She agreed with his reasoning, but the admission of such by a man, especially an ex-officer, surprised her. It spoke well of his character, and her heart swelled with emotion for him with every word he uttered.
The breeze ruffled his dark hair, and his handsome face looked almost boyish. Unless one noticed the fine lines radiating from the corners of his eyes. Lines that spoke of laughter, pain, and strength.
“How long were you in the army?”
“Almost eight years. Eight hellish years.”
“Why did you stay for so long if you hated it?”
“For my men,” he answered instantly, looking straight at her. “They were the only reason I learned how to be an officer, and how to fight.”
“What made you leave, then?”
His lip curled. “After a particular campaign to Burma, I’d had enough. If I had been born fifty years earlier, I wouldn’t have minded fighting against Napoleon. They were an invading army and had to be stopped. But now, we were the invading army. And I just tired of being a tool of the British Empire.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. The way he spoke was almost subversive. And to hear this from a British peer and ex-officer was more than a little surprising.
“I have shocked you,” he said, a bitter twist to his lips. “I assure you; my views are not unique. Many officers feel the same way as I do. I’ve been trying to use my position in the Lords to push for reform in the military.”
“I see. That is commendable, of course. I... admire your convictions.”
His crooked, almost boyish smile dispelled the shadows from his face as if they had never existed. The transformation was so sudden it left her reeling.
“Enough about this. Here we are, in this serene setting, sharing an intimate interlude, and all I do is talk of war. My apologies, Duchess.”
She shook her head, flustered by the intensity of his regard when he turned on his charm like that and directed it toward her in full force. It felt like having the sun hit her straight in the face after being too long in the dark. Welcome, but blinding.
“No need to apologize. I asked.”
“Yes, you did,” he said, his voice low and sinful. “Why did you ask?”
She had to take a deep breath before she could confess, “Because I am interested in everything about you.”
“Is that so?” Was that wistfulness behind his tone? No, it was more like a ravening hunger. “And here I thought you were only interested in my seed.”
The last words were like a splash of frigid water on her overheated face. She gasped and jolted backwards from the shock of it.
As she scrambled to get up, his hand grabbed her arm. “Wait. Don’t go.” The apology in his tone stopped her more than his grip on her arm.
He took her face in his gloved hands and the caress felt as if it were skin to skin. He was staring at her, his eyes roaming her face. Was he going to kiss her now?
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. My only explanation is that this deal is messing with my head. I’m desperate for you. I want to take you, make you mine in every way a man can possess a woman.”
The heated words should have shocked her, but they only started a fire in her belly. A fire that moved lower, liquefying the place between her thighs. A helpless whimper escaped her, and she pressed her thighs closer together, trying to assuage the need in her core. He noticed, and his nostrils flared in triumph, but his lips remained maddeningly elusive.
“Are you going to kiss me now?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“Kiss you? I want to give you so much pleasure, that you will feel like you are going to die from the sheer intensity of it. But you won’t die. I’ll shatter you and put you back together in a new form. And that new you will belong to me alone.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t aware she had uttered the whispered word until his eyes fixated on her lips with the single-minded intensity of a hawk spotting tasty prey.
And then he swooped.
CHAPTER 16
FINALLY! HIS MOUTHon hers. Devouring her. Inflaming her. It had been so long. She could not prevent the sigh of relief from escaping her throat; a small exhalation that remained trapped between their fused lips. He settled to feast, and she surrendered under the sweet assault of his ravenous mouth. Not that she had any other choice.
He had kissed her once before. She thought she knew what to expect. She had prepared for the sensual unfurling, for the arousal he could so easily call forth in her.
