Хелен Диксон – A Wayward Woman: Diamonds, Deception and the Debutante / Fugitive Countess (страница 19)
His hands slid from her breast and Belle felt him fumbling with the fastenings of her breeches. Instantly her sanity returned and with a horrified gasp, she broke away from him, her whole manner conveying her fury, which reappeared with shocking speed. With a tremendous effort of will she flung herself away from him and rolled off the bed. She stood glaring at him, breathing hard, her hair tangled in disarray about her shoulders, her green eyes burning, completely unaware of the vision she presented to his hungering eyes.
‘How dare you?’ she hissed. ‘How dare you do that to me? I will not be forced.’
Struggling for control, finding it with effort, getting off the bed, Lance straightened his clothes. ‘Come now, Belle,’ he managed to say, smiling, though he himself was shaken by the moment. ‘It was only a kiss—an innocent kiss, nothing more sordid than that.’ But he was not convinced by his words. With her long sleek legs encased in breeches, he was led to think that he had never caressed any that had evoked his imagination as much as those. The lingering impression of those trim thighs entangled with his own had done much to awaken a manly craving that had gone unappeased for some months.
He cursed himself for letting Belle Ainsley affect him in this way. He went from hot to cold, a sensation not normal for him, a man who had always had a woman at his whim, had enjoyed a woman casually and made love to her for his pleasure. Now this young woman needed to be taught a lesson and he could hardly keep his hands off her.
Belle’s anger was boiling. Every single word she uttered seemed to make it worse, as if it were feeding upon itself. And having no other outlet for this anger, it would continue to grow and fester.
‘A kiss that would have led to other things—which was what you had in mind you—you lecher—had I not had the presence of mind to end it,’ she flared, furious with herself for not only responding to it, but
‘I forced nothing,’ he said, raking his fingers through his hair. ‘You brought it on yourself when you decided to invade my bedchamber, don’t forget.’
He sounded entirely too smug in saying that. ‘Only because I thought it wouldn’t have you in it. I am here because I had no choice if I was to retrieve the necklace.’
‘Choice? Yes, indeed.’ He turned her angry words aside as he walked round the bed to stand before her, the burning heat back in his eyes. ‘Choice you are, my love.’ He ran his fingers down the soft curve of her cheek. ‘The very cream of the lot.’
His soft answer and soothing caress awoke once again tingling answers in places Belle tried to ignore. This betrayal by her own body aroused an impatient vexation. She had foolishly thought that all the quickening fires she had just felt in his arms had been thoroughly quenched by her anger. But she was becoming increasingly aware of the folly of that conclusion. Where his finger touched, she burned. It was a hard fact for her pride to accept. He was capable of scattering her wits in a thousand different directions. She wished she could deny it, for she realised he had a way of affecting her that made her uneasy of future encounters.
He stood before her, his wide shoulders narrowing her world to a dark, limited space. She glanced past him, but quickly dismissed the idea of darting for the door, for she strongly suspected he was as quick as he was strong. Shaking her head, Belle stepped back from him and pressed a trembling hand to his chest to hold him away.
‘You have been too long with the military and got too comfortable with the camp-followers to know how to treat a lady. I’ve heard how soldiers like to dally here and there at their leisure—I can’t imagine officers being any different.’
‘In some cases your imagination is correct, Belle. After years of soldiering, adjusting to civilian life is not an easy matter, and I, for one, intend to try.’
‘And I am not gullible enough to believe in miracles,’ she bit back. ‘I am not one of your common women. I will not be tumbled between the sheets and left to bear a child in shame. This was a mistake, a mistake you will have cause to regret.’ She walked past him, heading for the door.
‘A mistake for you, maybe, but not for me. You see, I know you now, Belle. I know how you react to my kiss, to being in my arms. The next time you may not be so eager to leave.’
She whirled in a flare of rage. ‘Why, you conceited—buffoon. There won’t be a next time. I would see you in hell first.’
Striding towards her, he bent his head, his laughing breath touching her brow as he chucked her playfully under the chin. ‘Your endearments intrigue me, but I did not fight with every measure of skill and wit at my command to preserve my life as well as my company of men on the battlefields of Spain and Waterloo, to have it taken away in peacetime by a mere slip of a girl.’
‘The slip of a girl you speak of I left behind in America, my lord.’
‘My eyes confirm what you say, Belle,’ he murmured, his eyes probing with flaming warmth into hers. ‘You are what any man would desire—softly rounded in all the right places, yet slender and long of limb. You have whet my imagination to such a degree that my pleasure would be to throw you back on to the bed and make love to you.’
She stepped back. Behind the pattern of her beautiful face, she was outraged. The red blushes on her cheeks had settled into a dark glow, the flush of sudden battle in her face. Her retreat was necessary to cool her burning cheeks, and to ease to some degree the unruly pacing of her heart. ‘Stop it. You should not be saying such things.’
‘Come now, Belle, believe me, after surrendering your virginity you will be amazed at the pleasures to be found in the arms of a lover.’
‘Lover? Ha!’ she scoffed. ‘The man I surrender my virtue to will be my husband. It is not something I shall give away in the weakness of a moment in the bed of the vilest of rakes.’
Lance did not seem surprised or insulted. Undaunted, he lifted his brows quizzically, a twist of humour about his beautifully moulded lips. But never had he looked more challenging. ‘This is indeed a crushing moment, Belle! I have been called some names in my life, but I must confess never to have been called—the vilest of rakes.’
Belle saw him struggling to hold back his deep amusement. Then, to her rising dismay, he threw back his head, letting out rich, infectious laughter. ‘This has really made my day—”the vilest of rakes”.’
‘You are insufferable,’ Belle cried angrily, her rage pouring out. ‘Let me out of this room this instant.’
‘You needn’t be distressed by what has just happened between us,’ he said, no longer laughing, but still quietly amused. ‘Making love can be just as pleasurable for a woman as for a man. Are you so fearful of losing your virtue, Belle?’
She thrust her face forwards to deliver her own angry rejoinder. ‘With you? Yes!’ she answered with a finality that brooked no discussion. ‘I will not allow myself to be sullied and then tossed aside by you, leaving me little hope of attracting a respectable husband. Rumours have a way of shattering lives, my lord. No man wants spoiled goods.’
Lance offered her a cajoling smile, appealing to her with all the charm he was capable of putting into play. He had not got to where he was in life without becoming aware that many women he had known had been intrigued and captivated by the smile on his lips.
‘I’ll have you know that right now you’re presenting a definite challenge to me,’ he accused, amusement gleaming in his eyes. ‘I’ve never before known a woman who seems to loathe me one minute and the next accept my attentions as you did just now on the bed. Can I not persuade you to relent?’
‘You certainly know the right words to entangle a gullible maid’s mind, my lord. But I am not gullible and certainly know the risks I would encounter if I allowed myself to be taken in by the likes of you. What woman would willingly invite such disgrace?’
Cocking a magnificent brow enquiringly, Lance peered down his noble nose at her. ‘Not all women who know me would consider it a disgrace.’
‘Just how many women have you addled with comments of that sort, my lord?’ Belle asked snidely. ‘If any of them believe you then they must be simple minded. You can say what you like, but any
His eyes danced as he probed the bright green orbs. ‘I’ll allow the subject itself wouldn’t soothe your nerves, Belle, but the joining of our bodies in the ritual of making love would do wonders for relaxing you. I’d be more than willing to show you.’
‘I’m sure you would, but I’m not going to give you the chance. Now please stop it. You are far too persistent for my peace of mind.’
‘When I see something I want, I go for it.’ He shrugged nonchalantly. ‘It’s in my nature. At least the men under my command thought so.’
‘I’m not one of your men,’ she retorted, and had cause to wonder what would follow as his eyes gleamed tauntingly into hers.