Page 3 of Duke with a Lie (Wicked Dukes Society #4)
The notion of her brother discovering that she had stolen her way into this wicked house party and unraveling the sculpture of lies she had so carefully constructed made her throat seize.
“Whitby cannot know I’m here.”
But the duke was unrelenting. “He has to know. You need to go back to London. Posthaste.”
“I’m staying at this house party, and my brother has nothing to do with my presence here,” she countered.
“Wrong, little na?f.” A small smile curved his sensual lips.
Lips she had felt on hers, coaxing and knowing.
But she couldn’t think about his mouth now, or how moved she’d been by his skilled kisses. Finally, after all these years of longing and yearning, of watching him from across the room, she had felt those wicked lips on hers.
Stop thinking about it, Rhiannon , she urged herself sternly.
No, she had to do something.
Anything to keep him from immediately seeking out her older brother and making certain that she would be sent back to London.
This had been her one chance for adventure.
To make the Duke of Richford notice her at last before she became a wife and mother.
Mater was determined to see her married to the Earl of Carnis, a man who was handsome but staid and boring and unfailingly proper.
He was also kindhearted almost to a fault and had confessed he was in love with her.
Mater had vowed that Carnis would make the perfect husband.
He would worship Rhiannon, and she would never want for anything, from the finest gowns to the wealthiest estates.
Carnis was rich as Croesus. He had asked for her hand in marriage, and Rhiannon had begged him to give her time to consider his offer.
He hadn’t even tried to hold her hand, let alone steal a kiss, and she had hoped for more…
for at least a spark of passion, a hint that he found her irresistible.
Anything other than his bland patience and insistence upon propriety.
Still, she knew Carnis would make an excellent and loyal husband and father. She would marry him.
Eventually.
When she had learned that her brother was again hosting one of his forbidden house parties, a thought had risen in her mind, one that had proven unshakable.
It had seemed her last opportunity to find herself alone with the man who had occupied all her secret, heated longings from the moment they’d first been introduced, and she had leapt at the opportunity.
Mater was so caught up in her own concerns that she had been easily fooled.
Whitby—Rhys—had been too busy organizing the house party to even bid Rhiannon a farewell before he’d gone.
She had orchestrated her escape, found a room in which to stay in the wing of the house that was largely unoccupied.
Everything had been unfolding according to plan.
Until Richford had realized who she was on the very first night, ruining her improbable dream.
She wasn’t certain which was worse, that he had known her at once, that he was intent upon sending her immediately back to London, or that he very plainly still considered her nothing but a mere girl.
Either way, she couldn’t allow him to cut her adventure short before it had even begun.
Being here was all she had left before she capitulated to a boring, staid future.
She was desperate to remain for the house party’s duration.
“If you tell Whit about me, then I’ll have no choice but to tell him you kissed me,” she blurted, grasping at anything she might use against him.
“There’s just one small problem with your machinations, my dear,” he drawled, his gaze lingering on her lips. “You were the aggressor in our tête-à-tête.”
He was so assured of his success. So calm and arrogant. She wanted to slap his handsome face. But she also wanted to kiss him again in equal measure. Of all the men in London, why had she lost her heart to this one? Why couldn’t she shake the way he made her feel?
“Do you think he would believe that?” she demanded. “I’m his innocent sister, whereas you are a rake of the worst order. If I told Whitby you had led me into a private room and ravished me, which of us do you think he would trust more?”
His emerald gaze narrowed. “What a bold liar you’ve proven to be. I confess, I didn’t think you had such heartless manipulation in you.”
She wasn’t heartless, nor was she a liar. She was, however, desperate. And willing to deceive Richford into thinking she would go to her brother with such a ruse when, in fact, she would never dream of uttering such a shameless falsehood. He had left her no choice.
Rhiannon held his stare defiantly. “How do you think Whitby would react to learn you had dishonored his sister?”
Richford passed a hand along his bearded jaw, his expression hard. “Fair enough.” He extracted the key from his pocket and extended it to her. “You’re free to go for now, minx. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. And don’t look to me when you need saving.”
She accepted the key, ignoring the frisson that went through her as their fingers brushed. Richford had made his opinion of her more than clear, and her pride was still smarting.
“I can assure you that I won’t require saving,” she tossed flippantly over her shoulder as she hastened to the door. “Not from you.”
Rhiannon slipped the key into the lock, turned it, and then fled the room, resisting the urge to glance back at him over her shoulder.