Page 209

M ADDIE AND HECTOR returned to her house in silence, holding hands and sharing their burdens. As she rested her head on his shoulder and he caressed her hand, she didn’t mind the fact he seemed incapable of letting her go. She couldn’t let him go, either.

They remained in silence even when they sat in her drawing room, exchanging glances and little touches of their hands.

The more she explored his fingers and knuckles, the less harsh his skin felt.

Every hard spot and scar told a story she wanted to share with him.

The pale sunlight danced on his profile, teasing her with the shadows cast over his features.

A natural chiaroscuro—a game of shadows and light—tempting her.

“May I sketch you?” She rummaged through her bag for her sketchbook. “I don’t mean to steal a piece of your soul again.”

He laughed. “By all means. You stole my heart. You may as well steal my soul.”

“Oh, I…” Bother. Did he mean that? Most likely, yes, he did. He only said what he meant. “Then, I’ll sketch you now.”

He sat still, his chin casually resting on his open hand, and she did her best to capture his god-like beauty.

His eyes were the most difficult to draw as usual because her stiff fingers traced lines too harsh for the softness of his eyelids.

The shadows in his curly hair forced her fingers to tense in a painful manner.

“It looks better than you think.” He angled his head towards the sketch. “You might be disappointed, but you’re probably too critical.”

“I don’t know. I can’t control my hand as I’d like to do. But since I started to sketch more often, I can see a difference.”

“The academy won’t reject your application.” He spoke with absolute certainty, and she couldn’t ignore the fluttery feeling his words started in her chest.

“It’d be wonderful.” She paused when the doorbell rang.

Hurried footsteps sounded from the corridor, and a moment later, the maid knocked on the sitting room door.

“Miss?” Mary inched the door open. “There’s a message for you.” She handed her a cream-coloured envelope.

“Thank you.” She opened the envelope, still watching the shadows changing on Hector’s face. “Dr. Landon invited us for an afternoon tea.” She put the invitation on a table. “Would you like to go?”

He kept staring at a squirrel in the garden and not in a ‘how cute it is’ way. He looked like a predator. “Yes. I’d like to see the good doctor again.”

“Great. Now please don’t talk and don’t move.”

He flashed a lopsided smile that was going to be her next sketching project. “I’ll do my best.”

She picked up the pencil and focused on his profile, stubbornly forcing her hand to do what she wanted.

And it worked...? Maybe it was her sheer determination, or the kind words Hector had always had for her, but her fingers seemed more obedient that day.

A few lines were still too straight for her liking, but lo and behold, her drawing grew softer.

“It’s snowing.” He straightened up on the chair, staring out of the window.

Maddie drew the shadows under his jaw as the snowflakes floated down in a thick flow. Goodness. Her fingers didn’t pain her much. They were a far cry from being painless, but better. “Lovely. Everything will be covered in white soon—where are you going?”

“I have to see it.”

“But I haven’t finished.”

“I’m sorry.” He opened the French door overlooking the garden.

A frosty gust swept inside, disturbing the flames in the hearth and shuffling the pages of her sketchbooks. The smell of wet soil thickened the air.

“Snow. I forgot how beautiful it is,” he said, inhaling.

“Yes, I love it too—what are you doing?” She was repeating herself, but, good gracious, he was unbuttoning his shirt.

“I know I shouldn’t, but I need to feel it on my skin.” He removed his jacket and shirt with one yank, revealing his chiselled torso and golden skin, and dropped his clothes on the portico.

It’d take hours to sketch all his muscles, and she’d be glad to do it. Her mouth became dry. “I…”

A part of her was aware she should turn around and give him some privacy.

Another part was too mesmerised by his tanned skin, the taut muscles, and even the scars to care.

Just because she was an artist. Her curiosity and eagerness were simply an artist’s desire for knowledge.

The tingle on her skin and the quickening of her breath were all about art.

When he unbuttoned his trousers, she should have stopped him, but aside from Verity, who was in her room, and Mary, they were alone in the house.

No, that shouldn’t be the reason why she didn’t say a word to stop him.

If anything, being alone with him made everything worse and—Lord, his thighs! Thick and muscular. A study in anatomy.

And his backside was...she meant glutaeal muscles. Yes. They were a lesson in sculpting. Perfectly rounded and looking firm. And goodness, even his shaft was proportioned to everything else.

Stark naked, he walked into the garden, letting the snow caress his skin.

He spread his arms and reclined his head, exposing his strong neck.

The flakes started to deposit on his golden hair, the tip of his nose, and eyelashes.

She wished she could draw him now in all his male glory with the snowflakes fluttering around him.

His body looked like sunlight lay trapped underneath his skin, and the snow flickered like glittering specks around him.

The smile stretching his lips was half celestial, half sinful.

Completely charming. He put a spell on her because she could easily believe he was the king of the fairies.

He turned towards her and stretched a hand out in an invitation she couldn’t refuse.

She walked over to him as if in a trance.

It was definitely a spell because she didn’t like the snow.

She liked a snow-covered view. She loved watching the snow from her warm sitting room while sipping hot tea, but not being in the cold and feeling the freezing flakes slipping down her neck or inside her boots.

Yet when he took her hand and pulled her closer, it wasn’t cold that made her shiver.

“I want to kiss you,” he said that with the same devastating honesty he said everything, daring the world to tell him he couldn’t speak his mind.

He gently brushed a snowflake from her chin.

His thumb lingered on the curve of her jaw and caressed her bottom lip.

“I wanted to kiss you the first time I saw you, when I spotted you painting in your bedroom. You’re so beautiful I can’t breathe when you smile.

I want to capture your smile with a kiss. ”

“Then do it,” she whispered, her lips already tingling in anticipation.

He dipped his head while cupping her face in his warm, gentle hands. His curly locks of hair fell forwards and stroked her face. His lips brushed against hers in a heated touch warming her whole body. Her nipples tightened, and the urge to press her thighs together couldn’t be ignored.

What would she do if they were both naked?

Wilt in his arms? He tilted his head to the side and repeated the soft kiss.

She no longer felt the snow on her skin or the cold.

His presence shielded her from the frosty air and from the entire world.

He transported her to a place where they could be whomever they wanted.

The third time he kissed her, he pressed his mouth against hers harder. They were standing so close their hips touched.

She parted her lips in an invitation he didn’t decline.

The tip of his velvety tongue slipped past her lips in a shy exploration.

Oh, the shivers. They danced on her skin, making her feel every little sensation the kiss caused to burst within her.

He grew bolder and deepened the kiss, stroking her tongue with his, no longer exploring but claiming.

She sagged against him, aware he was fully naked and erect.

She was kissing the Savage Duke who was naked in the snow.

The contact with his hard length both shocked and excited her.

How would it feel in her hand or inside her?

He broke the kiss but didn’t move away from her.

His lips were half an inch from hers, sharing their heat with her.

“I can’t stop kissing you.” His voice sounded deep and low and started all sorts of illicit tingling in parts of her body that shouldn’t tingle.

She took a moment to speak. “Then don’t.”

“May I kiss you again?”

Her reply was to grip his biceps and pull him closer.

His next kiss was all raw passion and dominance.

Gone was the shy boy from a moment earlier.

He took possession of her mouth with long lashes of his tongue, stroking, teasing, and pleasuring her.

Little bites on her bottom lip had her moaning and making sounds she wasn’t aware she could produce.

He cradled her head gently while sliding a hand around her waist. He held her up, taking all her weight.

If he let her go, she’d float away in the snow.

Why hadn’t they kissed like that before?

How much time had she wasted doing menial chores when she could have kissed him?

The more he kissed her, the harder his shaft grew. She grabbed his shoulders as a maddening need flustered her. Now she understood his dislike for clothes because she wanted to remove her constricting dress and feel her naked skin against his, sharing heat and passion in the snow.

A loud scream jolted her.

Hector broke the kiss again but didn’t release her. “Your sister.”

Verity stood on the threshold of the French doors, her mouth hanging open. There were footsteps and the noise of a door being slammed.

Verity shut the French doors and pulled the curtains, blocking the view.

“Nothing, Mother.” Her voice came muffled from the other side.

“There’s a...rat in the garden. Two actually.

Two big rats. You don’t want to see them.

They’re, ahem, doing things to each other, naked.

I mean, they’re rats, for goodness’ sake.

A scandalous affair but completely natural. ”

“Mother.” Maddie stepped away from Hector.

“You must leave, or at the very least get dressed. Hurry.” She snatched his clothes from the portico and handed them to him.

Her mother might have shown an unprecedented leniency towards Maddie, but a naked man sporting a full erection in her garden was a naked man.

He didn’t accept the clothes immediately. Frowning, he took them. “I apologise for having broken another rule.”

“That’s my mother we’re talking about. You’d be surprised by what she considers wrong. A very wide range of deeds.”

His eyebrows knitted together as he slid into his trousers and shirt.

“Hector, I’m sorry to hurry you out.” Her face flamed with desire, shame, and a million other emotions she couldn’t process right now.

He knelt to tie his shoes and gazed up at her.

“Don’t worry about me.” When he straightened, with his dishevelled hair covered in show and his shirt half-buttoned, he looked completely ravishing as if he’d just finished a thorough fumble.

Her knees threatened to buckle. He seemed about to say something, but then shrugged.

“I’ll see you soon, won’t I?” He grabbed her hand in desperation.

“You will.” She glanced at the French doors still closed.

He kissed her hand before releasing it. And she was hot all over again.

“You may leave through the rear entrance.” She pointed at the gate on the other side of the garden.

“I don’t need it.” He climbed over a tree and jumped to the top of the wall. He blew her a kiss. “Thank you for the kiss, my angel.” Before disappearing on the other side, he waved at her, leaving her heart galloping after him.

She waited a few moments before walking around the house and entering through the back door. Her dress was wet, mud drops stained the hem of her skirt, and surely her cheeks were all flushed and scandalous. But she’d never felt better.

From the kitchen, she stepped into the corridor, avoiding the parlour, when Verity almost attacked her. She grabbed Maddie’s shoulders and shoved her to the pantry among sausage chains and barrels of spices.

“He was naked,” she said, her chest heaving.

“Shush.” Maddie glanced around. “I noticed that.”

“I want to marry him.”

Maddie laughed. “No, you don’t, silly. You love Ernest.”

“Then you’re going to marry Hector. You were kissing him.” Her eyes lit with too much enthusiasm.

“Yes, well, it was the spur of the moment. Thank you for covering me. Mother would have had a fit.”

“ I had a fit.” She fanned herself. “Good gracious. The kiss was so romantic and scandalous at the same time. The snow, the lack of clothes, the way he kissed you. I want to be kissed like that in the snow with Ernest naked. It’s that or there won’t be a wedding.

And I thought I was the scandalous sister!

Amateur. You’re the real scandalous one. ”

“You? The scandalous one? What do you mean?”

“I want a naked kiss in the snow.”

Maddie kissed her sister’s heated cheek. “Nothing happened aside from the kiss.”

Verity stared at her as if she’d been blasphemous. “That wasn’t a simple kiss. Promise me you’ll kiss him again.”

That was an easy promise to make. “Oh, Verity. I will.”

“I must talk to Ernest and tell him to get naked in the snow. I have to see him later for a piano concert. That’s it! Only piano music would make a naked kiss in the snow perfect.”

“Speaking of piano concerts, what did Annabelle mean when we were at the duke’s?”

Verity’s smile dropped. Her flushed cheeks lost their colour. “Oh, nothing. Don’t mind her. I guess she referred to the secret code I told you about. She’s such a tease.”

“She seemed to imply something more serious.”

A high-pitched laugh came out of Verity. “No, no. Anabelle opens her mouth and breathes. Don’t pay attention to what she says. I have to go now.” She went to leave.

“Verity.” Maddie took her sister’s trembling hand. “You know you can tell me anything, don’t you? Did Annabelle do something to you?”

“Don’t be silly. Oh, look at the time. I have to go.” She rushed out of the pantry and down the corridor, leaving Maddie concerned for her.

If Annabelle had hurt Verity, Maddie would burn her.