“Everything.” His hands settled on her waist, pulling her closer until there was no space separating them at last. “You have risked yourself coming here tonight with your list of many reasons why we should not marry. I am offering to work through the list with you. Beginning with a kiss.”
She did not know what to do with her hands, so she rested them lightly on his shoulders. Which proved a mistake, because she was instantly aware of his heat and strength. Beneath his coat, his form was solid and muscled. How different his frame was, compared to Arthur’s.
The comparison was unwanted.
“Anglesey, this is a terrible idea. You already know you dislike my kisses.” The words left the sting of humiliation to burn her cheeks once more.
“I did not have the opportunity to enjoy them,” he countered smoothly. “You had been tippling, and it would not have been right for me to take advantage. Now is our opportunity to put that matter to rest.”
“But—”
Her protest was smothered by his lips.
His warm, wonderful lips.
Lips that were slanting over hers in the most deliciously masterful kiss, coaxing hers to respond. For a moment, she could do nothing but freeze, the clever working of his mouth so unexpected and tender. She was painfully aware of everything, her senses on alert. His palm swept up her spine, nudging her nearer. Her breasts were pressed shamelessly into his chest, his heat and scent enveloping her as he held her close. Andoh, the way he held her.
She had never been wrapped in a man’s arms like this before. The way he settled his lower lip between hers, urging them to part, undid her. This was not a mere kiss. It was a seduction, and he was succeeding. She opened for his questing tongue and suddenly, the sweetness of wine was lacing their kiss. He devoured her.
There was no other suitable description. His mouth, hot and hungry, consumed hers, his tongue teasing hers to respond. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders as she clutched him for purchase. Longing blossomed low in her belly. Arthur had not kissed her like this, stealing her breath, robbing her of the will to resist, claiming her.
Possessing her.
Anglesey raised his head then, breaking their fused mouths apart. “That should settle one concern.”
“Yes.” She licked her lips, seeking the taste of him one more time, her lips still tingling. “I… I suppose it does.”
He kissed wickedly.
Beautifully.
She supposed she had not displeased him, for he was smiling. “Excellent. Now, let us move along to the others, for the hour grows late and I want a well-rested bride to meet me at the train station tomorrow for our journey north.”
How was he capable of coherent thought just now? The man was a devil. Dimly, she recalled the pressing need for her presence here this late in the evening. He had suggested they marry at the chapel at his family seat. Accordingly, she and her family would be traveling tomorrow, leaving for Barlowe Park.
“The others?” She struggled to make sense of what he had said. Perhaps he was speaking of their wedding guests. “Our guests?”
He shook his head slowly. “Your objections, darling.”
Oh, yes.Those.She tried to recall her objections and found her mind curiously blank as a piece of paper before it was sullied with ink.
“Resentment was one, I believe, was it not?” He lowered his head, his lips grazing her ear. “You needn’t fear I will resent you, Izzy. I was going to wed one day.” He kissed her throat. “Likely. The day has merely arrived sooner than I had expected.”
She shivered as his talented mouth found her wildly racing pulse. “My dress,” she managed. “The…architecture.”
He grazed the cord of her throat with his teeth, and she felt him smile against her skin. “Theartichoke, you mean?”
Flim-flam, he had her at sixes and sevens. She had misspoken. Her mind felt rather reminiscent of the way it had when she had awoken in this house to a throbbing head the night after the Greymoor ball. As if it were filled with cotton.
Or perhaps clouds.
“Yes,” she managed. His tongue flicked against her flesh now, stealing her breath once again. “The artichoke. You objected to it, as I recall.”
“You may wear all the vegetation you like.” He had worked his way back to her ear, where he caught the lobe in his teeth to deliver a nip. “Besides, I have always preferred my womenoutof their gowns tointhem.”
Her knees wobbled.
His women.
