He no longer cared if he was playing a dangerous game. This woman set him on fire like no one else had before and he couldn’t seem to stop the inferno that threatened to consume them both. But then, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be rescued.
He thought she would be untried, but it was obvious that someone had taught her how to kiss, because she moved against his lips with a precision that would not have been present in a true innocent. His hands tightened around her waist as he thought of some other man touching her, kissing her, but he told himself that they were no longer of any consequence because she was there with him and not his predecessor.
With a hungry desperation borne of desire, they finally broke apart. Her breathing was labored, and with her eyes heavy-lidded, she looked so lovely that he wanted to pin her against the tree and continue this little tryst. Unfortunately, he knew their time was limited and he wasn’t a complete cad when it came to ruining a woman in such a crowded atmosphere.
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, the haze starting to leave her face. “I thought I had learned?—”
“You were quite adept.” He lowered his voice. “But I’m not sure I want to know who taught you to kiss like that.”
He didn’t think she was the sort to get embarrassed so easily, but he took note of the blush that abruptly stained her cheeks as she said, “Believe me, it wasn’t one of the local village boys who tried to teach me.” She bit her lip in a manner that was both adoring and that almost brought him to his knees with want. “I studied others and did some… reading.”
He lifted a brow. “I should like to know who allowed you to explore your education so thoroughly and thank them personally on my behalf.” He slowly stepped away from her. Glancing beyond the tree to the assemblage, he noted that the supper box they had vacated was still empty. Her aunt had yet to return, for which he was relieved. “You should get back.”
She halted his movements when he would have pulled her along behind him. “When will I see you again?”
“I’ll be around.” He winked. “On that, you may be assured.”
The entire wayhome from Vauxhall, Lexie lightly touched her lips. She couldn’t seem to stop dreaming of that moment when the duke had taken her in his arms and kissed her senseless, just as she’d always yearned for. It was even more than she’d hoped. It wasn’t just magical, but it was dark and seductive and full of carnal promises that he seemed more than willing to fulfill.
Lexie knew she should be trying to keep the duke at a distance, to keep his interest piqued without giving too much. But she wasn’t trying to become a duchess. She just wanted to know more about the hard length she’d felt pressed against her skirts. Her core had immediately turned to liquid fire, pulsing with eager anticipation. When he’d pulled away from her, she had nearly begged him to return to her. It was bad enough that she’d gone so far as to ask to see him again. She didn’t want to push him too far. That could be as detrimental as suddenly becoming bored.
The next morning, she dressed in a peach-colored riding habit, intending to take her mare out for a ride in Hyde Park. She had no idea if the duke rose this early, or if he cared to ride, but it would be the perfect opportunity for another chance encounter. Not only that, but she was also feeling rather restless afterpassing a sleepless night, so she was eager to burn off some energy that was pent up inside.
As she arrived in the breakfast room, Lexie was pulling on her riding gloves.
Her aunt glanced at her curiously. “You should wait until this afternoon when the rest of thetonis out and about on Rotton Row. You would have more hope of success of gaining an earl’s eye.” She smiled smugly. “Or better yet, that of the king.”
Lexie wanted to sigh, because it was no less than ten times that she’d heard about the king and his acknowledgement of her aunt at Vauxhall. She had wanted to counter with her passionate tete-a-tete with the duke, but she knew that would be the wrong choice. It was a happy way to keep her aunt distracted if Lexie seemed to have her head in the clouds.
She walked over and gave her aunt a light kiss on the forehead. “I will return shortly.”
“You won’t break your fast?” the lady scolded lightly. “It’s not good for the constitution to skip meals.”
“I will be fine. I wasn’t accustomed to eating much prior to ten o’clock before I came to London. I shall survive until teatime.”
Thankfully, the lady didn’t argue and Lexie was able to make her escape.
Accompanied by her maid, Lexie set out the short distance to the large park in the heart of London. Enjoying a taste of the country surrounded by the congestion of the city was something she had readily enjoyed as soon as she’d arrived in town. Although the small village she’d grown up in had bored her to tears, she had appreciated the beauty of nature, and with the colorful leaves of the trees at their peak, and the swans yet to move on from the Serpentine, it had become one of her personal havens.
It was also a way to breathe in solitude away from her hovering aunt. If she wasn’t attempting to shove her in the directionof one gentleman or another, the woman was challenging her to be a more proper lady, telling her to sit up straight or smile a bit brighter. Lexie had nearly reached her limit of patience with Aunt Bonnie more than once, but she knew she had to hold her tongue because if she showed too much rebelliousness, she would be sent back to her father’s house and that would be it. The punishment was certainly not worth the crime.
As she entered through the main gates of the park and her mare’s hooves resounded on the pebbles of the path before her, Lexie glanced about the expanse, hoping to spy the impressive figure of the duke. However, other than a low bank of fog drifting near the lake, there was no sign of anyone that could possibly resemble the object of her fantasies.
She sighed; her dreams consumed with the passionate kiss they had shared. It was like nothing she could have ever imagined, and she was eager for a repeat performance, preferably in a place where they wouldn’t have to worry about being disturbed.
Her aunt would be aghast if she knew Lexie’s innermost thoughts, but how could she ignore the simmering fire that burned just beneath the surface of her skin? She wanted to be consumed by it, to feel the ecstasy bursting through her body…
Her mare pranced in agitation beneath her, and she realized she had been pulling back on the reins a bit too tightly. She gently patted the horse’s neck. “I do apologize, Molly. I fear my daydreams are threatening to overtake me.”
Leading her horse to the stone bridge that overlooked the Serpentine, she made her way to a large stone and dismounted easily. A girl raised in the country, she had always been an apt rider. “Stay here with Molly. I wish to take a short walk alone.”
“Yes, miss.” The maid bobbed her head obediently as Lexie set out on her own.
Breathing deeply of the fresh morning air that had not yet been disturbed with the heavy chimney smoke of the day, Lexie leaned her arms on the bridge and looked out over the graywaters before her. She would catch glimpses of people milling around the edge and now and then she spied a boy eager to try out his boat, or a little girl hoping to find a moment that her governess wasn’t watching to dip her toe into the forbidden lake.
Lexie recalled several occasions when she’d been young and romping about the countryside with some of the local village children when her governess had believed her to be sleeping. Those had been some of the most coveted moments of her life because although there were many times her hem would be filthy from mud, and her dress sopping wet from the adventures in the stream, the reprimand she had received hadn’t fazed her in the least because she had been able to simply be a child, and not a gentleman’s daughter who must comport herself in a certain manner.
She smiled, because apparently things had not changed so very much. She was still that same girl, eager to find a bit of mischief.
