More heat washed over her cheeks, but she held his stare, determined not to allow him to embarrass her. “Do you think I’m unaware of what your secret society truly is? I can assure you I’m not. The ladies and gentlemen who belong to your club convene at the house parties you host because they wish to indulge in congress beyond the bounds of their marriages.”
“Congress,” he repeated in a silken tone.
One that made her nipples tighten into hard points within her bodice.
She licked her lips, which proved a mistake because she tasted him. And good, sweet heavens, she wanted more. Shewanted this man on her lips first thing every morning and before she went to bed each night.
That wasn’t meant to be, she reminded herself sternly. She was almost promised to wed another.
“Yes,” she bit out. “As I said, what happens between a man and a woman.”
“Such as?” He began prowling toward her.
Rhiannon didn’t want to take a step in retreat. Even if he was like a beast stalking its prey.
She tipped up her chin. “I needn’t elaborate. I’m sure you already know the answer.”
He chuckled softly, stopping before her once more. “How knowledgeable you are for a girl who has just had her first kiss.”
“That was hardly my first kiss.”
Richford stilled, a strange, intent expression on his face. “Who?”
She blinked, confused. “I beg your pardon?”
“Give me names, minx. I want to know who to tell your brother to beat to within an inch of their miserable lives.”
“Perhaps you ought to begin with your own name,” she countered archly, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive pose.
“What just happened is scarcely anything of note.”
If his tongue in her mouth hadn’t beenanything of note, then the sky wasn’t blue. Rhiannon was still breathless, her knees still weak, her body still flushed, every part of her still intensely aware of him. But perhaps for such an experienced, wicked rake, their heated kisses had been commonplace. It was a sobering thought indeed.
“Of course you’re right,” she forced herself to agree, trying with all her might to conceal her umbrage and the hurt lurking close beneath the surface. “My beaus have all been far bolder.But that’s neither here nor there. All I want is for you to give me the key so that I can carry on.”
His jaw tightened. “Carry on with what? Surely you aren’t foolish enough to imagine I’d allow you to return to the house party.”
“Yes, that is precisely what I imagine. I came here for a reason.”
“To ruin yourself?” Richford shook his head. “I won’t allow it. As one of your brother’s closest friends, I could never in good conscience keep your presence here a secret from him.”
The notion of her brother discovering that she had stolen her way into this wicked house party and unraveling the sculpture of lies she had so carefully constructed made her throat seize.
“Whitby cannot know I’m here.”
But the duke was unrelenting. “He has to know. You need to go back to London. Posthaste.”
“I’m staying at this house party, and my brother has nothing to do with my presence here,” she countered.
“Wrong, little naïf.” A small smile curved his sensual lips.
Lips she had felt on hers, coaxing and knowing.
But she couldn’t think about his mouth now, or how moved she’d been by his skilled kisses. Finally, after all these years of longing and yearning, of watching him from across the room, she had felt those wicked lips on hers.
Stop thinking about it, Rhiannon, she urged herself sternly.
No, she had to do something.
