Page 36 of Stolen and Seduced By the Duke

"Immensely," he allowed his gaze to travel from her lips to her breasts in the most obvious fashion.

Margaret seemed to have forgotten whatever speech she had rehearsed during the carriage ride. Her eyes moved from his eyes to his mouth and back again, and Pierce caught the movement immediately. His pulse quickened.

Does she want me as well?

The realization was intoxicating. Yet Margaret suddenly cleared her throat and stepped backwards, breaking the contact between them.

"We agreed," she said, trying to recover her composure, "that such things would not be part of our marriage."

Pierce lowered his hands. "We agreed to many things."

"And that was one of them, do you not remember?" she huffed.

"I remember," he sighed and leaned back against his desk. He crossed his legs at the ankle and folded his arms.

"Then behave accordingly," she said.

He regarded her for several seconds. "Do you remember that you are coming to my house at midnight? Do you remember you offered to commit scandal at my ball?"

Her cheeks deepened in color. "That is not the same thing."

"No?" His mouth curved slightly. "You might wish to explain the distinction."

Margaret glared at him. "I came because there is something important I need to discuss."

"Very well, I am listening," he said.

She hesitated.

Pierce noticed that her gaze lingered upon his lips again before she forced herself to look away. His restraint was beginning to feel like a physical burden. His hands tightened into fists in the folds of his arms to stop them from reaching out for her again. He had spent years convincing himself that desire was something he could indulge without consequence, but Margaret made that philosophy dangerously inadequate. She was not one of the women he had once sought merely to distract himself from grief. She was the woman who would be his wife in the morning.

And he wanted her. Far more than was sensible. Far more than he intended.

Margaret drew a breath. "I came to see Hugh."

Pierce's expression changed at once. All thoughts of desire fled his body in a rush.

"Hugh?" he stood up straight.

"I realized that if I am to become his mother tomorrow, I should meet him properly tonight."

For a moment, the heat between them was replaced by something quieter. Pierce studied her face, searching for any indication that she had come merely from obligation.

"You came all this way," he said slowly, "in the middle of the night, because you wanted to meet my son?"

Margaret nodded. Pierce felt something unexpectedly warm move through his chest.

"Yes," she said.

"Yes," he said at last. "Then I believe you have chosen an excellent reason to visit."

"Indeed I have. I came because I wanted to meet the baby who will soon become my son and in truth it should have been arranged far sooner."

Something in Pierce's expression softened before he could prevent it, and the corner of his mouth lifted as he replied, "You are a walking contradiction, Goddess Flora. Bold enough to provoke an entire room of gentlemen, yet gentle enough to worry about a little boy you have never met."

Margaret shrugged, though he noticed the faint color in her cheeks. "This was our agreement. I gave you my word."

Pierce found himself genuinely impressed by the simplicity of her answer.