

“You are clearly capable of seduction all on your own,” she said. “You hardly need my help for such a thing. You won your wager. You seduced me, so you could seduce any other woman too, couldn’t you? You can act like a gentleman when you wish to. So, let us part and never discuss this subject again.”

She walked around the carriage, apparently giving up on trying to climb into it from this side.

“Celia?” he hissed, turning to follow her.

He checked that no one was looking their way, but everyone was too busy boarding their own carriages. It left him free to dart around Celia’s coach.

Secreted behind the vehicle, he took hold of her arm, stopping her before she could disappear inside.

“Now, sweetheart, are ye going to tell me what this is all about?”

“Do not call me that again. Ever.” Her eyes were full of fire now, but not the passionate kind. She wasincensed.

“Ye think I just seduced ye for a day’s amusement? Is that it?” he asked, releasing her, though he did not wish to.

The feel of her arm beneath his palm reminded him of just how much they had touched each other the day before.

One kiss and maybe she could forget her anger…

But he wouldn’t do that to her. He needed to understand her first. It was a strange feeling. He was used to agreements over pleasure. But with Celia? That was a different story.

What they had experienced was not just momentary pleasure. At least, not to him.

“I think you are a seducer and yet able to act the part of a gentleman very well. You cared for me when I was wounded, and you brought me food too. See?” she said, arching her eyebrows. “You can be charming when you want to be.”

“What exactly are you driving at?” He took hold of her arm, stopping her from leaving.

“Gentlemen don’t touch ladies out of the blue,” she hissed.

He actually laughed. He couldn’t believe this was what they had come to after all they had shared in her bed.

“It was hardly out of the blue, was it?” he reminded her. “And I did more than just touch ye.”

“Enough,” she hissed. “You will not do it again. What happened… it can never happen again.”

Yet, she looked away. Despite her determination, there was a flicker of weakness there.

She liked it as much as I did. She cannot hide that.

“I wish you a happy marriage.” She flicked her hand at him, urging him to get out of the way as she reached for the carriage door. “You will never touch me again.”

“Oh, lass.”

He couldn’t resist. To think that the woman he was infatuated with was just about to flounce out of his life, taking with her all this fire, all this spirit, all these reasons to smile… was infuriating.

He laid a hand over hers on the carriage wall. She halted, gasping in surprise at his touch. “Something tells me”—he bent down, moving his lips to her ear as she faced away from him—“that ye may want me to do just that.”

“You arrogant sod.”

“Passionate, perhaps.”

“No, arrogant.” She turned defiantly, yanking her hand out of his grip. “This is what you all do, isn’t it?”

“All of whom?”