What am I doing?
“Get out of my sight,” Benedict said, his voice roughened by a desire he could no longer mask. “Before I decide that you need a lesson in obedience.”
Anastasia stared at him, her cheeks flushed, her chest rising and falling in rapid bursts. For a moment, he thought she might slap him. Or kiss him again. The fact that he did not know which possibility thrilled him more was enough to damn him entirely.
Her hands were still trembling, but she lifted her chin high, and with a glare, she swept past him, turned the corridor, and was out of sight. Benedict pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, as if to erase the taste of her. It was useless, of course.
That kiss was branded on him.
Chapter 10
Anastasia had been kissed before.
Once. If she counted that stolen brush of lips from the captain, a chaste peck stolen in awkwardness more than tenderness. It had been hollow, clumsy, nothing at all like the searing, hungry claim of the Duke’s mouth that now haunted her every breath.
This kiss had been different. Wrong. Ruinous. And far, far too wonderful.
Her lips still tingled as though his mouth lingered there. Her skin still burned where his hand had cupped her neck, and—good heavens—her skirts… She clutched them tighter now, as though the memory of his touch might set the very fabric aflame.
The Duke had kissed her, and worse, she had kissed him back.
Anastasia sat on the edge of her bed, then sprang up again, unable to keep still. She pressed her fingers to her lips for what must have been the hundredth time, as though she might catch some trace of him left behind. She remembered how she had clung to his coat, how she had melted into him insteadof slapping him across the face like any self-respecting woman should have done.
How humiliating! How can I ever face him again now?
But what unsettled her most was not his audacity. It was how much she had liked it. No,likedwas too pale a word. She hadwantedhim—wanted every wicked promise implied in that low growl of his voice. If he had not torn himself away, she would have let him…
Anastasia groaned aloud, covering her face with both hands.
I am losing my mind.
Because surely, that was the only explanation for why she had not only tolerated but longed for more of the Duke’s ‘discipline.’ He had not kissed her out of passion, she reminded herself savagely. No, he had kissed her to punish her. To prove she could be silenced, contained, mastered. He had loathed himself for it. She had seen it in his eyes, that flicker of self-disgust as though she had dragged him down into the mire.
Which meant, of course, that she should loathe him in return.
But if he despises me so much, why did he kiss me?
“You are a fool,” she told her reflection fiercely, glaring into the mirror. Wide green eyes stared back, cheeks flushed, lips reddened as though she had painted them with sin itself. Her hair tumbled loose about her shoulders, looking very much like it had when his hand had tangled in it.
Respectable women did not do such things. Respectable women did not imagine a duke pressing them into a wall, skirts rucked up, whispering threats in their ear. Respectable women accepted bouquets, blushed at compliments, and allowed a polite kissupon the hand.
Respectable women were not irreparably ruined like her.
All I can do is pretend this never happened and never think of it again!
Anastasia had worked herself into a fine state of indignation—pacing, muttering, vowing never to think of the Duke again—when Aunt Hyacinth opened the door.
Her stomach dropped.
Oh heavens. She knows. Is it written all over my face? What am I to do?
Aunt Hyacinth swept in, brisk as a general marshaling troops, tugging at the curtains to let in more light.
“Get up, my dear,” she said without preamble. “Change your gown. There is a gentleman here for you.”
Anastasia froze. “A—what?”
Her aunt finally turned, her brows arched with satisfaction. “There is a gentleman in the drawing room waiting for you. Sir Kamden Reids, a vicar’s son. A very respectable man indeed. Benedict said he had met his uncle in London. He is optimistic that this could be a fine match.”
