Page 17 of A Virgin for the Duke of Depravity (Ton’s Beasts #2)

Leo kissed above the neckline of her gown. But his hand moved back to stroke her until he slowly slid one finger deep inside her.

Margaret gasped. This was not what she had anticipated, but she would do this all day long with him. Her hips rose to meet his hand while he expertly stroked her with one finger, then two.

“If you like this, I have other books to show you,” Leo laughed lightly against her lips. “A whole library, in fact. We shall explore all their pages.”

Margaret angled his face to hers and kissed him while he touched her, the sensation overwhelming her. Gone were the thoughts of an arranged marriage, of running out of the opera house, of her friends inside wondering where she and Leo had gone.

Warmth started to build inside her, a wave cresting in her chest and invading her thoughts. She could think of nothing but this moment, with Leo’s hands on her.

She moaned his name as quietly as she could, but it was enough for him. He stroked her one more time, and she felt pleasure beyond any she had ever known ripple through her. The more he stroked her, the more she shook until she felt she would shatter.

Margaret was exhausted in the best possible way.

As she caught her breath, Leo gazed at her intently. His eyes were dark with hunger, and she wondered what she might do for him so that he could feel at least a fraction of what he had just done for her. She had no idea how to go about that.

He rearranged her skirts, the rumpled fabric the only sign that he touched her where no man had before.

“Damn it, Margaret,” he muttered, dropping his head in his hands. “I’m sorry. I promised I wouldn’t touch you again.”

Margaret shook her head. “But I asked you to touch me.”

“You do not know what you are asking for. I cannot ruin you. You are a nun-to-be, for God’s sake. And even if you weren’t…”

Margaret waited a moment to let him finish his thought, but he did not offer up any other explanation. She reached for him to put a hand on his upper arm, but he shrugged her off.

“Even if I weren’t what?”

“I do not want a bride.”

His voice was cold compared to the warmth that had sparked between them. Margaret felt it slip like ice through her dress and into her heart.

How could she pay so much attention to Leo when he was so clearly the wrong man for her? Perhaps she should pray more that the Lord would take away this temptation. Perhaps this was a trial she had to face before she took her vows.

“Let us go back,” Leo said, taking her hand. “Do not allow this to ruin a nice evening. The play is likely at its best part.”

Margaret nodded, realizing that she would make no headway on deciding what to do while the two of them hid out in the carriage. Leo would protect her, and she had to trust that her grandfather could not get to her. He was a mere earl, nowhere near as powerful as a duke.

They stepped out of the carriage, and Margaret took a deep breath as she had not been able to when she rushed out of the opera house. Leo offered her his arm again. This time, it felt a touch too familiar, but Margaret could find no reason not to cling to him.

“Thank you,” she told him.

She was unsure whether she was thanking him for showing her something that opened her mind or for his protection, but she was grateful all the same.

They slipped back into the box, avoiding Aaron’s stare. If he suspected what they had done, Leo could hardly blame him. After all, it was only a few days ago that he had told his friend how badly he wanted to break Margaret.

Now, he questioned whether he would be able to stop. Would he cost her the very thing she wanted to do with her life? She was destined to be a woman of the cloth rather than a nobleman’s plaything.

He did not miss the way Margaret looked around when they took their seats, her eyes darting this way and that. Whoever had frightened her must have departed while they were preoccupied, because she visibly relaxed at his side.

The play was in full swing. Leo tried to settle in and focus, especially knowing that this was the climax of the play. But the only thing he could think about was a climax of a much different kind.

Margaret had been so willing, so eager for his touch. He had not anticipated that she would want him as badly as he wanted her. For all of her talk of the book club and her interest in it, he had not expected that she would want to try those things with him.

Let it go, man.

At the thought of how wet she had been for him, how her legs had parted when he touched her, he grew hard. It would not do for his cock to be visible to everyone in the box, Aaron included.

He must think of something else.

The play ended, and the singers came on stage to take their final bows.

He stood with the rest of the crowd and clapped, but kept his eyes on Margaret.

Her face positively glowed in the dim light.

Her smile made the corners of her eyes crinkle with a charm that reminded him of how different they were.

Leo did not have the lines around his eyes that Margaret did.

Unlike her, he lacked the determination to see the good in the things that happened to him.

He did not have her emotional resilience, even if he was unsure exactly what had happened to her.

This play was nothing special to him—he had been raised here by a duke, after all.

But Margaret was seeing London through new eyes. He wished he could have her perspective.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, the only way that she would be able to hear him over the loud applause. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

She blushed, just as he had intended. He was deliberately vague about whether he referred to the play or their time together in the carriage.

“It was a wonderful story,” she said, choosing to ignore the double meaning in his words.

If she did not want to acknowledge it, Leo would not force her to think of their time together.

“A wonderful performance!” Theresa exclaimed, still clapping. “It is a shame that you were not feeling well and missed so much of the story.”

“Yes,” Margaret said, avoiding Theresa’s gaze. “I felt quite faint. It must have been the heat. It is so crowded in here.”

Theresa pursed her lips and looked between Margaret and Leo. He wished that Margaret would simply make eye contact with Theresa, that she were a better liar.

Why did the one woman who drove him mad have to be the one woman he could not have? The one woman who could not lie about what he was to her?

“We should return to Devishire Mansion,” Aaron said, guiding his wife out of the box. “If we hurry, we may be able to beat the crowds out of the stables.”

“Our carriage is ready,” Leo said. He followed after Aaron, each of them with a lady on his arm. “While Margaret and I were getting some air, I had them prepare it in case she needed to return home.”

“You went all the way back to the stables?” Theresa asked. She quirked an eyebrow at Margaret, who remained blissfully unaware of the implication in her friend’s words.

“It was much calmer away from the crowds, and I needed to find a place to rest for a moment,” Margaret said.

Theresa nodded and bit her bottom lip, but said nothing further.

The foursome walked to the carriage, which was indeed awaiting them. Leo and Aaron helped the ladies into the carriage, and they rode back in a tense silence.

Leo knew that Aaron did not approve of his actions, but his friend was not about to confront him in front of the ladies. Aaron may have been just as beastly as he was, but he had enviable decorum.

When the carriage pulled up to the back of Devishire Mansion, they were greeted by Joan, who looked harried and exhausted. She was peeking into each of the stalls of the barn, which could only mean one thing.

The girls were missing again.

“Please tell me you have not lost the girls,” Leo groaned as he stepped down from the carriage. “It has been a long night already. The last thing any of us wants is to play hide and seek with Annie and Kitty.”

“They were supposed to go to their room and get ready for bed,” Joan said. “I did not expect them to run off while I tended to necessities.”

Margaret giggled behind him. As irritated as he was, he relished the sound of her laughter.

“Do not be cross with the girls,” she said with a smile. “They are just having a bit of fun. Let’s have a hideout with them.”

“You mean to indulge their bad behavior?”

“Perhaps they are not being naughty, but merely trying to draw your attention,” she said thoughtfully. “They say you do not speak with them much.”

“Joan, I will find the girls and put them to bed,” Leo said with a sigh. “Aaron and Theresa, you may retire to bed. Margaret, where are the girls hiding?”

“Have you checked Leo’s chambers?”

Joan shook her head. “I have never known the girls to hide in your private chambers, Your Grace.”

“Thank you.” Leo nodded curtly to Joan and motioned for Margaret to lead the way.

She practically skipped her way to the mansion and into the kitchen at the back. She checked the pantry and beneath the cook’s shelves on her way to the front of the house.

“I wonder where those naughty girls could be,” she sang out loud as she went.

She pulled open every door and ducked under every surface, including those that Leo did not even know existed. Finally, she walked into his chambers.

She peeked in the wardrobe, behind the bathtub, under the bed. The girls were nowhere to be seen.

“Joan told you they had never hidden here,” Leo reminded her.

“All the more reason to hide here now. You will never look in a place that you did not think to find them.” She shrugged and skipped out of the room. “My guess is that they are hiding in plain sight. Where is their room?”

Leo gestured down the stairs and led her to Joan’s quarters. Annie and Kitty were purposely kept close to their governess in the hope that she would have an easier time corralling them.

Margaret let herself into the room and looked around. “I wonder where those girls could be,” she mused again.