Page 8 of Ravished By the Beastly Duke

“I… I have been curious,” she admitted. “I will get married if my sister has her way, but I would rather marry for love than for anything else. But I haven’t experienced any passion as I have seen described in books to know what love looks like. Even if I end up resigning myself to a loveless marriage, I would at least want this one moment of happiness for myself.”

“And you think you can experience passion if I kiss you?” he asked, stepping closer.

He was more than a foot away, yet the heat of him warmed her, and she felt her face flush at his question. She wondered what it was about him that cowed her, when she usually was confident around men.

She could have chalked it up to the mystery surrounding his identity, but that would be an untruth. It was in the manner with which he held himself—an innate confidence that oozed from him. It was nothing like the practiced pride she had seen in the men she had been introduced to.

This man knew and carried himself as one of high standing, and while it humbled her, she found herself feeling excited too. No man had ever captured her interest as he had, and she was sorely tempted to inquire about his identity.

Her hand still tingled from where she had touched him, and if anything she read in the novels was accurate, then it meant she was attracted to him.

“I would like to know the answer for myself,” she answered, lowering her eyes.

The air felt charged with something she couldn’t place, which made her even more nervous.

Was he going to kiss her, or would he scold her for being improper?

While she hoped for the former, she hoped that if he chose to do the latter, it would end there and he would not be the sort to spread tales. It would hurt her pride greatly if she made a poor estimation of his character.

He stepped closer again, and she felt her breath catch in her chest, as there was barely any distance between them now. She smelled his sandalwood fragrance and noted that it wasn’t oppressive.

Everything about this man indicated that she had made the right choice, and yet she couldn’t help but worry.

“Why did you pick me?” he asked. “Is that why you came to this chamber?”

“No. I came to escape my sister’s matchmaking attempts,” she answered truthfully. “But seeing you here, it was almost as though fate was on my side. I am sorry if I have offended you, My Lord. I would thank you not to speak of this to anyone else. I do not think my reputation would survive the blow.”

She bit her lip as shame welled up inside her. He was going to reject her. She could sense it as clearly as one sensed the coming rain, and it hurt her more than she had thought it would.

Men hardly ever rejected women’s advances, except when they found them thoroughly unattractive.

“You really must stop this terrible habit,” he murmured.

“Wha—”

He gave her no warning before his lips met hers in a firm kiss. Her eyes widened at the odd sensation and then shut when he wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her flush against him.

She was kissing a man!

His lips ghosted over hers once and then twice, and then he captured them in another searing kiss. She sensed he was being gentle with her, for his body was taut against hers.

He was so much larger than her and stronger if the strength of his arms were anything to go by, and that difference in their sizes made her press herself against him.

Why did this man not frighten her?

Eveline thought she had known excitement before, but the way her heart raced and her blood sang as his lips moved over hers proved to her that she had been too hasty in her conclusion.

He kissed her softly then, but there was something utterly decadent that sang in her blood, which made her bury her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. The softness of it had her sighing into his lips, the action causing him to stiffen and pull away from her.

She bit her lip again, fearing she had done the wrong thing by showing her happiness. She looked down. His finger slid beneath her chin and tilted it up as he placed one last chaste kiss on her lips which warmed her even more than the previous one.

When he pulled away this time, it took her a long while to open her eyes. But when she did, he was still standing so close to her, and her hands were pressed to his broad chest.

He was such a large man, with a brooding air about him, and she wondered why she felt safe around him.

She wanted to know who he was.

She wanted terribly to know this gentleman, who had had her blood singing before he had even kissed her.

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