50 Ways to Ruin a Rake by Jade Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

man, then there’s no hope for a future.”
    She nodded. It was true. She saw that clearly even if her heart did not. Her heart was suffering from a lack of choices. With the only two gentlemen in her circle being Lord Charming and Ronnie, of course it would leap at him. But she was a thinking person, not a foolish girl led about by her emotions, and so she thought about his proposal.
    â€œYou are sure Lady Eleanor will sponsor me?”
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    â€œAnd I will meet plenty of eligible bachelors?”
    â€œScores of them. I vow it.”
    She nodded slowly and watched his eyes light with excitement.
    â€œYou’ll do it?”
    Could she? Did she dare?
    â€œYes, Mr. Anaedsley, I shall do it. I shall be your fake fiancée and then take great pleasure in crying off. I hope you are completely humiliated when I spurn you.”
    â€œExcellent!” he cried.
    And then he kissed her.
    * * *
    What was he doing? The question spun through Trevor’s brain for about two seconds before logical thought completely stopped. All he’d really seen was how pretty she looked in the moonlight, how her hair curled so perfectly by her ear, and how her lips were moist and inviting. So he’d taken the invitation without thought to the consequences.
    It started in the usual way. The lady gasped in surprise, and that naturally allowed him entrance. He deepened the kiss automatically, thrusting inside and pulling her closer. Her head had to tip back, which gave him the superior position as he dominated her head and body. He tasted, he toyed, and he took from her before she had the wherewithal to refuse. It was the way a future duke kissed, and he was well practiced.
    Except, apparently, she was practiced as well. She closed her mouth—a little, just enough to threaten his tongue. His blood surged at the threat, and his fingers tightened, holding her to his will. She fought him for a moment, her hands hard where they clutched his shoulders. But as he thrust into her mouth, she arched into his body, dropping her head back.
    In that small movement, she gave him dominion, and he set out to plunder her with a different mind-set. Where before he had taken, now he set to a skillful dance of advance and retreat. In and out, he played, easily besting her until he found himself burning with a fire wholly unexpected. His heart was pounding in his ears, his hands were shifting to support her so he could take her to the floor, and most damning of all, his organ was hot and hard where he rubbed himself against her skirts.
    The speed of this inferno stunned him, and he broke from her in shock before he lost himself to her fire.
    He stepped back harshly, his breath coming in great gasps. She was clutching onto him so she followed, though she didn’t pursue the kiss. She too was breathing heavily, and that was the only sound in the room. Two people gasping in the most erotic of rasps he had ever heard.
    He swallowed and made to straighten his jacket, but his hands would not move from her body. He was locked into supporting her until she found her legs. She did eventually, while he fought the hunger to pull her back to his kiss, and to a great deal more. He was just giving into his baser nature when she pushed herself away. His fingers were wrenched open, and he made a sound low in his throat. It was not a noise he had ever made before, and the feel of it—deep and guttural—appalled him. He was not a beast, for God’s sake.
    He looked at her, seeing the rosy flush to her cheeks, the wet red of her lips, and he nearly lost himself to her again. But then she turned her face away and half stumbled to the settee. She fell upon the cushion without grace, and he was flooded with images of her hair in a wild tangle, her skirts at her hips, and himself plunging into her again and again.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” she gasped. Her tone was accusing, and he took that for a well-deserved remonstrance.