She rose on her toes, intending to accommodate him. The sooner this was done, the more likely he would be to realize how wayward she was, and how much easier it would be to send her away.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, humor lacing his tone.
The sheer nerve of the man.
“Assisting you in your demonstration, of course,” she answered primly.
“If that is what you call it.” He frowned down at her. “Cease attempting to take control of the moment, Virtue. Relax. Allow me to show you what you’ve been missing with all your Nottinghamshire beaus.”
It was the first time he had called her by her given name alone. Not the dreadfully condescendinginfant. NotLady Virtue. Not evenmy dear. MerelyVirtue. She tried very hard not to like the way it sounded in his delicious baritone, nor the intimacy it implied.
Virtue nodded. “Very well.”
But apparently, Ridgely was in no hurry to proceed. One hand remained on her waist, the other traveling along her spine, up, up, up in a slow, languorous sweep to her nape. His fingertips brushed tenderly over the skin there before rounding to her face. He tucked an errant curl behind her ear and then cupped her cheek.
His head dipped, his nose nudging lightly along hers in a teasing fashion. His breath was hot and whisper-soft against her own lips, sending anticipation thrumming through her veins. And then, the most astonishing thing: his mouth on hers, hot and smooth and decadent. But not merely motionless as the kiss she had given him had been. Instead, his lips were moving. Chasing hers. Coaxing them to respond. Which she did, following his lead. Slowly at first. And then with increasing confidence as longing unfurled within her like a tight spring blossom newly hatched. She was awake and alive and aflame as she’d never been before.
Oh.
Oh.
How different this kiss was, gentle and yet masterful. Sinuous and seductive. How wonderful. Surely there were other, equally superlative means of describing it, but her mind fumbled with its thoughts, rendered rusty by a confluence of sensation. She made an inarticulate sound—it couldn’t be helped. A soft, breathy sigh almost, that would have been embarrassing had not the entirety of her being been focused upon his kiss. Upon his lips. His wicked, knowing lips.
She had never imagined a kiss could be like this. That it would unlock all the mysteries inside her, that it would reveal secrets she hadn’t known she possessed. Virtue swayed into him, their bodies pressing more firmly together in an intimate dance she instinctively understood. Her breasts connected with the wall of his chest, her nipples aching behind the abrasion of her stays with each ragged breath she took. As she shifted, a thick ridge pressed into her belly. How deliciously hard he was, everywhere. How muscled and masculine, his larger, taller frame enveloping her as his lips continued their sensual assault with such sweet diligence.
Her hands moved from his shoulders to twine around his neck, her fingers slipping into the silken hair at his nape. He slowed the kiss yet deepened it at the same time. Suddenly there was his tongue, seeking entrance. To her mouth, of all places! She parted her lips to inquire after his intention, and then his tongue was gliding over hers, sending a bolt of heat directly to the center of her.
He tasted of tea and sin.
Of course he did. He was a conscienceless rake. Little wonder all the ladies swooned at the mere mentioning of the Duke of Ridgely. If his kissing lesson was any indication, he could reduce a woman to a puddle of mad yearning with scarcely any effort at all.
That wild thought, flitting through her mind as he licked into her mouth as if she were some manner of dessert he wished to thoroughly consume, ought to have restored her wits. Ought to have reminded her of all the reasons why she must not continue kissing her roguish guardian. Lady Deering warned her often that a lady must never allow a gentleman to lead her astray, and surely that was what Ridgely was doing now.
Only, Lady Deering had failed to warn Virtue of how lovely it would feel.
She never wanted the kiss to end. Never wanted Ridgely to remove his lips from hers. He seemed to understand her need, for the hands on her lower back held her more firmly to him, their bodies molding together. She thought quite fancifully that she could feel every part of him. Eventhatpart of him.
Abruptly, he ended the kiss, his lips leaving hers bereft as he raised his head.
Virtue blinked up into his diabolically handsome face. He looked like a ruffian with that bruise on his head, and yet it only added to his allure. He smoldered with a heady blend of passion and danger, and he was utterly and completely irresistible, the scoundrel.
Lady Deering certainly ought to have taught her how to steel herself against men like him, who could seduce with a look, a touch, a kiss.
Now she knew. Too late.
“There you are,” he said smoothly, as if her entire world had not just been abruptly shifted on its axis.
As if he were entirely unaffected.
Whilst she…she remained quite desperatelyaffected.
Afflicted was more like it. What had the handsome devil done to her? Her mind tripped over itself. She was still holding him, arms around his neck, but his hands had fled the small of her back to wrap gently around her wrists, untangling her as if she were an inconvenient vine in his garden. One that needed to be weeded out and removed.
She licked her lips, still humming with the effects of his kiss, and tasted him. A shaky, inhaled breath brought more of his scent to invade her senses. How unfair, that he should appear so vexingly unruffled.
“One would suppose you go about kissing ladies every day,” she observed curtly, finding her voice at last as she took a step in retreat. “You act as if such intimacy is commonplace.”
The corners of his lips hitched into a small smile that failed to reach the depths of his dark eyes. “Indeed.”
