Will was still staring at her expectantly and Phoebe swallowed, but like hell would she admit to her inexperience. Nor give him the satisfaction of holding such power over her. She wasn’t a lovesick girl anymore. Bringing him down a peg was a good enough reason for her. Phoebe pressed her hands against his shoulders and straddled his lap.
His eyebrows rose in surprise, but before he could say anything, Phoebe cupped his insufferably beautiful face and kissed him. Itwas the kind of kiss she had always imagined giving him: wild and passionate and full of everything she felt but could never say. Will was stunned for a moment but then his arms wrapped around her and he hauled her against him, returning the kiss with even more fervor than before. The flimsy little wall she had managed to erect around her heart was decimated as she leaned into the pure pleasure of the kiss.
Thiswas how she once imagined it would be between them.Thiswas what she had once dared to want. And lord, it felt good.
Phoebe felt him grow hard beneath her and she immediately rocked against him. It was instinctual, the way their bodies knew just how to move together. Phoebe shivered from the delicious sensation and Will let out an answering groan. He sounded desperate, like a man on the brink. And Phoebe wanted more. Wanted every last bit of the stuck-up duke that remained within him to crumble under her touch. She ground her hips even harder and he turned his head away, breaking the kiss.
“Christ, Phoebe,” he said breathlessly, but the slight censure in his words cut through the dense fog of lust that had clouded her brain.
What was shedoing?
She shoved off him in one swift movement and sat down hard on the opposite bench, trying to hide her own heaving breaths.
“Are you all right?” His heavy gaze was on her, but Phoebe couldn’t look at him just yet. She had revealed far too much. It would be a miracle if he didn’t suspect how deep her infatuation went. Now was the time to put him off.
Phoebe crossed her arms over her pounding heart. “Of course,” she said, forcing lightness into the words, as if she debauched men in carriages all the time.
Will gave her a long look before he let out a sigh. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he stared at the floor and pulled a hand roughly through his hair. Phoebe turned to him fully, unable to resist seeing him like this, all rumpled and raw. Because then that pathetic little part of her could pretend that he was still just Will Margrave. And that there was still a fighting chance for something more between them.
But as he glanced up and their eyes met, the vulnerability melted away. Phoebe’s heart sank as she watched Will quickly fix his hair and straighten in his seat until he regained the stiff bearing of the duke once again, albeit slightly more undone than usual. He then passed Phoebe her cap and she took it.
Will looked out the window. “We’ve nearly reached Mayfair. I should have had John bring you home first.”
The reason for this lapse went unspoken.
Phoebe nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He turned to her sharply, his dark eyes now full of challenge, but Phoebe pressed on.
“I meant to say it much earlier, but then everything… happened.” She clenched her hands on her lap. God, this was excruciating. “I think I was too harsh with you the other night,” she continued. “About your support of Lord Fairbanks’s bill.”
But Will didn’t look at all appreciative. Instead he looked grave. And so very tired.
He shook his head. “No, you were right. I reviewed a draft of Lord Fairbanks’s bill and it is purely punitive. There are no provisions for the people who will lose their livelihoods. Only unfairly harsh consequences for those who dared engage in the practice in the first place.”
But Phoebe couldn’t focus properly on his admission, for atthe mention of Lord Fairbanks she had immediately remembered Lady Gwen. Will may have kissed her first, but Phoebe had pushed things much further. No wonder he had stopped her. No wonder he had looked ashamed. The man was nearly engaged and she had, quite literally, thrown herself at him.
“… and I mean to change it.”
She blinked. “Sorry?”
“I mean to change it,” he said more urgently. “Or else he’ll lose my support.”
“Oh. That’s good.”
He furrowed his brow, clearly expecting her to be more enthusiastic, but Phoebe couldn’t focus on anything other than her mortification. She needed to get out of this carriage.Now.
Phoebe banged on the ceiling. “I can get a hackney from here,” she said as the carriage came to a halt.
“What?Phoebe, no—”
But she had already put on her cap and moved to the door. “I’ll be fine.” She opened the door before John could climb down from his seat. Only once she was safely on the pavement did she look back at Will. He was staring at her with a mixture of confusion and concern.
“And don’t worry,” she said, then waved a hand between them. “I won’t say anything about this. In fact, it is already forgotten.”
He began to say something, but Phoebe slammed the door shut and disappeared into the night. It was well past time for her to walk away from Will Margrave.
Will awoke the next morning far too early after falling asleep much too late. After Phoebe bolted from his carriage, Will hadJohn follow the hackney she hailed. It was only once he watched her enter her home that he could return to Mayfair, but even then he had been completely unable to relax. His mind refused to focus on anything other than reliving those few heated moments in the carriage, when Phoebe had straddled his lap with practiced ease and then kissed him like her life depended on it.
