When a Duke Says I Do by Jane Goodger Read Free Book Online Page B

desire, that she’d never felt before in her life “... that.” Elsie swallowed, her eyes drifting down to his mouth, her breath coming out in shallow spurts. Kiss me. Please, kiss me.
    Never before had a man looked at her like this, as if he were angry and dangerous and untamed.
    “I think. You. Should. Leave,” he said softly.
    Elsie swallowed, then blinked, feeling as if she was coming out of a trance. “Until tomorrow, then,” she said, forcing a politeness, a distance, she didn’t feel. What she wanted was to throw herself into his arms, but she feared if she did, he would push her away, and that would be far too humiliating to bear.
    Alexander waited until the door clicked shut before muttering a vile curse. That girl could tempt a saint, he thought, rubbing his hands through his hair. He didn’t know what the hell he was going to do, because God only knew he wasn’t a saint.
    He’d thought she might be frightened by his desire, but curse him, she welcomed it. Elsie was no child, but he had a feeling she was experiencing a woman’s desire for the first time, an intoxicating and perilous mix. He could hardly think of her without becoming aroused. The last thing he needed was a nightly concert sitting next to her soft body with only two thin layers of cotton between her and his hands. When she touched his arm, it took strength he didn’t know he had not to drag her into his arms and kiss her and release some of the awful tension that had been building since the day she walked into the ballroom.
    “Please, God, give me strength,” he whispered fervently. Nothing good could come from kissing her, from allowing himself to feel anything for her. He feared it was already too late for his heart, but he’d be damned if he allowed himself to touch her with his body. The best thing for both of them was to push her away, tell her to leave him alone. He couldn’t risk a scandal and he couldn’t bear to hurt her.
    And he knew he could never have her, just as he knew that the life he was supposed to have had was gone forever. The day his father put him in that asylum and walked away without looking back, without an ounce of sadness or regret, was the day he knew that other life was over.
     
    Elsie walked quietly and determinedly to the piano and lit the lamp, completely ignoring the man who painted so diligently. She knew, knew, knew she shouldn’t be here. She knew she wanted something she could never have. And yet, when nighttime came again, she found herself unable to keep away, as if Alexander was a drug, the only cure to her terrible loneliness. All day she thought of him, how his eyes looked when he stared at her in that intense way of his. How his hair curled, unruly and unkempt, onto his brow, how his firm lips always seemed to be fighting a smile. She felt truly alive for the first time in her life and knew she was in the throes of an infatuation she didn’t even want to try to stop.
    When she walked to the piano, she didn’t look at him, but she felt his eyes on her. Oh, she loved this feeling of knowing a man looked at her with something other than bland disinterest. It was intoxicating, wonderful, exhilarating and so completely welcome. She began playing Chopin’s Étude “Winter Wind” quite badly. She played and watched Alexander cringe over and over again. This piece was far beyond her skills, and yet she doggedly forged ahead, murdering the piece and no doubt making Chopin roll in his grave, poor man. Finally, blessedly for both of them, she came to the end and looked up, laughing silently as he continued to ignore her.
    “How was that? I’ve been working ever so hard on those runs and I think I’m finally getting them as dear Mr. Chopin wrote them.”
    Alexander’s shoulders shook, and Elsie wasn’t quite sure whether he cried or laughed.
    “Oh, surely it could not have been bad enough to make you cry,” she called. She’d never been one to flirt, but found she had quite a talent for