She glared at him. “I saw the man in a public park and I have a passing acquaintance with his daughter, as we are of an age. It wasn’t untoward for me to greet them. Nor to ask after their family. In fact, it would have been rude not to do so.”
The corner of his lip quirked up and the dimple in his cheek made itself known. “That’s how you did it. Clever girl.”
She blushed at the compliment, given without fanfare. She blushed further at the way his gaze flitted over her again. With desire. She knew it. She felt it, regardless of how angry she was at him. How frustrated she was by everything else happening around her.
“Youare the only one who thinks so,” she said, turning away from him with a shrug. Breaking eye contact seemed to be the only protection from the feelings he stirred deep in her stomach. Lower still.
He laughed softly. “Theydidscold you.”
“I assume you are here to do the same,” she said, facing him.
He seemed to ponder that thought for a moment. Consider the benefits and disadvantages of doing just that. Then he moved closer. “No. I just want to know what he said.”
She frowned. Her body reacted of its own accord, softening and wanting. But her mind? That stayed clear and it saw the truth. Ellis hadn’t come here forher, no matter how he sauntered and smiled. That was all his act. His love game, he called it. One he had played dozens of times and with dozens of women.
Juliana was a mark to him. He wanted something she had. Not money or jewels or whatever else he had seduced out from under those women he’d slid into his bed. No, she had information. And he expected her to give it over because she was so enamored with him.
Once she did so? She was certain he would then lecture her about her safety again, push her away “for her own good,” andshewould be left out in the cold. Just as she was left out by her family.
So, even though it was almost impossible to resist him, she shook her head. “No.”
His eyes widened. “No?”
“Have you never heard that word before from the women you use that…that…thatridiculoussmile on?” She folded her arms and put on a false voice, “Oh, I’m Ellis Maitland and I’m so handsome. I’m Ellis Maitland and I can do magical things with my tongue.”
“Magical,” he repeated, stifling a smile at her mocking instead of being offended by it as she had intended.
She threw up her hands. “Let’s not toy with each other. Webothknow what you can do. But it’s a weapon, Ellis. And you think by snaking over to me so seductively that I’ll just faint onto my bed and let you kiss the truth out of me on your terms. But I won’t. I’m no fool.”
He looked her up and down for a long moment. “You’re definitely not that. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever known.”
“Stopcomplimentingme!” she growled. “It won’t work.” Itwasworking, but she refused to show him that. “I didn’t go talk to Coningburgh for you and your purposes, Ellis. I did it for my own.” She backed away a step, no matter how hard that was. “Now go away.”
The false smile and his seductive bedroom eyes faded away. His jaw tightened and once again he was something more real. There was fear in his stare, strategy, regret. And as drawn as she always was to the act that was Handsome Ellis Maitland, the truth of him moved her more. But she resisted. She had to resist.
“You’re going to keep doing this, aren’t you?” he said softly. “No matter whose roof you live under, no matter if I push you away to protect you. No matter if your family locks you in a tower. You will keep coming.”
She didn’t acknowledge the question but stepped a fraction closer. “It isn’t your problem, Ellis.”
There was a flicker of emotion over his face. A moment of possessive heat. Then he closed the remaining distance between them without breaking her gaze. His fingers lifted and combed through her hair. He used her locks to tug her against him.
“Somehow it is,” he whispered as he bent his head and claimed her mouth.
Chapter 16
Ellis had told himself on the entire ride over here that he would not kiss Juliana. He’d repeated that refrain all the while he climbed the side of the house to her bedroom window. He’d muttered it to himself as he heard her and her maid move around in the opposite chamber and pictured her changing while his cock throbbed.
He’d told himself, and yet here he was, closing his arms around her and pressing his lips to hers. Because she was irresistible. Because she was everything. And he wanted more.
So he took it, bastard that he was, thief that he couldn’t help but be. He angled her head gently and drove his tongue between her lips, tasting her, drowning in her. He felt her stiffen but then melt, surrendering despite her outright refusal to give him what he wanted.
She still desired what he had to give in return.Thatwas her weakness, one he could exploit. Unfortunately, it was one he shared, which meant he could as easily fall victim to it as she did.
He leaned back and stared down at her with her blonde locks spilling around her shoulders, in her thin night rail that was almost see through in the fire, with her eyes sparkling with need and anticipation. He’d done seduction. So many times. This felt…different. Dangerous. Unstoppable.
Could he manage it? Could he leverage it? She still wanted to give him her virginity. To have a stolen moment she was certain would never be repeated. He’d denied her that before out of whatever sliver of honor remained in his rotten chest.
That honor was waning thanks to the desperate position he found himself in when it came to Winston Leonard. And when it came to her. Knowing she still wanted his hands on her, his mouth on her, his cock inside of her…that was temptation.
