Lord Fox's Pleasure

She nodded, gazing up at him silently.

‘I saw a lovely young woman with vibrant chestnut curls, wonderful eyes the colour of amethysts, and the smile of an angel. I will also tell you that you have an appeal—I can feel it. You have a fire burning inside you—and I find you the most enchanting creature I have seen in a long time. There is a freshness and warmth about you I find fascinating—in fact, you, my dear Mistress Fairworthy, are a veritable treasure trove of entrancing contrasts.’

‘But I didn’t know that was how people would see me,’ she said, her voice a husky whisper, feeling utterly confused and miserable, not wanting to be any of those things if it made men behave towards her as he had yesterday and Will Price had done today. She swallowed and looked away, her glorious dark eyes sparkling with suppressed tears, shining with the pain his words had caused her. ‘If I am like that I can’t help it. But I don’t want to be. There—there must be something wrong with me. It’s nothing to be proud of.’

Lucas took her chin gently between his finger and thumb, giving it a small shake to bring her gaze up to his once more, and he looked with deep regard into the unwavering depths of her eyes. ‘Let me assure you that there is definitely nothing wrong with you. I was paying you a compliment. You are a lovely, desirable young woman. It is hardly strange if the young blades find it hard to conceal their interest. You should be flattered by their attention rather than angry.’

Prudence stared at him in confusion, hardly able to believe the words he spoke or what she saw. Lord Fox’s eyes were full of warmth, and he was smiling at her with gentle understanding. ‘But how can I be flattered when it makes them behave like you did yesterday—and Will Price? It will bring me nothing but trouble.’

Realising just how hopelessly naïve and truly innocent she was, that she was unsullied and still a child in many aspects, Lucas sighed deeply. ‘No, it won’t. You might even begin to enjoy it. You can’t change what you are,’ he told her, envying the man who would one day unleash in her the sensual and passionate woman he knew she would be, ‘so you might as well make peace with it.’

‘Like you do, you mean,’ Prudence said, startled by the gentle caress in his voice and feeling the need to lash out defensively when she felt herself weakening, ‘by kissing every woman you meet?’

Lucas smiled ruefully, tracing his forefinger along the satin soft curve of her jaw. ‘I don’t. But if I did I wouldn’t hate myself for it.’

The tips of his fingers on her cheek, and the deep, compelling timbre of his voice, were beginning to have a strange, seductive impact on Prudence’s senses. Tingles of apprehensive excitement danced along her nerves.

Lucas studied her with heavy-lidded speculation, his gaze dropping to her soft lips and lingering on her mouth for a long moment before he slowly lifted his eyes to hers. ‘I was right, wasn’t I—last night—when I said you have never been kissed before.’

‘Yes,’ she confessed weakly.

‘I knew it.’

Prudence tilted her head on one side, frowning up at him. ‘How could you tell? Was I very bad?’ she asked candidly.

Lucas’s eyes were suddenly full of mirth, but he strove to keep a straight face to answer her question, which she had asked with the open curiosity of a child. ‘No. In fact with a little practice you could become perfect. I—could show you how it’s done. You will find me an excellent teacher,’ he said, wanting more than anything to show her there and then, to kiss her until he had her clinging to him and melting with desire.

Prudence snapped her head up. His words and their meaning brought her spirits plummeting back to earth. ‘Don’t you dare touch me. I do not require lessons from the likes of you.’

‘Are you not just a little bit curious to know how it feels to be kissed?’

‘I do.’

‘Properly, I mean.’

Prudence swallowed convulsively, heat coursing through her veins when she recalled how, yesterday, his mouth had taken full possession of her lips like a hot tidal wave that had almost swept her away. He had shown her how a kiss could be between a man and woman, and to pretend that she had not enjoyed the experience would be a lie. But under no circumstances would she allow him to kiss her again. It was unthinkable. Besides, that came under the category of abandonment and wantonness, which she must staunchly guard against where he was concerned. He was dangerous, and she knew there were not many women who could resist a virile man like him. Not when he was over six feet tall, lean and muscular, with hair as black as jet and as shiny as silk, and a face as handsome as a storybook hero.

‘No,’ she said in answer to his question. ‘Besides, I’ve had enough kissing during the last twenty-four hours to last me a lifetime—and if you must know, if that’s all there is to it then I can’t see what all the fuss is about.’

Lucas quelled his shout of laughter, but with mirth gleaming in his eyes he took her arm and walked on, shaking his head in disbelief at the absolute naïvety of this girl.

As they walked along Prudence glanced up at him tentatively. ‘Was Thomas very angry?’

‘I would be lying if I said he wasn’t.’

She sighed deeply, mortified that she had thoughtlessly left the house unaccompanied and without telling anyone where she was going, rousing Thomas to such a rage when he hadn’t been in the house twenty-four hours. She looked at Lord Fox with mute appeal, the prospect of facing her brother’s wrath nerve-shattering. She decided there might be much to be gained if she were to appeal to her companion’s better nature.

‘Do you have to take me to Thomas? Can you not say you couldn’t find me?’ she wheedled. ‘When I appear I could say I had been in the courtyard all the time.’

Lucas’s handsome mouth twitched in a smile. ‘And for this could I expect some kind of reward?’

‘If you like. I would accept your apology for making a spectacle of me yesterday,’ she offered magnanimously.

He frowned. ‘Is that all? Your generosity astounds me. I would call that a bribe. However, that is not enough to tempt me, Mistress Fairworthy. It will take more—much more than that,’ he murmured, his eyes resting on the soft swelling of her breasts where the low-cut gown revealed the mysterious little valley between them.

Angrily aware of what his words and his look implied, instinctively Prudence put up her hands, wishing she’d had the presence of mind to bring her shawl. ‘You will get nothing more from me, Lord Fox,’ she uttered scathingly. ‘You can go to the devil for all I care.’