“Your window, then.”
Her hazel eyes flared. “So you’ll make me suffocate in my room, locking every window? Why canna you just take no for an answer? Have I no’ made it plain enough for you?”
“It’s the wrong answer, sweetheart, and until it’s the right one. you don’t really expect me to give up, do you? I must think of my reputation, you know.”
She laughed at this, relieving some of her tension. God, but he was incorrigible, utterly lacking in morals, and oh, so tempting. She had never known a man could have such a powerful sexual allure, so strong that even in her saner moments, knowing full well that he was not the man for her, she could still be drawn to him. But whether he was serious or not in this bold pursuit of her, the only way she was going to survive this present encounter was not to take him seriously at all.
In control again, her eyes chiding him, Roslynn said, “Your reputation is precisely whatIam thinking of, Sir Anthony.”
“Then I must see if I can’t chase such thoughts away—again.”
“No!”
She gasped as he reached for her, and before she knew it, she was sitting on the railing, her balance precarious at best, and he was grinning at her. She had thought he meant to kiss her again.Thisshe didn’t find amusing at all. The drop behind her was at least eight or nine feet from the top of the railing where she sat to the ground, her feet were dangling off thefloor, and she had nothing to grasp hold of if she should lose her balance—except him.
Scowling, she started to jump down, but Anthony stepped closer, and to Roslynn’s horror, he flicked her skirt up to her thighs. Now he moved even closer, forcing her legs to part to accommodate his hips, and he leaned his chest into her, pushing her back, back…
“Hold onto me, or you’re going to fall over.” His voice broke through her panic.
She did, because there was nothing else she could do at the moment. Only he didn’t straighten up so she could regain her balance. He kept her dangling half over the railing, his body her only anchor.
“You’ll have to do better that that, sweetheart. Wrap your arms around my neck.” With one arm he pressed her belly and chest to his. “Now hold tight, because I’m letting go.”
“No, dinna—”
“Shh, sweetheart.” His breath blew into her ear, sending delicious tremors down her back. “If you won’t give in, at least give me this. I need to touch you.”
She caught her breath as she felt a hand on each knee, slowly moving up the outside of her thighs, dragging her dress with them. “Stop! You’re a bloody…let me down!” And then, in a husky whisper, “Anthony.”
He shivered at the way she said his name. But before she could say any more, his hands reached her hips, and with a sharp pull he had their loins pressed tightly together.
Roslynn moaned softly, her head falling back, her limbs gone all buttery. He might as well have entered her, the feeling was that evocative. And now his lipsburned a moist trail along the neck she had exposed to him, and Roslynn quite understandably forgot her precarious position.
“I don’t suppose you’ll thank me for intruding, Tony, but Lady Grenfell’s searching for your little Scot, and she’s bound to look in here at any moment.”
With a curse, Anthony glanced at James several feet away, to see him tactfully looking down at the fountain, rather than at them. He lifted Roslynn off the railing, his hands still supporting her hips, and for just a moment more held her like that, savoring the feeling of her in this position, with her legs nearly wrapped around his waist. She was once again in the throes of passion, lips parted, eyes closed, face flushed. He doubted she had even heard James.
“Oh, Christ,” he said as he let her slide slowly to her feet, frustrated now beyond measure. “We’ll have to continue this another time, sweetheart.”
She stepped back, her legs wobbly, and over several long moments he watched her eyes gradually focus, finally widen, and then promptly narrow. Fascinated, Anthony didn’t even see her hand coming, but the palm cracked solidly against his cheek.
“There’ll no’ be another time, mon, for what you’re wanting,” she said quietly, but with enough force that he couldn’t doubt her temper was boiling. “I dinna ken your rules, and you canna be trusted to play fair, so just stay away from me.”
She flounced off in the direction they had been taking, continuing around the room. Anthony didn’t try to follow her. He sat back on the railing, fingering his cheek, and watched her until she was gone from sight.
“I was wondering when that Scot’s temper would surface.” He grinned as James came up beside him.
“I’d say you were let off lightly.”
Anthony’s grin widened. “She didn’t even know you were here.”
“Bragging, brother?”
“Just feeling inordinately pleased, old man.”
“Well, now that you’ve left her in this raging mood, I don’t suppose you’ll mind if I try my luck?”
Anthony’s humor vanished instantly. “Stay away from her, James.”
