And the dam broke. He crushed her harder against him, his lips and tongue more insistent, his hands tugging slightly on her bun and mixing an odd and wonderful sensation of the slightest pain with the deepest pleasure.
She wanted more. Even though she didn’t fully understand it. Even though every proper word that had ever been spoken to her by every stern lady screamed at her to pull away. To run before it was too late.
She ignored it all.
She didn’t want to run. She wanted to wrap herself around this man until this deep, throbbing ache inside of her was soothed. Until she didn’t feel so empty anymore. She would fill herself with him. She would drown if she had to.
And just when she thought she might, just when she began to believe he might give her what she wanted, he pulled away. He steadied her before he backed up a long step, breaking all contact between them. Suddenly she heard the sounds in the room again, felt the eyes on them from those nearby who probably hoped for the same kind of show others were putting on.
Ellis stared at her, silent, his expression inscrutable thanks to more than just the mask. He didn’t want her to know what he felt. What he wanted. Why he was playing a game with her.
That thought made her anger return, and she lifted a shaking hand to her lips. They felt so hot. So full. She glared at him. “L-leave me alone,” she whispered, though there was no heat to the words. No truth.
“You endanger yourself, Juliana,” he said.
She folded her arms. “Youendangered me.”
His jaw set as if he was gritting his teeth and his gaze left hers at last. He nodded slowly. “I did do that, yes. And now I’m going to protect you.”
“I don’t want that,” she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “I don’t wantanythingyou have to offer.”
“Well, we both know that isn’t true,” he said with a half-smile. “We both know youwanta great deal. Youneedeven more.”
She shook her head, hating that he could see through her. Hating that he could use her body and her heart against her. She stepped toward him. “Mr. Maitland—”
He groaned and lifted a hand. “Don’t. You are testing something you don’t understand.” He sighed. “Now I’m taking you home.”
Her lips parted in shock and she fought to find some way to deny him. Only he wouldn’t be denied. He reached for her hand, catching it in his as he started toward the door. And she followed, even though she kept telling herself to pull away. She followed, her heart throbbing faster, her body tingling with reaction and her soul longing for another kiss.
Even though this man was everything she shouldn’t want.
Ellis looked across the carriage at Juliana. She was sitting ramrod straight, her hands folded in her lap, her gaze focused on him. She would have looked as proper as any well-bred lady should, were in not for the revealing dip of her gown’s neckline or the mask still on her face.
Two things that made his half-hard cock twitch a little in his suddenly very snug trousers. The woman was a menace, plain and simple. And he’d never been able to resist one of those.
This time he had to.
He leaned forward. She stiffened but not in fear. Her hands clenched against her lap and her breath caught as he slipped a finger beneath her mask and pulled it away gently. He tossed it on the bench beside him and examined her again.
Great God, but she was a beauty. It was funny because he’d met her sister Thomasina, though not exactly under the best of circumstances. And he’d used all his seductive powers on her sister Anne to try to save himself from the dangerous situation that now threatened them all. But even though both women shared Juliana’s face, he had never been drawn to either of them the way he was to her.
He couldn’t stop looking at those eyes. A fascinating shade of green that reminded him of spring in the countryside. Someplace safe and warm. A place he didn’t belong and never would. But it was a place he wanted to belong to, especially when he was vulnerable. Unexpectedly seeing his brother Gabriel tonight at the Donville Masquerade…
Thatmade him vulnerable. He had gifted a membership to the club to his brother upon his eighteenth birthday. And though it was awkward to bump into Gabriel at that place of sin and seduction, he still loved talking to his brother. Having that all-too-brief connection before Gabriel went off to have a little fun.
It might be the last time Ellis saw him. And that cut down to the bone. So, of course, Juliana Shelley would come up after that. Of course she would challenge him and surprise him and let him kiss her until the pain dulled and his blood roared in his ears. She made him forget.
He had to remember now. He leaned back. “Why are you doing this?”
She didn’t answer, but her fingers came up to trace the length of the scar across her cheek. He followed them in the dim light. She had only been injured a few weeks ago, so the damage was still dark red, and the skin around it was slightly puckered as it healed. Itwouldheal, but she would always have a mark there.
“Because you think you’re damaged,” he said when she didn’t fill the silence.
She let out her breath slowly. “IknowI am,” she corrected, her voice shaking. “And not just because of the scar.”
He wrinkled his brow. “What does that mean?”
She turned her face, looking out the window at the darkness outside. “Perhaps a man would have been able to overlook the scar, considering my dowry. But I was already on shaky ground socially. Being a triplet makes me and my sisters…oddities. And then you did what you did. You seduced Anne and she ran away. The scandal of her broken engagement and Thomasina marrying Harcourt in her stead…” She bent her head. “Thatis what damaged me most.”
