Page 19 of How to Tempt An Earl
She was eager to show off and to make up for a lack of focus earlier. Maybe she even wanted to impress him with her passable skill. Celeste extended her arm, steady against the weight of the pistol, coolly sighted the target and fired, the gun jerking up at the last moment. The shot went slightly wide of her intended mark.Drat.She’d hoped for better.
‘Good enough,’ Kieran complimented her, striding forward with the other pistol. ‘It would have hit your target somewhere, and that would have disabled him, giving you time to get away. The kick was more than you were expecting. You can always adjust your aim to compensate.’
He passed her the other pistol and took up a position behind her, aligning their bodies so that they stood in perfect profile together. His hand curled over hers as they aimed the pistol, the spicy smell of his soap catching her nostrils and his nearness making it hard to think of firing shots. ‘Ready, on the count of three…’ he murmured at her ear and together they made the shot, hitting the mark this time. ‘Did you feel how we controlled the recoil?’
She’d felt more than that. She’d felt the power of his body behind her—the press of his hips against her buttocks, the muscles of his thighs and the semi-aroused state of his manhood. She could dismiss it on the grounds that such intimacy was required for the drill. It was no different from riding astride before him on Tambor. And yet, the echo of his words sent a delicious tremor through her:be careful what you’re asking for, Celeste. I might be inclined to give it.It was proof he felt it too—this want, this curious hunger that sprang to life between them.
That they werebothwilling to explore it was a dangerous combination. There was no one to check them, nothing to stop them except her own good sense. But once that was gone then her own objectivity, her own ability to see actions for what they were, would be gone too. Caution reared its head. Was that what he wanted? Was he flirting with her,seducingher, in the hope of prising the list from her before she was ready to give it up?
She didn’twantto think like that, about him especially. She wanted instead to think that last night had changed things between them; that facing Roan’s men had brought them together in a common purpose. But she had to be careful with those thoughts. She’d been wrong before. She’d been wrong about David, to her great detriment. She knew now that intimacy was different for men and that sex could be merely physical, a source of short-term pleasure only. Whereas for her, sex was emotional, a source of intimacy and the foundations of trust. She could not make that assumption again.
Yet, even knowing that, the temptation continued to nag—that this time it could be different. That this time she would be smart enough to see betrayal coming. She could forestall it and protect herself against it. She could have the best of both worlds. Dear Lord: she was talking herself in circles, hoping that when her thoughts looped back round she’d have answers—or, more particularly, answers that she liked and that would allow her to do what she wanted. And what she wanted was Kieran Parkhurst as a lover.Foolish, foolish girl.
She turned and stepped away from the lure of his body. ‘Why are you doing this? You already have access to the list. We’ve already negotiated for it. You don’tneedto do anything more.’
‘Iwantto do more. You need more than my protection. You need to be able to provide your own.’
‘Why do you care?’ She kept coming back to that. Why would a stranger do so much for her? ‘Horseman’s oath?’
He put their pistols away. ‘Come and walk with me.’ He led them down to the stream and they strolled beneath shady oaks in silence before he spoke again. ‘The Horsemen are sworn to the care and keeping of England and to the welfare of those who protect her. For that reason alone, you are entitled to whatever I can offer you. You are the key to bringing down one of Europe’s most notorious and elusive dealers in firearms, a man who not only makes money from war but also proactively perpetuates war for personal profit. As such, he works against the hopes of the Vienna Congress and is responsible for the deaths of countless soldiers when peace might be made.’
She shuddered to hear Roan discussed—and by extension her father—in such bold and blunt terms, all of which were true. Roan dealt in war and thrived on it.
‘And so did I, for a time. I lived on the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains,’ she reminded him. She hated knowing it was something she could not undo.
‘You didn’t know any better,’ Kieran assured her.
‘Not at first. I knew, though, long before I ran. And, even when I knew, I did nothing.’ That was, perhaps, her greatest sin. ‘I stayed until I had to run forme. The threat of Ammon Vincent and being caught eavesdropping were what pushed me into it.’
Those words would give her the distance she needed from him. Once he understood she was not honourable, there would be no more lingering gazes on her mouth. He would despise her now. Any minute, he’d think what she’d been thinking since she’d eavesdropped on Roan’s conversation—that if she’d run earlier, turned against Roan sooner, Wapping might not have happened and his brother might still be alive.
He stopped and faced her, taking a determined step towards her until she felt compelled to retreat, her back coming up against a tree trunk. Something fierce blazed in his eyes, desire sparking and naked. She’d not bargained on that for a response and more than she’d bargained on her own body thrilling dangerously at the knowledge that he wanted her.
‘Why do you do this, Celeste? You seem compelled to drive a wedge between us. First with your scepticism, now with this idea that you are single-handedly responsible for what happened in Wapping. It would seem to me that you should be seeking the opposite—that you would want to draw us closer, to make us a team, not enemies. You did not like my scepticism when we first met and I do not appreciate yours now. You want me to trust you but you want to be allowed not to trust me. It can’t work that way.’
He moved closer to her, eyes hot, voice low. ‘I want this to work, Celeste. I want to keep you safe. I want to see Roan finished, not just because it’s business but because I want it for you.’
Her breath caught. There was no hiding her reaction from him. He was close enough now to see how his words affected her, how his nearness made the pulse at the base of her neck race, and embarrassingly so, as if she were a schoolgirl in the throes of infatuation. And yet, she could not look past him nor could she rally the resources required to step away.
He leaned against the tree trunk, an arm bracketing her. ‘I want this for you because I find myself attracted to you. I’ve made no secret of it. You’re beautiful, canny and brave. You intrigue me. Everything you tell me leaves me wanting to know more.’
He drew a finger along her lips and shock waves of desire crashed through her. ‘This is not about Roan or Wapping or any of that. This is just about you and me. You intoxicate me, Celeste, and I think I intoxicate you too.’
He traced the column of her throat with a finger, letting his hand rest over the pulse note at its base. ‘Don’t deny it; your body doesn’t lie.’ His hand moved to cradle the nape of her neck, his mouth at her ear, uncovering her secrets one by one. ‘Your pulse races, your sea-glass eyes are bright with desire, and if I were to touch you beneath your skirts you would be wet. There is no shame in it. You are not alone in this. I am hard for you. You know this is true—you felt me against you when we fired the pistol. Your desire is reciprocated. The question is, what shall we do about it in the short time our paths will cross in this world?’
She let out a shuddering breath. This must be what it felt like to slowly go insane, to feel oneself let go of reason’s anchor. He had her mad with wanting when she knew this was not the time. With a few simple words he’d made the wanting seem logical. This passion between them was to be for a short time only, until their paths diverged once more. There need not be consequences, or a future. Such promises made a liaison safe from betrayal.
Her own wicked whisper added fuel to the fire of her want.If not now, when? If not him, who? You deserve to be spoiled. Let him be the one.And her body answered:yes, yes…
His mouth moved to claim hers and she raised her face to meet him. Mouth to mouth, tongue to tongue, their bodies pressed hard against one another until it was not clear who had started it. It didn’t matter. They were in this together now. For a short while, she need not be alone.
She reached for him then, sliding her hand between them to the hard length of him, but he covered her hand firmly with his own, his mouth at her ear.
‘Your pleasure first.’
Then his hands were beneath her skirts, pushing them back, the late summer breeze cool against her exposed skin, delicious and decadent as her desire ratcheted. She bent her knee, hitching it about his hip to help him, to hurry him. He kissed her, laughing against her mouth. ‘Patience. It will be worth the wait, I promise.’
She nipped his lip in a lover’s retaliation. ‘That’s an awfully arrogant presumption, sir.’
