Page 22 of Her Temporary Duke (Rakes and Roses #2)

She tugged the last knot loose and gestured over her shoulder. “Help me with these last few buttons. I cannot reach.”

Seth stepped closer. His hands found the tiny fastenings at her back, undoing them one by one.

As the dress loosened, her skin prickled beneath the growing draft.

His breath warmed the nape of her neck, and she bit her lip hard, refusing to lean into it.

Focus . Now was not the time to become undone over something as simple as breath on skin.

The final button slid free. The bodice loosened, slipping from her shoulders.

She forced herself to keep moving, peeling the dress down to her waist. Cool air licked across the skin left bare by her underdress —everywhere but where Seth stood behind her, radiating heat.

She pushed the gown lower, wriggling her hips slightly to let it fall in a whisper of silk around her ankles.

“Tell me,” he murmured, voice taut with urgency.

Charlotte bent to retrieve the new gown, but stilled when she felt his hands land on her hips.

They vanished a heartbeat later.

The hesitation pierced her like an arrow. She reached back, found his hand, and guided it firmly into place.

His fingers curved around her, hesitant no longer. He kneaded the swell of her hips, possessive and reverent. Charlotte exhaled shakily, her skin alive with sensation. Still bent forward, she shifted—just a little—and felt her bottom come into contact with his burgeoning manhood.

She clasped a hand across her mouth, dropping the dress, barely suppressing a squeak. As though that were the straw breaking the camel’s back, Seth seized her by the shoulder, drawing her upright and tilting her face towards him.

His lips found hers.

The kiss was fierce with passion. Charlotte gave in to it, leaning back against him. His arm was about her waist, and she laced her fingers through his, squeezing his hand against her abdomen. She pressed her hips back to feel the contact with his hardness once more.

Seth grunted, his kiss intensifying in pressure, growing more and more insistent.

“Tell me,” he whispered, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

“My… my sister and I used to play a game,” she breathed against his lips. “We would trade places for a month. No one could ever tell us apart. I got to experience life in London, and she, the quiet of country life.”

A wandering hand sprawled around her throat, sending through her veins a jolt of pleasure. “You used to play this game. You are playing it now . Was this to toy with me?”

“No!” Charlotte whispered urgently, clutching at his hair blindly.

He pushed aside her dark tresses and pressed his hot mouth to her neck. Then he inhaled deeply. Feeling him breathing in her scent made Charlotte dizzy with desire. To know that he was savoring her with every scent drove her to peaks of delirium...

“I received a letter from Amelia asking me to play our old game,” she continued, breathless now.

“But when I arrived in London, there was no word from her to help me navigate her life.

I knew nothing of you. Even her lady's maid was gone; she had always been our accomplice, helping us to switch places seamlessly. All I knew from you was that you and she were betrothed.”

“That is what I believed, too,” Seth murmured against her skin, “but she loves another.”

Charlotte whirled, putting her hands on his face.

“But you were trying to seduce me one moment and then pushing me away the next. You cannot feel betrayed by Amelia when you seem antithetical about marrying her.”

Seth gazed into her eyes for a long moment.

“Your pardon, my lord, my lady. This is most irregular. For an unmarried couple to be closeted while the lady undresses...” the dressmaker said, closer to the curtain now.

“God’s Blood, do you want our custom or not?” Seth demanded loudly.

“Well, I have a respectable establishment to maintain, and if...”

At that moment, the bell above the door sounded, and they heard her greeting whoever had just entered.

“Tell me, is it just the behavior of a man unwilling to commit, or is there something more to how you have treated me?” Charlotte demanded in a hushed voice.

“Treated Amelia , surely,” Seth replied with a wry smile.

“Do not split hairs!” she snapped, “If Amelia loves another, then I am free from any obligation to try and maintain the relationship.”

“So, you tried simply for her sake?” he asked, frowning. “There was nothing in you that wanted to be close to me?”

“Of course not!” Charlotte replied instantly.

But even as she did, her hands ran through his silky, long hair. It was as though they acted independently of her mind. His lips were inches from hers.

Amelia does not want him. What is to stop me from enjoying a dalliance before I return to the life of a spinster in Yorkshire? Or perhaps more than a dalliance?

She looked away from him, denying the thought. She closed her eyes, trying to shut it from her mind. But it was persistent.

I must not think of this. He is not for me. He is a rake. Untrustworthy and lacking in morals.

Or was that simply a reaction to the life he had led? Could the right person change him? The right woman?

“I could not even begin to wish to be near you until I understand your actions. Why did you drive Amelia away and pull her back again?”

Now it was Seth’s turn to look away. Charlotte stepped out of his arms. It was the hardest thing she had ever had to do.

If he could still not confide in her, there was no future.

She looked around for her clothes until Seth caught her arm.

“My father sought to control my every action. He even chose suitable brides for me before he died. Made marrying one of them a condition of his will. If I reject them or they reject me on the grounds of infidelity, then I lose my birthright. If I do not marry one of them by the end of this month, the result is the same. Two of those possible brides rejected me. I drove them away without violating the terms of my father’s will.

Amelia was the third and final hurdle. And thanks to you, I could not seem to drive her away. ”

He was smiling now, and Charlotte could not help but return that smile. She laughed, and the conversation between the shopkeeper and customer beyond the curtains faltered momentarily.

“Oh my, I must have been driving you mad. You must have loathed me!” she giggled, quieter this time.

He grinned boyishly. “What infuriated me the most was that almost overnight, I found myself attracted to you in a way I never had been for your sister.”