Page 22 of Her Heartless Duke
She turned around to let him see all of her as if to prove her point.
Isaac looked like he did not believe her at first. “I have seen men laughing before they keeled over.”
“Well, I am not one of those men,” she told him with a jaunty smile. “And I tell you—I have not felt quite as excited in a long while!”
Never before had she felt so alive as when she and Isaac were running down that empty alley, probably alongside some rats as big as her shoe. Her heart pounding, exhilaration pumping through her veins…
And Isaac—he looked surprised at first with her reaction, before he joined in and they were laughing together, tears running down their cheeks.
She felt him reach out for her hand, pulling her close.
“Olivia Bennet,” he murmured. “You are the strangest lady I have ever come across…”
“I truly hope you are saying that in a positive sense, Your Grace…”
When she looked up, he was looking at her with dark eyes and she knew she should have pushed him away, turned away. The air between them felt as if it was charged with something she could not quite put a finger to.
I should not do this!This is not part of my plan!
Instead, when his mouth crashed against hers, all she could do was surrender herself to the stormy tides of passion.
* * *
She tasted sweet—like sunshine and laughter and wildly blooming flowers.
He had known that he should not have stepped too close to her, but like a moth to a flickering flame, he was drawn to her vibrant light. He had been burning for her ever since that night he held her in his arms in his loft, when only her meager strength had managed to keep him from devouring her where she stood.
She had said no then. She was not saying no now.
His fingers speared through her hair, undoing the carefully coiled knot and scattering the pins that held her glorious sunshine mane bound. He would have her hair flowing through his fingers, filling the darkest cracks of his soul.
His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she let out a soft sound that went straight to his groin. He pushed her onto a bale of hay, and she let out a surprised giggle before he followed her down, casting his shirt aside as he did.
He did not kiss her as much as he devoured her. Surprisingly enough, she matched his passion step for step, her innocent exploration of this encounter between them being the most titillating experience he had ever had in his whole life.
When his hand spanned her breasts, she arched into his touch—only for her eyes to fly open.
For a moment, all they could do was stare at each other, knowing that some unspoken boundary between them had just been breached.
“Y-Your Grace.” Her breathless voice was enough to send him reeling, but the plea in her eyes stopped him from going any further. “Your Grace, I do not think we should be doing this.”
He groaned and pulled himself away from her. She was right—he had no business kissing her and taking liberties with her body. Not when he intended to court and marry another lady.
“I-It must have been the ale,” she stammered as she pulled at her sleeve, and his gaze snagged on the creamy skin of her shoulder.
He averted his gaze from her and swiped the linen shirt he had discarded upon the straw-covered ground. If he looked upon her longer, he might no longer be able to resist her.
But she deserved more than a brief tumble in the hay, deserved more than the shell of a broken man that he was.
“You are right,” he muttered, inwardly cursing himself for the predicament he had put them both in. He sighed and turned towards her, extending his hand in apology. “I should take you home now.”
She looked at him and the hand he offered her. Biting her lower lip, she slipped her hand into his trustingly and it took all his effort to not pull her to his chest and indulge in the taste of her once more.
He was right—Lady Olivia Bennet would be the death of him, but for the life of him, he could not imagine a sweeter torment than which he might pass from the world of the living.
CHAPTERTEN
Iam never going to drink that nasty ale again!