Ruin Me Please (19 page)

“
How many times do you expect me to apologize?
”  Durham retorted
in an
angry wh
i
s
per.  “It did not signify,
Collette kissed
me
,
I did not kiss her back
.
  You left before you saw the whole display.
  End of story.
”

With her c
hin jutting militantly,
Freya shrugged. 
“How easy that is for you to say now
w
hen I did not witness the end of the exchange
.
”

“Freya, I am
asking
you to forgive me
,
”
Durham pleaded.

“I
have
not given you
leave
to be so familiar with me!”  Freya practically screeched at his use of her name.  “I have advised that I will forgive your rude manners Lord Durham, but that is all
,”
Freya answered frostily. 
“I do not trust you.  I will
never
trust you again
.
”

“You
do not have to act so haughty,
Lady
Freya
,
”
Durham scathingly re
sponded
.

“This is by far the worst apology I have ever received
.
”  Her eyes flashed
.  She glanced
around as if searching for some assistance from anyone.  “Begging and pleading in one brea
th then insulting me once again.
”  With a toss of her head, Freya continued
,
“You are just upset because I did not fall at your feet at the Elmbridge Ball.  That I had the audacity to
embarrass
you in front of your party.”  
She frowned at him.
“Your conceit astounds me.
”

“Conceit
-c
onceit
?
  Damnation
woman
!”  Durham sputtered and cursed
with
his nostrils flaring.

Freya stepped back. 
“You are a crude, vulgar beast
,” she
shouted.

For a second, he stood there frozen.  “I did not mean to insult
you, I s-s-
swear,”
Durham groveled stammering a little.

“I am such a fool
.
”
Freya moaned
a deeply
bitter
sound
. “I should have known that the whole thing was just a ruse to you.
A joke.
   I was just a
moment’s
entertainment
.
  You prob
a
bly went back into the ballroom and bragged about our encounter
to
your friends over a
glass of
brandy
.
”
A
choked sob escaped.  “Your devil-may-care approach to life made me feel adve
n
turous for a moment, but y
ou obviously have not grown up
.
 
Believe
me
;
I will not be fooled again
.
”  Freya’s footsteps echoed as she stomped down the hall.

“Bloody hell!”  Durham slammed his fist into the nearest wall
and he grunted at the pain
.  “Damn it!”

***

Declan glanced over his shoulder at the familiar swish of silk behind him
.  His heart gave a wild kick as he shamelessly took in
Poppy’s
tantalizing figure
.  Her
high-wasted
gown of shimmering
violet
displayed her charms to perfec
tion.  A wide silver sash
ti
ed directly u
n
der her bosom fla
t
tered her shapely
figure
.  The
squared off bodice draped in white gauze was cut low over her
firm, high
breasts cupping them tenderly.  The glossy material float
ed
pro
vocativ
e
ly about her limbs clin
g
ing
to her body like a lover’s hands.  He could h
ardly take his eyes
off
her.

“I had no idea that you liked to eavesdrop,
Your G
race
.” 
Her teasing smile sent a
charge of heat along his nerve endings.

Declan deliberately arched an eyebrow.

“What is all th
e
noise
?” 
Her
soft melodious voice inquired
, c
ocking one of her ey
e
brows
.

“
I’m tr
ying
not to spy
on our friends.”

“Gracious
,” s
he said,
peek
ing
over the railing
.
“
Who could help but be intrigued by all
of their
shouting?” 
She
leaned
over the railing
to catch a better glimpse.  “Freya is norma
l
ly so good-natured.  I
can’t imagine
what has gotten into her?”
  She shrugged her shoulders
.

“Don’t be too distressed,” Declan replied, giving
Poppy a s
peaking
look.

“N
o
?
”  Her nose
wrinkled
adorably
in stunned disbelief.  “Do you think?”

His brow arched suggestively, h
i
s smoky chuckle enveloping
her.

Poppy shivered as she g
lanced into his hooded eyes,
flush
ing
under his charged look.

“Durham is normally the mo
st charming and practiced flirt,
”
She mused, thinking
back at all the times he had been at Rosebriar.  “He must be completely out of practice, or maybe he is in love.”   An involuntary gurgle of mirth drew his eyes.  “I daresay, I gather from their mee
t
ing
, Durham
has a tendre for Freya?”

Declan nodded his head.  “And if I am correct, vice versa.

Poppy crowed, “Unbelievable!”

Poppy turned around, leaning
her back against the balus
trade and
lifted her eyebrow
in
q
uiringly.
“I have heard that you are
also notorious
for
your
wickedness
,
Hawk
s
ley.”  Her eyes twinkling as she inquired inquisitively, “Are all the rumors true?”

His eyes crinkl
ed
at the corners
as he
responded
,
“
I have also heard
such
rumors.” 
He tapped
her on the tip of her nose.
  His voice deepened,
“Where would a little inn
o
cent
like you hear of such
wicked
things?”   
He leaned back to plant his elbows on the balu
s
trade
beside her
their arms barely touched, but it caused a swift inhalation at the contact
.

She lifted her chin
, m
esmerized by the muscles that flexed beneath his perfectly fitted
coat
;
she
could not
stop
her eyes
from roaming
hungrily over his wide shoulders
. 
He was splendid.
 

She was such a
petite
woman
.  The top of her head did not even touch his shoulder
, so when he looked down at her, the
creamy
swell of her bosom drew his gaze as they rose and fell i
n
vitingly with every breath that she took. 
He licked
his lips, his fingers itch
ing
to reach out and caress her
exposed flesh
.  He rubbed his h
and on his fitted breeches to prevent them from touching her
.  
He de
s
perately wanted to touch her, to
see if
her ivory skin was
as soft as she looked.  His heart beat erratically in his chest. 
He
scanned her featu
res, until they locked on her eyes, holding her prisoner with his emerald stare
.

Poppy’s eyes fluttered as she boldly met his heated gaze
she could not even imagine
looking away.
 
With the realization
that they were completely
alone,
caught up in the moment
Po
p
py swayed
helplessly
towards him,
drawn by his magnetic allure.  She wanted him to kiss her. 
S
he wondered if he was the right man for her.
  Could he really be the one?

Suddenly she moistened her lips with the tip of
her tongue
. 

Declan was
completely
captivated
.  He wanted to trace the same path that her tongue had just traveled. 
Did she know that h
er lips beckoned
, s
o soft, so plump, so tempting.

He was not like most of the men of the ton who were thin and pale.  He was big, strong, tanned and powerful.  He was exactly
the type of man
in
which
she dreamed, but n
ow that she was standing in front of him, she didn’t know what to do with him.  He wasn’t standing in their parlor with a bouquet of flowers or trying to read her bad poet
ry.  He
looked as if he wanted
to kiss her.

He could practically hear the warning bells going off in his head.  He certainly hadn’t come to Rosebriar to seduce a virgin. 
He knew she
did not understand what she was doing; s
he was
far
too innocent
even with the fa
ç
ade
. 
No matter, h
e
knew
exactly
what he was doing. 
He leaned closer still.

“
I should be fighting you,
”
s
he
said, knowing he made her weak by her desire to
start a family of her own
and his proximity
.  The
heat from his body turned
her blood to a slow mo
l
ten flow through her veins.  

“I couldn’t fight you even if I tried.” 
His eyes still on hers, he
lowered his head and wrapped her firmly in his arms, lifting
her as if she weighed nothing. 
He crushed
her
soft curves
to hi
s hardness
in a feverish passion
as
he captured her lips with a searing intensity.  She tasted of innocence
and he s
a
vored
the exotic flavor
.  

Awed b
y the forcefulness of the kiss she arched
towards him
me
eting
his demands without hes
itation. 
Her lack of experience was no match to her enthusiastic reaction.  Her breast pressed against his chest.  Her nip
ples sensitized by her desire
becoming more
so
with each swipe of his tongue
.

His whole body reacted.  His arms tightened a
round her like bands of steel as he molded her to him. 
His breath came in shallow gulps as a
rousal rushed through him.