To Tame a Dangerous Lord (Courtship Wars 5)

He settled instead for embracing her while claiming her mouth, all of his senses focused on the vibrant woman in his arms. Like him, she had become lost in the powerful sensuality flowing between them.

Of her own accord, she moved closer, pressing her breasts flush against his chest, her belly tight against his erection. When she arched against Rayne, his hands went to her hips, holding her supple figure even tighter, molding her softness to his much harder frame. He wanted to seize her, to ravish her, to sink into her—

At last acknowledging the danger of losing his control, Rayne determinedly shackled his need and forced himself to stop. Breaking off his passionate embrace, he lifted his head. Her eyes were closed, he saw, and when he eased back, Madeline swayed weakly.

He caught her shoulders to support her, and her eyes fluttered open. She looked dazed, shaken even.

Staring up at him, she raised her fingers to her lips, as if feeling the burn there. “W-why did you kiss me again?” she whispered, her voice a mere hoarse thread.

He gazed down at her, admiring the alluring picture she made—her cheeks flushed, her lovely eyes wide with shocked arousal, her lips swollen and damp and parted to accommodate her uneven breaths.

The fierce ache in his loins actually increased.

Muttering a silent oath, Rayne shook himself. He couldn’t remember the last time a mere kiss had affected him so powerfully, or when his possessive male instincts had been so sharply aroused.

And her question was not one he could answer readily. Why had he kissed her? He sure as hell knew better than to take advantage of a defenseless woman’s plight, but his honor had escaped him for the moment.

“What if I said I got carried away, playing the role of your lover?” he asked, his voice thicker than he would have liked.

She blinked, as if struggling to come to her senses. Then her eyes narrowed. “But you are not my lover.”

She was recovering from her daze, he noted, discomfited when she squared her shoulders and tightened her grip on her pistol, although not aiming it directly at him.

Rayne’s mouth curved involuntarily. It would serve him right if she decided to pull the trigger, for his raging male impulses had been every bit as licentious as her baron’s.

“You needn’t fear,” he said, attempting to keep his voice light. “I won’t touch you again. If I do, you have my leave to shoot me.”

He meant what he said, Rayne reflected. Deciding it wiser to remove himself from temptation, though, he retreated to the sofa and settled there, crossing one leg over the other, the better to hide the swollen bulge in his pantaloons.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rayne Kenyon, Earl of Haviland.”

She gave a start of recognition. “Kenyon?” she repeated as if surprised by his surname.

“Do you know me?”

“No … but I believe you knew my father

. Captain David Ellis.”

It was Rayne’s turn to start. “You are his daughter Madeline?”

“Yes.”

Rayne stared. Her revelation gave matters an entirely different perspective, since Captain David Ellis was the friend and fellow spy who had once saved his life.

Now he damned well knew he should never have kissed her.

Chapter Two

I never expected aid to come from such a quarter, Maman, and certainly I am grateful. But I am discovering that Lord Haviland can be quite exasperating.

Still half dazed, Madeline regarded Lord Haviland in surprise. She had difficulty focusing her mind on his identity, though, since he’d abducted her wits along with her senses. Her lips throbbed, while heat ribboned throughout her body.

Deplorably, Haviland’s sensual assault had bewitched her. For the first time in her life, she understood the joy of being kissed by an expert lover. She’d been thoroughly jolted, shaken down to her toes by this ruggedly beautiful nobleman.

Yet that was not the sole source of her inner turmoil, Madeline knew. It was that she had never imagined feeling such … passion with a man. Indeed, she found it shocking that she could be so aroused and enchanted.

Even so, that is no excuse to stand here like a tongue-tied moon-calf, she scolded herself.