He was on fire. His body burned, his cock promised to go off in his breeches if he didn’t pull away immediately, and, somehow, he managed to take her shoulders and set her apart.

“My dear beauty … forgive me …”

***

“Not if you are going to stop kissing me,” she answered dreamily. He wanted her, that was for certain. More than that, she thought. She was pretty certain he wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman before. She knew this because she had grown to know something of him. He did not want to ruin her. He would not kiss her if he was in control, and her instincts told her he was not in control … not at all … and that gave her courage to pursue him.

“I must stop … I do you an injustice, and I must get you away from here without anyone the wiser …” He took her hand, and she allowed him to pull her along through the maze, but they only found themselves in its deepest, darkest area.

She giggled and went back into his arms. What she needed was to make him realize that he had met his match. Could she do that with some a boldness she had never felt before? “Again, kiss me again.”

“No …” Lord Wildfire said, trying to be resolute, but then he whispered, “Bloody hell,” scooped her up, and did just that. He then set her apart by her shoulders. “I have been many things … done many things I’m not proud of, but I won’t ruin a maid.”

“You aren’t ruining me—you are expanding who I am …?

?? she said enticingly.

“Where did you learn to talk like that?”

“From the Godwin papers,” she said with a soft smile.

“From what? Never say you were allowed to read such outrageous …” He wagged a finger at her.

“Also, from you …”

“From me? I never taught you to talk like that!”

“No, but you have taught me to feel like that.”

“Now that is—”

“The truth as I see it,” she interjected. “You draw out all that I am, and I like it …”

“Well, stop it, stop liking it, for it simply won’t do.”

A tinkling ripple of laughter filled the air, and she saw that he was using a great deal of self-control; his hands were fisted at his sides, and he took a step back from her. “Turn around, minx. It is time we backtracked, before your father comes looking for you and decides to have my head, and rightly so.”

Her eyes lost their twinkle, and she said with a gasp as she remembered her father and Aunt Jane, “Oh … oh yes … let’s do.”

Just as they left the maze and came upon Sir Frederick and Corry, Babs felt a pair of eyes glaring at her. She turned and found her father staring directly at her.

“I better go face the music,” Babs said as she started off.

“Not without me, little one,” his grace said as he offered her his arm. She took it, and he led her to her parent, with Corry and Sir Frederick at their backs chattering away.

However, Lady Barbara’s father smiled to see the duke in attendance on his daughter. He waved her off, bade her enjoy herself, and returned his attention to his cronies. To his left, Lady Jane was chatting up her own circle of friends, and Babs breathed a sigh of relief.

The duke released a laugh and flicked her nose. “You are, most certainly, a minx. You slid through that one, didn’t you?”

“So I did … Shall we return to the maze?” she teased.

“We shall not. I am feeling like a scoundrel. I am not in the habit of seducing young women, so I do beg your pardon for my conduct and—”

“And what, promise never to kiss me ever again?” She twinkled up at him.

He took her hand, pulled her out of the light and into the shade of some large yews, and crushed her into his arms. “You are driving me wild with your games. Do not play them with me … you might be sorry.”

“Might I?”

Tags: Claudy Conn Sir Edward Historical
Source: readsnovelonline.net