“I have already expressed my gratitude several times.”

“I told you, I don’t want your gratitude.”

“Then what do you want?”

You, was Drew’s unbidden thought. I want you. I want your lovely mouth glued to mine. I want your luscious body writhing beneath mine. I want to hear you gasping with pleasure as I fill you…

Aloud, he merely said, “I want to know why you have been avoiding me so assiduously tonight.”

A telltale blush rose to her cheeks. “I think you must know why.”

“You’re embarrassed by what happened between us in your library last week.”

“You are mistaken. I am appalled by what happened in our library last week.”

“So we kissed. There was no harm done.”

“So you say,” Roslyn muttered cryptically.

Drew peered down at her. “Did I hurt you somehow?”

Roslyn grimaced, then shook her head as if chastising herself. “No, of course not. I just should never have let it go so far.” Her gaze narrowed up at him. “Yet you bear the greater share of the blame, for you are the expert. You should have stopped me.”

“Can I help it if you find me irresistible?”

Her eyes widened as she struggled between vexation and amusement. “Your conceit is astounding, your grace,” she finally said. “It was the novelty of the situation that caught me off guard. But now that I know what to expect, I intend to forget the incident entirely, I assure you.”

“I can’t forget it,” Drew murmured truthfully. “And I don’t believe you can either. You felt something when we kissed, just as I did.”

She refused to acknowledge his assertion. Instead she summoned a serene smile. “You haven’t asked me how my seduction of Haviland went this past week.”

Drew felt his amusement fade. “Very well, darling, how did it go?”

“Splendidly. I think I have finally gotten the hang of flirtation. Haviland seems to be enjoying it, at any rate. I expect we will proceed to kissing at our next encounter, hopefully tomorrow morning. He asked me to drive out with him then. It is what I have been striving for, and I have you to thank for teaching me.

”

The lightly taunting words, the challenge in her smile, had a predictable effect on Drew’s male pride, and he found himself clenching his teeth again, while his hands tightened reflexively at her waist and around her fingers.

He was vaguely aware that their steps had slowed as the waltz came to an end, yet it wasn’t until she spoke that he realized he was still holding her.

“Your grace,” she hissed through her teeth. “People are beginning to stare.

Drew released her reluctantly and stepped back. Roslyn offered him a swift curtsy before turning away, a stiff smile pasted on her face that suggested she was struggling for the pretense of civility in front of their audience and trying to hide her eagerness to get away from him.

Drew’s brooding gaze followed her as she moved away through the crowd. He could still feel the lithe warmth of her body, could still feel his own arousal at her nearness. Could feel his temper heating anew.

Roslyn not only had ignored his provocative remarks, but had thrown her own back in his face, leaving him with the natural craving to pick up the gauntlet.

Drew swore a low oath under his breath. The turmoil inside him was only growing stronger.

What in blazes was he going to do about Roslyn Loring? She roused a heat in him, a hunger he’d never felt for any other woman. A hunger that was still un-sated.

The need to possess her gripped him like talons, along with the even greater need to mark her as his, to claim her before Haviland did.

Yet there was only one way he could have her, Drew reminded himself grimly. By making her his bride.

Was he prepared to take such a drastic step?

Tags: Nicole Jordan Courtship Wars Historical
Source: readsnovelonline.net