Page 22 of His Duchess' Wicked List

She shuddered again as she felt hot liquid pool between her legs. She was opening to him, in a way she didn’t understand. All she knew was that she felt as if she might die if he didn’t touch her body in the most intimate way.

I want his hands on me. I want them on me… now. And I want to touch him…

Alarm bells were ringing in her head. She was in mortal danger. She couldn’t let him take her maidenhead. He was a confessed rake. This meant nothing to him—it was just a game to him!

Desperately, she wrenched her face away, panting heavily. She stood up, looking down at him. “This was a mistake,” she whispered frantically. “I need to go home.”

He stood up, sighing deeply.

She tensed. Was he going to try again?

But to her relief, he nodded. “I will accompany you to the carriage.”

The wind was calming on her hot face as they walked back to the carriage waiting in the mews. He didn’t try to touch her again, nor did he speak to her.

She couldn’t work out whether it was out of respect for what she had just said, or whether he was bitter with disappointment that the night hadn’t panned out the way he had planned.

As she climbed into the carriage, he peered into the window, looking at her intently. “Until the house party at Stansgate, My Lady. I am looking forward to it.”

She didn’t reply.

The driver cracked the whip, and the carriage lurched forward, taking her home.

Maddie rested her head against the carriage wall, her heart beating furiously in her chest. That had been a lucky escape. But she knew that wasn’t the end of it, not by a long shot. He still had her list. She knew the game had only just begun.

CHAPTER 10

“Where on earth have you been, Sister?”

Augusta’s voice blared like a foghorn into the quiet, dark room. Maddie started, almost shouting in alarm.

Augusta was sitting at Maddie’s dressing table, dressed in her night attire. She looked cross and irritable.

The house had been as quiet as a churchyard as Maddie had tiptoed through it, before reaching her room. Clearly, it had lulled her into a false sense of security.

“Ah, I went to see Selina,” Maddie lied, her color deepening. “You will not tell our parents, will you?”

Augusta was silent, staring at her sharply. Maddie tried to look as innocent as a lamb. Her heart was thudding so heavily that she was certain her sister could hear it.

“Why?” Augusta demanded. “What did you need to do with Selina at this time of night? It is most odd.”

“We were playing cards,” Maddie replied, thinking quickly. “She taught me how to play piquet. That is all! We were just having a lark.”

She couldn’t breathe. It wasn’talla tall tale, at least. She had been playing cards. Just not with Selina.

Augusta shook her head sorrowfully. “Maddie, you take too many risks. If our mother had discovered you missing, instead of me, she would have locked you in this room for a month! Promise me you will not do such a thing again.”

“I promise,” Maddie said in a faint voice, almost passing out with relief. “What areyoudoing in my room at this hour, anyway?”

“I could not sleep,” Augusta huffed in a grim voice. “My mind was whirring like the insides of a clock.”

Maddie sat down on the edge of her bed, gazing at her sister. “What is the matter?”

Augusta sighed heavily. “I have a bad feeling about Mama. I just know she is up to something. I think she is planning to marry me off to the Duke of Everly.”

Maddie’s heart stopped beating for a moment. “And what if she was? Would you think it a bad thing?”

Augusta rolled her eyes in disgust. “What doyouthink? I told you, I have no interest in marriage at all!” She shook her head incredulously. “Besides, the Duke of Everly is a handsome devil, and he knows it. I do not think I have ever met such an arrogant man. I am not fooled, and I am not susceptible to his charms.”

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