“A good family, with a suitable financial standing. In that way, I could be certain it is not my wealth why my wife wants me. I want the real, honest character of the woman I am to marry, and I will give her mine, even with all the flaws.”
Georgianna swallowed past the frightful squeeze inside her chest. “That is logical.”
“My countess does not have to be a great beauty. I am pretty enough.”
She choked on her outrage, and deviltry danced in his eyes. There came that slow smile again, laced with promises of pleasure and potential heartbreak. They stared at each other, and she couldn’t help noting how dangerously virile he appeared at the moment.
“I am leaving tomorrow. I…your nana seemed delighted with the menu, and I…” She swallowed at the reminder of the words, her tongue suddenly thick in her mouth. “Why do you stare at me so, my lord?”
“I want you as my lover, Miss Heyford.”
Georgianna bit her lip hard to contain the ragged sound that wanted to whisper from her lips. “Tonight only?” she asked shakily as jagged cracks appeared in her heart and composure.
An emotion flared in his eyes, there and gone before she could identify it. “No, days…weeks…perhaps months.”
Do you feel this way with every lover?Surely this connection between them could only happen once in a lifetime.
You never made me any promises, Daniel…but how I hunger for you to make them.
Yet she could not ask them, for her pride and heart could take no more wounding. She released a tremulous breath. Men of such power and consequences did not marry country misses like her, yet somehow she had thought the peculiar connection and friendship they shared would see him spare her from such a humiliating proposal. Of course he would not think much of her, given how she had fallen under his wicked charm and allowed him into her body.
He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze up. “What is this pain I see in your eyes?”
“There is no pain,” she whispered.Liar, a small voice whispered.
She stared at his beautiful features, his coolly guarded eyes, high cheekbones and sinfully inviting mouth. Daniel’s expression became inscrutable. They had never spoken of love or tender sentiments, yet Georgianna knew she was falling deeper and deeper under his charm.
“Are you afraid?”
She swallowed. “No.”
He placed a thumb against her lower lip, exerting the slightest pressure until her lips parted. “If you walk away, I’ll not chase or try to coax you against your inclination.”
No…you’ll allow me to slide into madness without any seduction so I cannot hate you for not loving me.
From deep inside the townhouse, the bows of the orchestra leaped to life, and the exquisite music of the waltz filled the room. He reached for her, tugged her in his arms, and spun her with grace and elegance. It was dangerous…so very dangerous to her heart, yet she allowed him to sweep her into the rousing dance under the stars, the faint strains of the waltz their music.
He was utterly beguiling, a degenerate rake, uncompromising in his belief and character. He would never see her as more than a lover…a mistress if she was weak enough to allow it, yet she did not resist when he cupped her chin, lifted her face, and took her mouth in a carnal kiss that sucked her under. Georgianna was tempted both to resist him and to surrender to his ruthless persuasion.
“Will you spend the night with me?” His voice deepened, softened, lowered. “Will you be my lover?”
She stared up at him. Georgianna fought the ridiculous desire to curl her body against his chest and listen to the rhythm of his heartbeat under her ear.
I am already in love with you.
The awareness was sharp and sudden and painful. He was an enigmatic man with power and wealth; it was inexcusably reckless that she kept dancing close to his dangerous fire.
“Yes.”But only for one more night, she said silently.
A powerful heat flared in the depth of his gaze. Daniel dragged her up against his body almost violently and caught her mouth with his in a burning kiss, one that intoxicated her with immediate delight. The earl framed her face with his two hands, and suddenly the kiss was hot, hungry, and demanding. A small noise of pleasure broke from her throat at the wanton throb that he provoked between her legs. The fingers in her hair tightened even further, and he spun with her to press her against the Neptune fountain.
Daniel tugged at her gown, his fingers expertly undoing the buttons to reveal her breasts to the cool night air. He dipped his head and licked at her sensitive nipple, and she moaned out in the stillness of the night.
“Shh,” he murmured, his breath fanning over the throbbing tip.
He licked it again, and she whimpered and curled her hands behind his neck, the move thrusting her breast further out in a perfect arch and more into his mouth.
“What are you feeling for, my wife? Slow and deep…or wild fucking?”
