The Rake's Wicked Proposal

Never, Grace vowed determinedly. No man, husband or otherwise, would ever control her!

‘Then it is as well that you discovered such character faults before we were wed, is it not?’ she told him, with a sweetness that was not intended to be believed. ‘I will tell my aunt and uncle on my return that you have changed your mind concerning our betrothal—’

‘You will do no such thing!’ Lucian had reached out with one gloved hand and grasped her reins to prevent her headlong flight, his jaw tight, his teeth clenched. ‘You will obey me in this, Grace.’

‘You will let go of my reins, My Lord!’ Bright wings of angry colour stood out lividly on her cheeks.

He raised dark, arrogant brows. ‘And if I do not?’

Her mouth tightened, a light of challenge in her eyes. ‘Then you will leave me with no choice but to make you do so.’

Once again, while in Grace’s undoubtedly enjoyable company, Lucian had trouble holding back a smile that he knew without a doubt would not be appreciated. She stood just over five feet tall in her slippered feet, weighed almost half as much as he, and yet she still thought to make him do something he was not prepared to do. He could not help but admire her total belief in her ability to best him.

‘Grace—’

‘You have had your chance, My Lord!’ Grace, having seen the light of confident amusement in Lucian’s patronising dark eyes, raised the loose end of her reins and slapped him sharply across one arrogantly carved cheek.

The action so took Lord Lucian by surprise that he flinched back in his saddle, causing the stallion to dance nervously and pulling Grace’s reins from Lord Lucian’s grasp. It took every bit of his considerable expertise to steady the animal.

Grace took one look at the red welts that had appeared on his arrogant cheek before digging the heels of her soft grey leather boots into the flanks of her own mount and taking off at a speed she hoped Lord Lucian, for the several minutes it would take to make good her escape, would be too preoccupied to match.

She gave an exhilarated grin as she saw the gaping surprise on the groom’s face as she and the black mare rushed past him, not caring one way or the other whether he was able to follow her as she bent low over the mare’s back and urged her on to even greater speed.

The sound of hooves thundering behind her filled Grace with even greater urgency. But she dared not take even the few seconds to glance back to see if her pursuer were the groom or Lord Lucian as she deftly negotiated her way between other riders hell-bent on getting out of her path.

She had almost—almost—reached the gate to the road that would take her back to the Duke’s stables, when the black stallion, Lord Lucian astride it, drew level with her, and one glove-covered hand reached out to grasp the mare’s reins, pulling her to a skidding halt that would surely have unhorsed Grace if she had not been such an adept horsewoman.

Her face was deeply flushed with anger as she turned. ‘That was without doubt the most dangerous, stupid piece of horsemanship—’

‘I warn you not to push me any further this morning, Grace!’ he grated between gritted teeth, those dark eyes glittering furiously as he glowered down at her.

‘I am not to push you?’ Grace was completely at a loss for words.

Lucian gave a disgusted shake of his head. ‘You are without doubt the most wilfully reckless woman it has ever been my misfortune to meet!’

Grey eyes narrowed on him balefully. ‘I will ask you one last time to release your hold upon my reins, Lord St Claire.’ Her tone was frosty.

Lucian glared at her frustratedly. His cheek stung from the slash of her reins, and his heart was still palpitating from the shock of seeing Grace urge her mount hell-for-leather down the busy path. He had expected at any moment to see either Grace or some other innocent rider tumbling to the ground in a dangerous tangle of limbs, possibly beneath the lethal hooves of their mount.

In comparison, Grace sat there, so magnificently beautiful in her defiance of him, that it was all Lucian could do not to slide from the stallion’s back before pulling her from her saddle and crushing her mouth beneath his, in an attempt to force her compliance that way. She was, Lucian acknowledged grimly, becoming more hazardous to his health than any of Napoleon’s army had ever been!