Anger burst open inside her. She lifted her hand and slapped his cheek. “How dare you?”
Pink blossomed instantly on his skin, and he rubbed the place where she had done him violence. “I meant you no insult.”
He had paid her one, nonetheless.
But part of the ire burning within her right now was aimed at herself as much as it was him. Because she was tempted. His proposition would give her everything she wanted, but her pride would not allow it.
“I will not be your kept woman,” she told him. “I cannot be bought. Iwillnot be bought. And neither will I be insulted by remaining here with you a single moment more.”
She turned away, but he caught her arm in a grip that was gentle, yet firm. And when she turned back to him, the regret on his handsome face did something to her. She softened. Her resolve melted under the blazing heat of desire.
They had been dancing around each other for days, but the attraction sparking between them was undeniable. She felt it now, more poignantly than ever, luring her back to him. Keeping her here. Making her want him in spite of all the reasons why she should not.
“I am sorry, Johanna.”
Of all the things she had expected him to say, an apology was not one of them.
“Your Grace,” she began, only to be interrupted by him.
“Stay,” he said softly. “Please.”
Chapter Six
Once again, Felixhad bungled things.
Badly.
“Do not go,” he entreated when she said nothing, staring at him with such raw hurt in her expression he did not believe even an actress of her caliber could affect it.
For all her secrets and all his suspicions of her, he wanted this woman more than he had wanted another in as long as he could remember. His emotions were warring within him, a confused tumult of need and want and anger.
And frustration.
When he had followed her earlier in the day and seen her meeting with a man, his suspicions had been raised. Felix had attempted to pursue the man, but he had disappeared into the throng of diversion-seekers. Which left him, once again, with more questions than he had answers when it came to her.
He did not want to believe she was involved with the Fenians. Did not want to believe she was doing anything nefarious. But what he had seen earlier, coupled with the knowledge he had of her in New York City from the League’s double agents, painted a bloody damning picture.
He resented her for making him feel things he had no right to feel. For making him so torn between duty and his incomprehensible attraction to her that he had decided, as he awaited her arrival that night, there was only one way to put an end to all this madness.
To stop courting her. Put an end to the wager.
And so he had offered her the five thousand pounds in exchange for her body. Her reaction had not been what he had anticipated. But he could admit he had deserved that slap. He had never before propositioned a woman with such a crude offer. He had merely allowed his frustrations to sink their talons into him too deeply.
“Why should I stay?” she asked quietly.
The emotions he had been attempting to keep at bay teemed inside him. Hunger was a beast, rampaging through him, making him weak. Making him forget all the reasons why he must not do what he was about to do.
He pulled her toward him with one swift motion, and she was flush against his chest, her breasts full, round temptations, the maddening scent of rose petals making a new surge of lust pound in his ballocks. Her hands flitted to his shoulders. Her mouth was an offering he could not resist.
He told himself he was obeying his duty.
“Because of this,” he rasped, and then, his lips were on hers.
Nothing could have prepared him for the initial contact, her mouth beneath his. Their lips fit together perfectly, hers supple and warm and smooth. She made a kittenish sound of need, her arms linking around his neck, and stepped into his body. They were pressed together, from thigh to mouth, the crush of her silken skirts billowing around his trousers. Her scent was everywhere, and he had the brief, incredulous thought it would stay with him forever now. That her lush perfume of rose and citrus, like the seduction of her kiss, would be imprinted upon him always.
Felix forgot everything in that moment but the woman in his arms. He kissed her furiously, ravaging her mouth with his. Kissed her because he had to. Kissed her because he wanted her to experience the same need careening down his spine, the white-hot desire to be possessed by him in the very same way he wanted to possess her.
God, yes,he wanted to possessher. This rare, enigmatic creature. This woman of secrets and mystery. He wanted her beneath him. Wanted all her bare skin burning into his, her golden hair unbound on his pillow, wrapped around his fist. Wanted to sink inside her wet heat and make her scream.
