Page 21 of From Rakes to Riches

“Forgive me if I insult you, Mrs. Cooke, but have you run mad? Besides, how could you have known how often Miss Broadbent did or did not glance at me, when you were staring at the music?”

“Of course she—” Gemma halted the words, her face scalding. “Very well, you’ve caught me. Aunt Margot thought you would suit Sonia, and she instructed me to smooth the way for the match.”

“Aunt Margotthought I would suit?” Guy studied her in such amazement that Gemma fought back the hysterical urge to laugh.

“Now that I think it through, the idea is absurd,” Gemma said hastily. “I did protest when Aunt Margot first mentioned it, but she talked me into the notion.” Gemma hadn’t been convinced but didn’t want to insult Guy by confessing how vehemently she’d protested.

They had reached a stand of trees that lined the river. The other riders, far ahead of them now, had followed another trail downstream into open country.

Guy abruptly steered his horse into Gemma’s and pushed them under the shelter of the trees. Gemma’s horse obeyed Guy without resistance.

Before Gemma could ask what he was doing, Guy had vaulted down from his horse, stepped to hers, and pulled her out of her saddle. Gemma landed against him, his hard body beneath his coat sending her heart pounding.

“Talked you into the notion?” Guy’s voice was harsh, the affable, teasing gentleman vanishing. A hard-eyed man stood in his place, the soldier who had bravely faced the formidable armies of Bonaparte. “How the devil can I think about your very young stepdaughter, madam, when my thoughts are only for you? How can I think ofanyother lady after I’d set eyes on you, and found the most beautiful woman I’d ever beheld?”

As Gemma gaped, Guy scooped her against him. He jerked her hat’s netting out of the way, tilted her head back, and pressed a fierce kiss to her mouth.

7

Guy’s frustrated anger dissolved into intense need as he kissed Gemma. And kissed her. He parted her lips, thumbs on the corners of her mouth, opening her to him like a blossom.

She should have pushed him away, even slapped him for his boldness. Instead, she sank her fingers into his coat and pulled him closer, receiving his kisses and returning them with vigor.

Her loosened hat slid off and landed at their feet, making one of the horses step back with a start. Gemma didn’t notice, but she made a desperate sound as Guy threaded his fingers through her hair.

He slid his other hand to her hip, splaying fingers across the warm broadcloth of her habit. Her flesh beneath the skirt was firm, yet soft. Guy wanted more than anything to pull her bare body to his in the heat of his bed, to lose himself in her warmth.

“You are beauty itself,” Guy whispered as the kiss finally ended. He lingered near her lips. “I gazed upon you, and I was lost.”

Gemma’s eyes, the blue of a deep lake, widened, as though surprised he thought these things.

“Guy …”

“She speaks my name. NoLordattached. She gives me hope.”

“I only wish?—”

“What?” Guy traced her lower lip with his thumb. “What do you wish, my darling?” He held his breath, praying she would not return to the astounding topic of him marrying her stepdaughter.

“For you to kiss me again.”

He relaxed into a hot smile. “Words worth obeying.”

Guy bent to the kiss, closing his arms all the way around her. They swayed together as he tasted her mouth, Gemma exploring him as much as he did her. Her fingers traveled across his shoulders to his back and down to rest on his waist.

Guy nipped her lower lip and then her chin, wanting to laugh for the sheer joy of kissing her.

Gemma was no shy miss. She knew how to kiss, and from the heat in her eyes, she knew where these heady kisses might lead. The way she melded her body to his, let her fingers wander to his breeches, and returned his nips told him she wanted this encounter to take them to the next and exciting step.

What a liaison he could have with her! Guy’s very active imagination put them there, in a bed with lush hangings where they would revel in each other all night, perhaps pausing for a refreshing sip of wine, a nibble of summer strawberries laced with sweet cream. He would have to find this bedroom, which was neither in his bachelor flat or her prim and full town house?—

The fantasy spun on as he continued to kiss her, she kissing him back in growing hunger.

The hard thump of approaching hoofbeats made Gemma gasp. She jerked from Guy in alarm, slipped on the muddy ground, and was righted by Guy’s steadying hand.

“Futchells,”she exclaimed in a whisper.

She swept down and retrieved her hat, regarding it in dismay as she brushed damp leaves from the silk.

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