White Regency 03 - White Knight by Jaclyn Reding Read Free Book Online Page A

on the finer points of propriety.” He took a step toward her.
He was standing so near, Grace had to cock her head back to look at him, for he
was at least six inches taller than she.
    “There is a reason ladies of good
breeding do not sneak their way into the bedchambers of men. A very good
reason.” He took her by the arms. She suddenly found it difficult to
breathe. She wondered fleetingly if her feet still met the floor. She couldn’t
feel them. “A lady can never know for certain if the man in question is a
gentleman or a blackguard who would seize the opportunity to ravish her.”
    “But you are a gentleman, sir. Your
grandfather is the Duke of Westover.”
    His hands tightened on her arms and any
light to his expression was instantly gone. “A fact, my lady, that should
have been warning enough.”
    Before Grace realized what was happening,
the marquess lowered his head, taking her mouth completely with his as he drew
her hard against the length of his body.
    Christian felt the girl stiffen against
him and he tilted her head back to deepen the kiss, tasting her with his
tongue, running a finger along the slender column of her throat until he felt
her begin to tremble against him. He had had enough of female wiles and
machinations to last a lifetime. These antics had been amusing at first, but
this latest invasion of his privacy had gone far beyond the bounds. Had she
arrived but five minutes earlier, she would have discovered him at his bath and
he would now be embroiled in a mess he would have no hope of extricating
himself from. He intended to teach the lady a lesson she would not soon forget.
Only there was one problem. She didn’t seem to realize he was punishing her.
She wasn’t resisting him. Instead she melted against him, taking his kiss and
releasing a soft pleasing moan into his mouth.
    Punishment be damned.
    Christian kissed her back, forgetting for
the moment who he was, where they were, how she’d come to be there. He indulged
in the moment and in her—the softness of her skin, the faint herbal scent of
her pale hair, the total innocence of a gesture she so obviously knew nothing about. A heat
begin to kindle within him—more precisely within his groin—something he hadn’t
felt in a very long time. Even as he tightened his arms around her, Christian
wondered that he should feel this way, with this woman, when no other had been
able to stir him in quite some time. Perhaps it was the fact that in less than
a fortnight, he was going to be marrying a woman he’d never even set eyes upon.
He shouldn’t be doing this, he knew, but in the very next moment, she pressed her
hips forward against him. Christian nearly lost his mind.
    The thought to drag her to the carpet and
take what she was so obviously offering nearly overcame him. Every inch of him
begged to know her, to test the softness of the skin along her belly. Instead
he abruptly pulled away from her, even taking a step back. He watched her, her
eyes half-closed, her breathing coming quickly, her mouth so damned desirable.
One errant curl twisted over her forehead just above her brow, a twirl of amber
honey. Slowly her eyes drifted more fully open and he suddenly knew the color
of blue fire. She said nothing, just stood there, lips glossed from his kiss,
and the way she was looking at him could only be termed one thing—
    Dangerous.
    Was she truly as innocent as her kiss
hinted? Or was she simply playing the part of the unschooled maiden? She had to
be a practiced seductress, he decided. What virgin would ever think to sneak
her way into a man’s bedchamber?
    Christian stared at her hard. Who was this
mystifying creature? She was lovely, yes. Her nose was small and straight, her
lips a very becoming shade of pink—darker now that he’d kissed them. The silk
of her bodice strained against the fullness of her breasts, breasts that were
neither too small nor too large—but perfect. Honey-gold hair curled about her
head; her eyes, wide and