Chapter 15

CHAPTER15

Amy had been caught off-guard at first. His Grace had seemed so angry at Andrew Clarence and his wife that she never expected him to actually kiss her.

The first touch of his lips on hers had been fueled by that same intense emotion, and as much as she tried to keep her head above water, she found herself getting swept away by it all. As his kiss devoured her, all her doubts and schemes seemed to fade away. It was like a force of nature, the sweetest hurricane…

No!Amy reminded herself. I must not allow myself to be swept away!

She let out a soft moan and felt something else—his tongue plunging into the chasm of her mouth, boldly claiming her as his.

In that moment, her old fears and insecurities arose like a wall to counter the rising tides. It was as if something inside her clicked, and she realized with horror how close she had come, teetering over the brink with the Duke of Leonbridge.

Well, this is not so bad, she thought. At least now, I have him where I can proceed with the next part of my plans...She pressed her body eagerly to his, eliciting a harsh groan from the Duke which she took as a sign of his approval. If she made it seem like she was falling eagerly into his seduction, perhaps he would…

"Oh God, what have I done?" he groaned, pressing one more soft kiss to her lips before leaning his forehead against hers, his eyes closed.

She reached out and caressed the side of his face. "But... Your Grace, I wanted it..."

His eyes snapped open, and the dark blue of his desire seemed almost horrified. "Lady Amy, you do not know what just—"

"I know that it is scandalous," she told him in a breathy whisper. "I also know that it is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced..."

Well, that was hardly a lie for that kiss was absolutely breathtaking in its splendor. She doubted if there was anything else in this world that would ever be able to match it in heat and intensity.

At least, when I go into spinsterhood, I will have this delicious memory to take with me.

She was almost shocked by the tantalizing wickedness of her own thoughts, but that was the truth. Once she became a spinster, the opportunity to be with a man in the most physical sense of the word would also cease to exist. The Duke of Leonbridge may be the only man she would ever be so intimate with for the rest of her life.

Deep within her heart, it filled her with sorrow and an unfamiliar tingling of excitement. She doubted whether she would want to be with any other man after him.

He led her to one of the stone benches scattered across the gardens, and Amy noted with some devilish glee that the front of his breeches had become exceedingly tight. She had heard about such things being whispered by the... ah, faster set in the ton. Judging by the bulge on His Grace, it would seem that he was rather giftedin that area.

A furious warmth stole across her cheeks, and when he sat down beside her, she looked up to him with pleading eyes.

"Please, Lady Amy—do not look at me so," he groaned. "Truly, I should be taking you back inside the ballroom right now."

"But I liked it," she protested coquettishly. "I like you so much, Your Grace."

Such simple words, but they seemed to stoke the fires he had been trying to tamp down within him. Amy saw how his jaw tightened, how he tried to turn away from her.

This time, however, she would not let him get away so easily.

She reached out and grasped his broad shoulder as she lifted her lips to claim his in a kiss. Despite his protests, he reacted quite eagerly towards her clumsy seduction. Emboldened by her newfound powers, she began to move her lips against his the way she did earlier, quickly recalling what she liked and doing it to him.

She inched closer towards him until she was all but sitting on his lap, the hard proof of his desire jutting against her soft derrière.

She felt his arms like steel bands holding her close as she wiggled against him, looking for a more comfortable spot. His pleasured groan rose up from the base of his throat, and she briefly wondered if she had hurt him.

"Are you all right, Your Grace?" she asked him in concern. If he was hurt in anyway, he might not want to proceed with her deflowering—and she did not want to dissuade him from that.

"Yes—no!" he sighed, closing his eyes as if he was in the throes of pleasure—or torture.

From what she knew of men, once the dance of seduction had begun, they should be hard-pressed to stop in the middle of it, but that was what His Grace was doing now! Maybe she was going about it all wrong... maybe she was not attractive enough...

"Are you..." she audibly swallowed. "Is it because you find me lacking in some way?"

"Lady Amy, you are a very beautiful young woman, and any man would be a fool not to see that." His blue eyes bore into hers with an intensity that made it impossible to doubt that he was speaking the truth. "But... I should not take such liberties with your person for the sake of my own base desires."

Base desires. She had never heard any man refer to it as such. No, they believed that it was their due from all women.

But here was the Duke of Leonbridge, a man who could have his pick of any woman in that ballroom, and he was holding himself back from taking her on a cold stone bench under the light of the moon.

He reached out and played with a stray curl that had escaped her pins. Gently, he tucked it back behind her ear.

"You are a young lady that I ardently respect," he told her. "It would not do for me to touch you so intimately and so inappropriately, especially in such a place where it might taint your reputation."

Amy’s heart hammered in her chest at his words. He was being so gentle, so considerate of her, against his own desires. She could see much more clearly now how he had not wanted to stop what had flared between them earlier, but through sheer will, he had pulled away.

His Grace was a truly admirable man.

And even more than that, it would seem that Esther had been right about him—maybe he truly was a rare good gentleman.

And maybe—just maybe—he truly found her not only worthy of his affection but also his respect.

* * *

Evan watched the emotions flit across that beautiful face of hers. Her eyes were like huge, gaping windows into her soul, and he could see quite clearly the kinds of thoughts she was having, even in the soft moonlight.

How he longed to kiss her once more! To devour those sweet, luscious lips of hers. To lose himself in her feminine warmth and softness...When he heard her soft moan into his kiss, it was all he could do to keep from flipping her skirts over and seeking out that paradise between her legs.

Lady Amy would have been surprised, maybe even horrified...but she had told him how much she wanted him, too—and that had nearly been his own undoing.

Fortunately, he managed to pull back and gather his wits about him, even as he began to curse his best friend in his head most soundly.

Damn that Benedict! If it had not been for that stupid challenge, I would have been able to enjoy Lady Amy’s charms as I wished...

He tried as best as he could to put some semblance of order into her hair and her clothes, which elicited a giggle from her.

"You are behaving like my maid, fretting over my appearance," she told him teasingly.

He looked at her fondly, stemming the burgeoning desire to take her lips in a torrid kiss once more. "I do not want to see you ruined because of me, my dear," he explained. "By now, they must have realized that we have been gone long enough..."

Her eyes widened. "It must not have been that long..."

But Evan knew very well that to the sharpest eyes and ears amongst the ton, it took only the tiniest absence before the rumors started churning.

"You must hurry back first," he told her gently.

"What about you, Your Grace?" She looked up at him in concern.

"I shall... ah... stay here for a while longer to enjoy the fresh air."

She did not seem quite convinced. Even to his ears, his excuse sounded rather absurd.

"Are you sure you will be all right?"

Evan nodded slightly and smiled a little to reassure her. "Yes, I shall be in shortly."

He watched as she rose up from the stone bench and then realized that he was still holding her hand in his. Gingerly, he had to let her go and watch as she slowly strode back inside the ballroom. Just as she was about to re-enter the doorway, she paused to fix her hair and straighten her dress.

Evan smiled at that sight. However, to the trained eye, the faint swelling on her lips would be undeniable. Someone was bound to know that Lady Amy had been kissed.

Thoroughly.

And when they realize his absence, it would not take long for the rest of the crowd in that ballroom to put two and two together.

He sighed and slowly stood up. He had to make his way back inside soon before the gossips started talking—if they had not already.

Besides, the thought that any other man in that ballroom looking at Amy in her state would no doubt be filled with all sorts of lurid thoughts, to Evan, seemed even more intolerable.

The way Lord Clarence’s eyes had watched her earlier had filled him with a great urge to do much physical harm to the man.

He had the temerity to do that in front of his own wife!Evan thought angrily to himself. He is almost as despicable as—

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

Andrew Clarence was almost as bad as Evan’s own sire, who had brought much suffering to his mother throughout their married life. Given a few more years, when the blinders had finally come off of her eyes, perhaps Lady Helena would suffer the same way.

Or maybe, she would be like most of the other jaded women of the ton—lavishly spending their husbands’ money to compensate for the emptiness in their own homes.

Society’s idea of marriage was the reason why Evan himself never wanted to marry. He never wanted to be the kind of man his father had been, and he knew deep inside that if any lady was foolish enough to marry him, he would only repeat the maddening cycle of unhappy marriages in his own family.

Was he supposed to pass on such a legacy to his children, along with his titles and estate?

No, that was something he was quite resolved not to do.

Besides, it was hardly like the Hatcher bloodline would dry up and cease to exist if he failed to find a bride willing to bear him an heir. There was still his younger brother, Adam, who could carry on the mantle of the Duke of Leonbridge after Evan himself.

Unlike Evan, Adam was not averse to the idea of finding a wife and siring heirs. Perhaps, it was because his younger brother had been much too young back then to see the bleak reality of their parents’ marriage.

Evan had no such desire to perpetuate such misery down his line which was why he avoided marriage like the plague.

But what if he did find such a woman who would tame the darkness within him? Was it possible that there was such a creature out there who could do so?

Almost immediately, the image of Lady Amy and her laughing eyes invaded his thoughts.

Never mind that it seemed like he would never be able to truly figure out what she was up to, but it was with her that he first found some sort of relative peace—even in the midst of the maddening changes in her personality.

Just like tonight, he had not expected her to morph into such an alluring creature merely by changing the way she dressed and did her hair.

Nor did he expect her to become the very goddess of seduction when she responded eagerly to his kiss.

Perhaps Lady Amy’s madness truly was the best way to counter the darkness within him.

If that was so, then it was still Benedict’s damned fault he could not touch her as they both wished for another week!