Which was fortunate for him, or else she might have been tempted to dump it over his head instead.
“Youdidtouch me yesterday,” she reminded him. “In the viewing room. Your sins are not entirely absolved.”
“My sins will never be absolved.” He brought the cup to his lips and drank greedily, as if he had been desperate to quench his thirst.
“I liked it, however,” she told him, just to be contrary.
Richford sprayed water all over the bedclothes and then began coughing. She had shocked him. Good. Served him right.
His cough turned into a moan as he clasped his head with his free hand.
“Not the blacksmith of Hades at work again, is he?” she asked sweetly, looming over him.
“I’m never drinking one of King’s bloody potions again,” he grumbled. “And you’re never to repeat such nonsense. What happened yesterday was an aberration. A mistake. It won’t happen again.”
“Your appearance at my bedroom in the middle of the night, spending the evening in my bed, or your hand under my skirts?” she asked sharply.
“Christ.” He glowered into the water cup, avoiding her gaze. “All of them. None of those things will happen again, I vow it. Listen to me carefully, minx. You’re to have your belongings packed to return to London today, or I’ll be going to your brother. I cannot be following you about this house party any longer. I’m too old for this nonsense.”
He still thought he could bully her into leaving? Ha! Poor, deluded Richford.
She clamped her hands on her hips. “I’m not going anywhere. If my presence here disturbs you so much, then perhapsyouought to leave.”
“Then I’ll have no choice but to tell Whit.”
The stubborn, infuriating man. If he didn’t presently look so pathetic, pale and wincing from his aching head in her bed, she might have boxed his ears after all.
She beamed at him. “Excellent. When you do so, please also tell him about taking me to the viewing room so that I could watch another couple engaging in sexual congress. And then don’t forget to tell him about the numerous times you’ve kissed me. Or the way you pinned my gown to my waist yesterday and slid your hand inside my drawers. Or how you appeared at my bedroom, kissed my neck, spent the night indishabillein my bed, and then wanted to s?—”
“Enough,” he bit out, interrupting her tirade. “My behavior where you are concerned has been unconscionable, and I own that. But it’s also to be expected. Surely you don’t think me a saint. I’m an irredeemable rake.”
As if she required the reminder. Oh, how she hated to think that she was of no greater import to him than any other liaison he had conducted. And oh, how she loathed to think of the other women before her, who had known his kisses, his caresses. The ones who would inevitably come after her.
Her smile died. “I want to be here, Richford. We have been over this before, and it has grown quite tedious. Now, please do get out of my bedroom because I have every intention of getting dressed in the next minute. I can assure you that the entire process is ridiculously laborious without the aid of a lady’s maid, and I need all the time I can manage.”
He set the cup down on the table at his bedside, his countenance grim as he sat up fully and swung his legs to the floor. He was vexingly tall, towering over her when he stood. But Rhiannon refused to take a step in retreat. She wouldn’t be cowed by him.
“Damn it, minx. What I’m trying to tell you is that you need to leave this bloody house party for your own sake. If you stay here, no good will come of it.”
“I will be the one who decides what is best for me. Despite your assertion otherwise, I am a woman grown, capable of making decisions for myself, and I want to stay here.”
“Why are you so determined?”
Becausehewas here. And she wanted him. She had never stopped, not from the first time she had laid eyes on his infuriatingly handsome face. To a rake like him, these last two days likely meant less than nothing. But to Rhiannon, they had meant everything. She had spent years longing for his kisses, for his touches. To be noticed by him.
And now, she had it.
She hadhimwithin her reach.
She wasn’t ready to return to London and accept Reginald’s proposal just yet. She had known from the start that the Duke of Richford was not the sort of man who would ever marry or settle. He couldn’t be faithful. He didn’t fall in love. But for the next few days, perhaps he could be hers.
She had felt it yesterday in his kisses. She felt it now in his heated gaze on her, drinking her in every bit as greedily as he had the water she’d given him. It didn’t matter that he was here for the wrong reasons, that he had sought her out of confusion or drunkenness. He desired her. And she had wanted him for what felt like forever.
Something occurred to her suddenly, a realization that lit her up like a flash of lightning across a night sky.
This was her chance.
She held his gaze. “Because I have no intention of leaving this house party a virgin.”
