“I’m sure you’ll enjoy the volume tremendously,” Cameron was saying. “If you love the land.”
“Very much. Almost as much as I love horses,” Damien said cheerfully.
“You sound like a friend of mine, Colonel Washington. He is enamored of horses and forever experimenting with botany.”
“I am in good company!” Damien replied, and Amanda winced. Good company for a hanging! she thought, but then it didn’t seem to matter too much then for her heart was hammering and she could scarcely breathe. She imagined that any minute Eric would wrench her to her feet and his hands would fall brutally upon her until he managed to find the letter. And then his long fingers would curl around her neck.
“Amanda, I should get you back. Your father will be worried.” And more cruel than usual. Damien did not say it, but Amanda sensed the thought behind his words.
“To the governor’s palace, then,” she said as Eric gazed at her. Why did it always look as if he knew so much more behind those silver eyes?
The governor’s palace—she would stay at such a place, or with friends. A lady of her standing seldom sought lodging in a public place. It was probably scandalous that she had gone as she had tonight to the tavern. She didn’t care much about her reputation, though. It had mattered only when love had mattered, and now she had been betrayed. She would never love again, she still bore the bitter scars of Robert’s betrayal, and so her reputation didn’t mean a thing.
Eric smiled, taking her hand. She wished that she could wrench away from him. He seemed to do so much more than touch her hand. The heat from his fingers coursed through her. “It has been a pleasure, milady. I’m sorry that you are established with Lord Dunmore. As I said, I would have gladly offered you this residence. Or Cameron Hall, had you use for it.”
Amanda smiled, pulling her hand back. She had to get away. She was hot and shaking, and she could feel his letter in her pocket. “Thank you,” she told him.
She turned about and started for the door. Mathilda came to see them out, and Eric walked them down the road to where Damien’s small carriage awaited them with his old Negro driver. Thomas was sleeping, and Amanda was pleased to see the gentle way her cousin awakened him. There was so much good in Damien. How could he be a traitor!
“Let me help you, milady.” While Damien spoke to Cato, Eric Cameron lifted her up and set her into the carriage. She felt his hands upon her waist and then she felt them brush her skirt. Her eyes widened with fear. She quickly tried to hide her eyes, lowering her head and her lashes. Then she raised them again, composed, her heart beating furiously.
Damien still spoke with the driver. Eric looked in at her, a twisted smile upon his lips. “One would think, Lady Sterling, that my touch aroused you.”
“What?”
“Arouse, milady. You do know the meaning of the word.”
“Lord Cameron, how dare—”
“Lady, I have seldom seen such wide eyes. And there—at your throat—a pulse beats with ardent fury.” He came closer to her. “One might think that you longed to be kissed again.”
“You think—wrongly.”
“What?” he demanded. “Your heart does not clamor for a lover’s touch. Then one would think that you were hiding something from me. That you were a thief, with stolen goods within your pockets.”
“Don’t—be ridiculous,” she managed to reply.
His smile deepened. “Then your apology tonight was sincere.”
Her breath came too quickly, causing her breasts to rise in rapid succession, pressing provocatively against the ribbon-laced bodice of her gown. Soft swirls of radiant ringlets framed her face and cast shadows against the emerald of her eyes. She gripped the seat, unaware that her fear gave her added beauty, that she enticed, even as she angered the man.
“My apology was most sincere,” she said, desperate to raise her chin, to defy him.
“I am glad,” he told her. With that he stepped into the carriage and sank down beside her. With the length and breadth of her she felt his form beside her own, heated, tense. She opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came to her. He reached out and touched her cheek, stroking downward upon it, bringing his fingers around to the nape of her neck. She nearly closed her eyes, for the sensations were so sweet, as if she were suddenly drugged by the nearness of the man. It was the brandy. Burning, swirling throughout her body. She could not protest, she could sit and feel and nothing more.
His lips hovered just above hers. “I am very, very glad,” he murmured, “for I should hate it, milady, were I to discover you false.”
Amanda could not answer for several seconds. She fought for reason, for words. “I offer you friendship,” she whispered. She could not pull away from him. She felt the curious combination of force and tenderness in his hold upon her. She remembered his hands. Strong hands. He could break a man’s neck, if he chose. Or a woman’s.
She was being foolish. He would not harm her. No matter how she betrayed him.
Or would he?
She swallowed, trying to keep her eyes innocently upon his, desperate, for his letter lay within her pocket. There was steel in his eyes. He would not forgive or forget if he was betrayed. Perhaps he would not harm her, and yet, if he discovered the truth about her, she was certain that she would regret her actions for the rest of her life.
Take your hands from me! she wanted to cry. She longed to leap from the carriage and to race all the way to the governor’s palace. She could not do so. His hold remained firm, just as his eyes continued to compel her. His mouth came ever closer to her own. He brushed her cheek with his lips, touched her earlobe, and she felt unable to break away, unable to fight the raw, sensual power. His face rose over hers again, his eyes entering into her naked soul. She moved toward him then, wanting more. Wanting just to taste…Her lips parted as she drew breath. No breath came to her, for his kiss closed down upon her lips.
She tasted brandy and the heat of his mouth. What she had initiated, he finished. His tongue swept with sensual insinuation deeply into her mouth. His fingers stroked first her face and then her breasts.
