Page 32 of The Duke's Hellion

He could tell that she clamped her mouth shut because her arms had crossed and were banging against his lower back as he trod on the grass finding a secluded spot. She kicked her legs a few times, but it was all for display.

Finally, he found a spot hidden away and dropped her to the ground.

“What are you doing? Don’t even think about kissing me.” She rolled her lips inward and placed her hands on her hips.

“I’m not trying to seduce you, Mimi. I’m preventing you from making a fool of yourself in front of Roger. Again.”

“It’s none of your business how I conduct myself with him.”

“Like hell it isn’t. Where’s your father? What are your sisters doing? Why is no one protecting you?”

“My father is busy. Traveling. As usual. My sisters are busy. Married or getting there. And I don’t need protecting. I can protect myself. Now, get out of my way.” She shoved at his chest, but he didn’t budge. Well, most of his body didn’t budge. And if one didn’t count the slight swelling between his legs, then really, his whole body was preternaturally still.

“Move, Sam.”

“Not until we talk.” Talk. That’s all he wanted to do. He had to remind himself.

“What do we have to talk about?”

He scratched his jaw. Another gesture to buy himself time. But in this instance he needed time to first calm the throb of his cock.

Mimi filled the silence, answering her own question. “You know this is the third time you have hauled me out of a place?”

It was probably best that she brought up the topic of conversation, as he couldn’t think in quite the straight line he normally was quite capable of doing. But wait, three hauls? Perhaps she wasn’t thinking right. “Three? I think not.”

“Three!” She pulled her hands free from the crisscross they had been entangled in, and started counting on her fingers. “Right now. The archery. And the beach—”

“The beach. No. Wasn’t me.” He gripped his bicep. Tightly. “Must be your other beau.” He didn’t want to imagine another man touching Mimi. Never mind hauling her over his shoulder so that her breasts bounced against his back.

“Other beau?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I don’t think you know whatyoumean. I haven’t hauled you out three times.” He needed to regain control of the conversation. And somehow regaining control of the conversation entailed him inching closer and closer to her. They were toe to toe. Mere inches from each other. Her head barely reaching his shoulders.

“Two or three? What does it matter? It’s one or two too many.” The puff of her huff was warm on his jaw, feeling less like ire and more like fire.

Damn her. This woman was vexing beyond belief. If he wasn’t absolutely certain he was sane, he would feel lost in her logic. “Wait. Is itoneortwotoo many?”

“What?” Her face was flushed, he could see it in the light of the moon. And her eyelids were floating at half-mast. She was enigma at its finest. If he didn’t know better he’d have said she wanted to kiss him, all while he wanted to squeeze his hand into a fist, until he realized it was resting on her hip, pulling her closer to his own heat.

Though he needed an answer to his question, his throat worked hard, rendering his vocal chords useless. Finally, his voice came out raspy. “Well…if it’s one too many, that means one was…acceptable. If it was two too many that means neither time was desirable. I would just like to know which it is.”

“Why?”

Well, that he couldn’t answer. Mostly because he wasn’t willing to admit why even to himself. “No reason other than to lord it over you.”

Her chin tipped up at him, lips parted, like she was about to press up on her tiptoes and make contact with him. She would do that. But she would be the kind to do that for one of tworeasons: one, she wanted to kiss him or two, she wanted to shut him up.

Softly, her hand pressed into his chest, where a rabid animal was loosed behind the cage. And just when he was sure that she was going to kiss him, before he could figure out what his response was going to be to that, she turned him on his head.

A low growl escaped her mouth. “You are the worst gentleman I have ever met.”

Hand tightening around her waist, he growled back, “Well, perhaps it doesn’t signify, anyway. The way things are going, it won’t be the last time I haul you somewhere.”

Chapter Thirteen

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