Page 38 of The Duke Says I Do
His expression turned somber. “I’d like to, but the decision must be yours. I swear on my life I’ll do everything in my power to protect your good name, but I don’t need to tell you the risks.”
“No, you don’t,” she said soberly. Her heart lurched like a drunkard after a Saturday night spree. “I’ve taken risks before.”
“To save your animals.”
“Yes.”
“This goes beyond your previous adventures.” His voice was a low rumble. “When you hear my proposition, you’ll be within your rights to slap my face.”
Her heart began to race. “You want me to visit your house?”
Alaric shook his head. “Worse than that.”
“Worse?” Although she could already guess, and what she guessed filled her with a roiling mixture of terror and excitement.
“Much, much worse.” Urgency darkened his tone. “I don’t want to see you for a few hours here and there. I don’t want to worry about interruptions. I want you to myself. I want you in my bed. I want us to go away together and see where this attraction takes us.”
Dear Lord, sheshouldslap his face. He was talking sin, the sort of sin that any decently-raised girl would run a mile from contemplating. If Portia said yes to what he suggested, her life would change forever.She’dchange forever. So far, they’d skirted the edges of wickedness, but if she became Alaric’s mistress, she violated society’s every code. If she was found out, she’d be a pariah.
Nervously she glanced behind, but Rankin had fallen further back. At least he wouldn’t overhear this improper conversation.He might be her regular co-conspirator, but he’d never cooperate with what the duke suggested.
She licked parched lips, as herds of elephants performed somersaults in her stomach. “If the world learns we’re lovers, the scandal will eclipse anything I’ve done in my rescues.”
“I’m aware of what I’m asking. I’m aware of what it could cost you.” He sounded as serious as if he proposed a parliamentary motion. “Do you want to slap my face?”
Her hands curled in her skirts, not because she wanted to hit him, but because she wanted to reach out and touch him. It seemed she wasn’t running a mile. “Not…not straightaway.”
“I want you, Portia.” The strength of his feelings vibrated in his declaration. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted another woman. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night for thinking about what I want to do to you.”
“I didn’t sleep much either,” she admitted in a wisp of a voice. Alaric’s frankness made her heart flutter like a trapped sparrow. That and fear that she might –she just might– agree to his shocking invitation. She steeled herself to respond with equal candor. “I loved your kisses. I’d like more of them. I’d like…more.”
It wasn’t surrender, but it put her on the path to surrender. They both knew it.
“So would I.” His laugh held the self-mockery that had surprised her yesterday. “I’m as astounded by all this as you are, believe me.”
“But how on earth would we manage it?” She tried to tell herself that she asked out of curiosity, not because she really considered doing this rash thing.
“I have a hunting box in Surrey. We could go there.”
Was that where he took his other women? “It’s easier for you.”
“Yes, it is. Although make no mistake. I’d receive my share of disapproval if the beau monde knew I’d seduced my formerfiancée’s virginal sister.” He was right. His engagement to Juliet would add extra spice to any gossip about his entanglement with Portia.
She struggled to hold onto rapidly disintegrating prudence. Once she would have asked herself what Juliet would do. But these days, Juliet provided no example of how to avoid a scandal. “You’d remain a duke and rich and a man of influence. You could still marry.”
“The high sticklers wouldn’t touch me, and my political career would be in tatters, duke or not. What we do holds dangers for me, too. I don’t want you to feel like I’m asking you to make all the sacrifices. I have my own stakes in this game. But yes, I could still marry. The risks weigh heavier on you.”
Alaric was tireless in his parliamentary work. He didn’t have to tell her how much it meant to him. A sensible woman would wonder why they even discussed such a dangerous step. Discovery promised ruin for both of them.
Portia swallowed to shift the solid lump of trepidation blocking her throat. “You know, I can’t see I’ll ever marry.”
“I wondered if you’d made some such decision. You’re too beautiful not to have received a hundred offers. A few of those men must have been eligible.”
Her lips turned down with grim humor. “Not quite so many offers as that.”
He didn’t smile back. “Nonetheless you’re in your mid-twenties and unattached. That hints you’re unmarried by choice. Juliet was in mourning for her late fiancé, but you’ve never even flirted with anyone.”
“You listen to society tattle?”
