Lady Iona's Rebellion by Dorothy McFalls Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes above them.
    She fluttered her arms in a flurry each time she started to float to the surface. Thanks to the darkness, she seemed to stay far enough under the water that her white chemise and fair skin remained hidden from view. The daisies that had adorned her hair one by one bobbed up to the surface all around Nathan.
    “Do you require assistance?” one of the ladies asked. “There seems to be quite a lot of splashing. I daresay you are not about to drown, are you?”
    He wasn’t in any danger of drowning but if he didn’t get Iona up for a breath soon, she would be. He prayed that in her panic she hadn’t swallowed a lungful of water.
    “Go on, I beg you. Leave a man to wallow in his foolishness alone,” he shouted.
    Thankfully, the steps were only a few feet away and shadowed. Without a backward glance to see if the audience they’d attracted was still watching, he tossed Iona out of the water and onto a stone ledge.
    She remained in a motionless heap for a harrowing moment before lifting her head and coughing up a puddle.
    He pulled himself out of the bath and found the cloak he’d used to secret her away from the Assembly Rooms. With a quickening breath, he returned to her side and crouched beside her. The poor gel looked miserable. He quickly wrapped the cloak around her sodden chemise.
    “Are they gone?” she asked and broke into another fit of coughs.
    “I believe so.” He used one corner of the cloak to dab her face dry and then drew her dripping body into his arms. Her heart thrummed like a frightened rabbit’s against his chest.
    “Consider ourselves lucky. That group of gadabouts could have spotted you floating around in all your—” He choked on the memory, breaking out into a fit of coughing himself. “All your glory.”
    Her glassy blue eyes widened. “Oh my,” she breathed.
    “Oh my, indeed,” he answered, feeling suddenly somewhat breathless himself. “You were very brave to hold yourself under the water for such a long time.”
    Dark shadows rimmed her unusually bright eyes. The curls, in her once expertly coiffed hair, drooped in hopeless disarray about her face. She dripped worse than a sodden kitten. A frown wrinkled her brows as she chewed her full, lower lip.
    She’d never looked more tempting.
    Oddly, she’d transformed so many times this evening that it left his head spinning. First she had been all schoolgirl innocence, then she’d tossed off her virginal gown and floated in the water like a siren with the power to seduce a man to his doom.
    Yet neither the pure innocent nor wanton seductress appeared as attractive as the soggy Iona he held now in his arms. With all pretensions washed away, she was simply a woman.
    An incredibly desirable woman.
    And he was a hot-blooded man.
    His lips sought hers. The heat growing in the shrinking space between their bodies seeped into his core.
    Ah, but those lips weren’t his to take. She was the Duke of Newbury’s daughter, he reminded himself. And she was at her most vulnerable, damp and as close to ruin as he hoped she’d ever be. Still, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from taking a taste.
    His lips gently brushed hers. The finest silk couldn’t have felt softer. The sweetest honey couldn’t have tasted sweeter. Even so, he tried to pull away and failed.
    She reached out and wound her cool, wet arms around his neck, making it nearly impossible to stop what he’d foolishly started. When her lips parted slightly with a sigh, his conscience lost the battle against his lust. He deepened the kiss, planning to devour her lips like he would a sweet confection.
    With agonizing care, he moved. The press of her lips against his sent a spiraling tremor boring deeper and deeper into his essence until every inch of his body throbbed with desire. Their tongues touched just as his roaming hand found the peak of her perfectly rounded breast.
    He teased the nipple into a tight nub and lowered her to a stone ledge.
    Two years ago, he’d