‘It was not really your offence, but theirs, and one of ignorance, but they will never be otherwise,’ he said steadily.
The voices from the terrace faced away, and Grace looked longingly at the house. ‘Very well. So it is settled, and there is no bad blood between us. Now let me go back.’
‘I have a mind to detain you. It is rare to find a beauty who understands what men suffer in war.’
She struggled to free herself, but the awful man would not relent, and he had a mad look in his eye. ‘If you will insist on pawing me, then perhaps war has made a savage of you. Sir,’ she said.
‘It makes a savage of the best men, the purest of souls. It is nothing but butchery.’ For a moment, he seemed far away, his gimlet eyes turned to the darkness. ‘I will paw you no more. Go then, leave the savage to his darkness and follow in the wake of the eligible young men.’ He leaned in, his mouth close to hers. ‘If you wish to catch one, I would advise smiling more.’
‘I am not searching for men, eligible or otherwise, and I will smile when I have something to smile about.’
‘Stay here and face ruination then, or do you not have the courage to bend the rules?’
‘I sought solitude and respite from the heat, and I certainly did not come out here to trade barbs with you nor to ruin myself.’
‘Ah, some spirit at last. I am gratified to see this defiance, though it does get my blood up.’
His face was inches from hers. The look of ferocious regard in his dark eyes made Grace’s heart race without her knowing why. How overwhelming this man was up close – his breath in her face, the smell of cologne undercut by something earthy, almost carnal, and his lips almost touching hers, their breath mingling in the humid air. The sound of voices from the house faded to nothing as Grace’s face burned, and the night became silent. There was no one nearby to save her from this man’s clutches.
The man’s jaw worked, and then he ran his fingers through a stray curl brushing the side of her face and said, ‘You are right, Miss. Too long out here with me, and you flirt with ruin.’ He smirked suddenly, making his face less harsh, more boyish. ‘However, your friends did injure my pride most grievously, so perhaps I should punish you in their place.’
‘How so, Sir? I am not to blame.’
‘Because you are here, and you are lovely, and they are neither. Come closer,’ he commanded, narrowing his eyes and reaching for her when she did not move. Grace found her bosoms against his broad chest, belly to belly with a monster.
‘No. Please, unhand me.’ She squirmed, but his grip was firm. ‘Are you not a gentleman, Sir?’
‘Oh, the last thing I am is a gentleman. Quite the opposite – nought but a war-torn savage, or at least that is what the ton thinks of me. Lady Granston was at great pains to point out all my shortcomings, wasn’t she? And you? What do you think of me?’
Grace smelled liquor on Rawden Voss’s breath now that he was so close. ‘I think you are drunk?’
He gave a bitter laugh and grinned. ‘I most certainly hope so, for I can barely stand upright.’
That smile again, making her belly clench, low down, sending a thud of sin between her legs. ‘All the more reason to leave you to your lurking, Sir.’
‘No,’ he said emphatically. ‘I need a diversion from my dark thoughts. You will stay and amuse me. I command it,’ he breathed, his lips brushing hers. Thunder rumbled overhead as if the sky was pressing down on them, and the night was suddenly twice as hot.
‘This storm is about to break,’ he said. ‘It will release the heat, and we shall have relief at last. Tell me, have you ever been kissed?’
‘No…I…’
‘Well, you are about to be, and thoroughly.’
A howl of protest somehow died in Grace’s throat as his mouth brushed hers, tickling, gentle, banishing all rational thought. His hand slid about her waist, locking her to his body, and then it came - a gentle assault on her mouth that left Grace breathless with confusion. Rawden’s kiss was shocking and yet sublime - warm, slippery, invasive and forceful, yet tempered by tenderness such as Grace had never felt in her life.
‘You taste like heaven itself,’ he breathed against her lips before claiming them again and sinking his fingers into her hair. It was as if he was worshipping her with his mouth, as if the man had gone inside her soul, and they had become one. It was so profoundly moving, so thrilling to her soul, that Grace let it continue. How could she be here, tasting a man’s mouth and not want it to stop?'
A lump formed in her throat, the ache that comes before tears, and only the thought of Rawden Voss judging her weak made Grace push him away. They stood silently, his face raging with some emotion she did not understand.
A cool breeze hissed through the tops of the trees, and Grace shuddered. Strands of her hair had come down where he had grabbed her and they floated across her face. Her feet were bare, and she must look a fright. She was alone in the dark with a stranger, and he had put his hands and mouth all over her. Every nerve in her body screamed that she must find a way to flee and slip back into the house before she was spotted and her whole life ruined. Confusion raged like a tempest in her chest.
Thunder cracked overhead, breaking the spell. Rawden Voss took a step towards her. ‘Forgive me,’ he said gently.
Grace shoved at the man with all her might, and he gave a little step back.
‘How dare you!’ she exclaimed, wiping her mouth with a gloved hand.
‘How dare I? You didn’t seem to mind, and if that was your first kiss, then I declare you a quick study, Miss.’
