Page 17 of Only Earl in the World (Taming of the Dukes)

Jasper canvassed the score or so of determined faces from the aristocracy and the gentry.

Bloody hell, some of the women were so young.

He knew for a fact that Millicent was barely twenty, though she was married to a Cambridge University professor.

Lady Katherine Russell, Viscountess Amberley was twenty-five or thereabouts, and Briar, still unwed, was twenty-one.

He knew their youth was deceptive, however.

These women might be young, but they were forces of nature.

He also recognized his family’s—and Lethe’s—physician, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett, a titan in her own right, who had earned her certificate as a doctor and established a dispensary for women two years ago.

She was also Millicent’s eldest sister, so it was no surprise that she was there.

The intelligence and ambition in that one room alone could destroy and lead whole empires.

Jasper had no doubt that they would be successful in winning the right to vote someday.

In truth, he was in vehement support of it. Women deserved the same rights as men. Especially the women who gave voices to those who had none. Like the one woman he could not keep his eye off. Briar Fairview was beautiful and made even more so by that stunningly brilliant mind.

Some men were intimidated by smart women. Not him. Jasper loved pitting himself against her intelligence and witnessing that razor-sharp wit at work. She had cut him down to size many-a-time with a few choice words, but more than that, she never failed to impress him.

She’d astounded him with the women at Lethe, fighting for their right to live and prosper, despite how society viewed their choices. She’d dazzled him with her evocative writing and her unflinching pursuit of female pleasure.

And she captivated him now, standing toe-to-toe with some of the greatest minds in England. Her intense expression was unwavering as she listened to something Millicent was saying before taking the floor. Jasper caught his breath.

Briar stood and cleared her throat, holding up a piece of paper as she read, “It has long been our role that a woman’s place is in the home with the duties of wife and mother.

But I ask you now, ladies, lords, and gentlemen, how can we fulfill our full potential and pursue our duties without the same education and political freedoms as our husbands?

” The women broke out in claps and cheers, and Jasper was utterly entranced.

He’d never seen her like this—a persuasive, visionary leader.

“We are bound by laws, without having a voice. Our bodies are not our own, as though we require permission to exist or to thrive. We are taxed, while we are considered property. Any wealth we acquire or inherit is given to our husbands. Upon marriage, we have no rights, own no land, and have no say. Is this just, I ask you?”

“No!” the women chorused, and Briar smiled.

Christ , Jasper could not stop staring at her.

Her eyes glowed with passion, her color high, making her skin luminous in the lamplight.

“Politics are not for men alone. Our brains are just as capable”—she grinned with a saucy wink that arrowed straight to his groin—“or, dare I say, even more so than men. Do we not shape the minds of our children? Share the burdens of our spouses? Are we not half of the citizens of this great nation? Then why should we not have the vote?”

More cheers ensued, even a few whistles.

She set down the paper, meeting the eye of everyone in the room with the skill of a great orator.

“We are partners in the joint endeavors of marriage and companionship, consummation and parenthood. We stand stronger together, not apart. Men, women, or any adult with a voice should be heard. I urge you to sign our petition so we may go before Parliament and seek reform, so we may celebrate the fruit of true partnership and a united future.”

“Hear, hear!” several voices called out.

Jasper exhaled in absolute wonder, shaking his head and clapping with the others.

He must have made a noise or done something because her head swiveled, eyes slamming into where he sat, though he was still obscured by shadow.

Her gaze sharpened but then slid away as she took her seat.

Jasper waited until the meeting adjourned, watching as everyone dissipated until only Briar, Millicent, Elizabeth, and the viscountess were left.

“Do you require transportation, Lady Briar?” one of the women asked.

She shook her head, curls bouncing. “No, thank you. My coachman is just outside.”

“See you next week. Thank you for your wonderful work tonight.”

Briar flushed with pride. Jasper smiled. She should be proud—she was magnificent.

He followed her in silence, watching as she tugged a deep cowl over her head and obscured her features before exiting.

She was careful to walk briskly along the well-lit street, her gait sure and her presence confident to deter any cutpurses who might assume wrongly that she was a weak mark.

But if they did, he knew that she would be armed.

He snorted under his breath. Fearless to a fault.

Jasper waited until she stopped, frowning at the spot where her carriage should have been before peering up and down the street.

Then he pounced, herding her into a nearby alley and narrowly avoiding a fist to his face as well as a vicious knee to the groin.

He couldn’t fully avoid the knuckles that came for his jaw, however, or the switchblade that pressed into his jugular. Damn, she was fast.

“Hullo, Sweetbriar,” he said.

“Jasper,” she gasped, instantly ceasing her attack. Fuck, he loved the sound of his name on her lips. “I could have killed you, you sapscull!” She glowered at him. “I knew I sensed you in the tavern.”

Smirking, he lifted a brow. “You sensed me?”

“Like a hundred spiders crawling on my skin,” she said, scowl darkening. “Like a plague of festering boils. Like explosive diarrhea.”

“Lying isn’t a good look on you, Prickles.

” He pinned her against the brick with his hips, a gasp flying from her lips at what she undoubtedly felt, even beneath all her skirts.

He’d been rock-hard since she’d started speaking in the tavern.

Lightning fast, he knocked the blade out of her hand and gripped her wrist. When she attempted to punch him with her free hand, he ducked and grasped that too, securing them both above her head.

It was a position she’d written, not that she would guess he knew.

But in the guttered streetlight, her lips parted, and her pupils dilated.

Good…she liked being helpless, even though she could escape his hold, if she truly wanted to.

He waited, just in case his instincts were wrong, but her breaths became shallower and shallower as she stayed rooted in place, her eyes huge .

“Some men like a beautiful face, others prefer a shapely body, but that stunningly erudite brain of yours, Sweetbriar, is its own wicked seduction.” He buried his nose in her fragrant hair and inhaled deeply.

“And I swear that it has ruined me. You were outstanding tonight. Truly, if you could speak directly to Parliament, women would have the vote tomorrow. After all, how could anyone hope to withstand the storm that is Briar Fairview?”

Her eyelids fluttered and then went wide as she tried to see around him, yanking her arms down in confusion. “Wait. Is this…are we…pretending? Are one of the ladies close by?”

“No.”

She blinked, an adorable furrow appearing between her brows. “Then what…why are you doing this?”

“Because I need to fucking kiss you.”

“Oh,” she breathed.

He waited again for tacit permission, and when she melted against him, her free hands curling into his lapels with a yearning that matched his, he finally claimed the lips that had taunted him for fucking years .

There was softness, but only at first. Her lips parted, and he accepted the invitation, his tongue sliding tentatively across her lower lip.

Jasper groaned at the sweetness, need crashing through his veins so violently that he shook from the force of it.

He wanted to be gentle, to make it tender, but she wouldn’t let him, growling in her throat and nipping at his mouth.

She yanked him closer, teeth grazing his lips, the aggression like flame to tinder.

“Kiss me back, damn it,” she commanded, and Jasper felt something inside of him crack.

He fell upon her like an animal, moaning at the sublime feel of her as his tongue plunged deep to tangle with hers.

Fuck, she tasted like heaven and sin wrapped in one.

Tart, sweet, deadly. One hand wound into the mass of hair at her nape and tightened into a fist as he drew her head back, feasting on that luscious mouth and clever tongue, while the other grasped her arse and dragged her lower half into his.

Lust ripped through him when she bit his lower lip and sucked hard as if he wasn’t the only one who could make carnal demands.

He smiled against her mouth as she took and he gave, and then the dance reversed.

He left no part of that lush, smart mouth unexplored, dragged his tongue down her throat and back up, savoring the frantic flutter of her pulse at the base of her neck and every delectable inch before claiming those plump lips again. He couldn’t get enough. Never enough.

It felt as though they kissed for hours before he pulled away, panting. “Briar…”

Her green eyes were blown with desire, her lips swollen and bruised as she stared at him in stricken silence. He felt the same…utterly thunderstruck.

“ More .”