A Convenient Bride by Cheryl Ann Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

toes.
    She felt the moment when tension left him and he gave in to the kiss. And give in he did. One hand slid to her back, and the other weaved into her hair. Whatever control she thought she had changed the instant he deepened the chaste kiss by slanting his mouth over hers and showing her what it meant to kiss a man who was an expert in the matter.
    His tongue dipped between her parted lips and sent a wave of both shock and heat through her senses.
    Her throaty gasp was squelched by his mouth as his hand moved from back to buttock, pushing her against a hard ridge in his breeches, which she knew, from her brief time at the courtesan school, was an erection.
    Her face burned with the knowledge.
    Brenna felt the room tilt as he backed her up against the wall and trapped her in his embrace. The kiss was hot and hisbody overwhelming, as she finally gave up all thoughts of the scandalous placement of his hand and her body’s innocent yet overwhelming reaction to his warmth. She succumbed to the kiss.
    No boyish kiss was this. He tasted of ale and seduction. She whimpered low in her throat, wrapping her arms around his neck, seeking something…more.
    Then just as quickly as the kiss began, she was freed. He stepped backward, his face hard, leaving her feverish flesh to the chill of the room.
    “Tempting a man can have dire consequences, Milady. I could have easily taken the innocence you just offered so willingly.” He turned and reclaimed the tankard, dismissing her.
    Brenna stood there, held up by the wall, not knowing if she should claw out his eyes or throw a chair at him. The man was impossible—completely impossible!
    Instead of launching an attack, she seethed.
    “I was not offering you my innocence,” she ground out.
    She’d kissed him to show there was more to her than what he saw—an uncaring and spoiled noblewoman who would do anything to get her way. And she
was
spoiled, she knew. Her parents indulged her, the servants were there to fulfill her every whim, and she was used to getting her way. She wanted him to see her as a woman beneath her noble shell.
    “Truly?” he said, clearly not believing a word she’d uttered. “I am certain I felt the invitation when you pressed your breasts against me.”
    “Oh, you are a horrible man!”
    He smiled wryly. “So I’ve been told.”
    Brenna knew she was outmanned. She’d thought her chaste little kiss would entice him to beg to marry her. What a fool she’d been! She’d thoroughly misjudged him. This man was different, and her father was right. She knew nothing of the world outside her perfect existence. In that moment, with the feel of his hand still lingering on her bottom, Lady Brenna Harrington lost part of her innocence.
    Accepting a momentary defeat, she pushed off the wall. He’d won a point, but she was not about to return to London without him. There was too much at stake.
    If she’d learned anything from her brief time at the school,it was that women had more power than men suspected. They held the key to drive men to war, to take them to their knees. That key was seduction. She would use it now, driven by instinct, to make him want her, to marry her.
    “You enjoyed the kiss,” she said boldly. She shoved aside her anger and pretended experience she did not have. She had to make him mad for her or her plan would fail. “I felt your interest.”
    His body stiffened.
    “You think of me as Walter’s daughter and therefore untouchable.” She walked to the bed and ran her fingertips over the coverlet. “At this moment, your body is warring with your sense of honor. You want me; I know you do.”
    “Do not press me, Brenna.” He tossed back the remaining ale and kept his back to her. “I am a nudge away from paddling you.”
    Brenna hid her smile. “You treat me as if I am a child and you a man of advanced years. We are not so far apart. You are not yet thirty, not too old.”
    “A person’s age is not always judged in years, but