Page 65 of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal
Drake stood before her in breeches but no shirt. Despite all they had done together, it was the first time she’d seen him soundone. Millie’s mouth went dry, and her eyes widened. She may have gasped.
His chest was an eloquent story of beauty and pain. Drake was a large man, but not one ounce of fat graced his muscular body. His chiselled pectoral muscles led down to a stomach divided into eight rectangles of hardened flesh. Scars covered his skin, some like slashes from a blade, others resembled melted wax re-shaped into odd formations, and still more were perfect circles, as though a burning cigar or cheroot had been extinguished on his body. The pain he must have endured shocked Millie. She took a half step closer, her hand reaching out to offer what comfort she could.
‘Don’t.’ Drake’s voice was cold as steel. His jaw flexed, and his icy stare froze her in place.
‘I just?—’
‘I don’t want your pity, Millicent.’
She shook her head, her loose hair brushing against her shoulder blades and sticking to the salve. ‘I’m not offering pity.’
Drake’s hard stare heated, sparks leaping across the space between them and igniting her desire. His eyes made a leisurely journey over her body, pausing on her breasts and making her nipples tighten to even more painfully sensitive peaks. He growled when his smouldering stare stalled again at the apex of her thighs. The silk was so fine, it was almost translucent. He would see the shadow of her copper hair. Millie shivered as she imagined what he must be thinking.
‘What are you offering?’ His rough voice deepened.
Millie let her eyes take their own journey down his chest to where blond hair, slightly darker than the spikes on his head, started below his belly button and disappeared into his low-slung pants. Two ropes of muscles beginning at each hip bone created a V, drawing her eyes to the obvious bulge pressingagainst the placket of his breeches. As she watched, the bulge grew harder, more defined.
Millie struggled to swallow. ‘I’m offering myself. In exchange for you.’
Drake’s lip twitched at the corner. ‘A trade? My body for yours? Even with all my scars? Doesn’t seem a fair exchange, Millicent.’
‘I prefer when you call me Millie. And, I don’t mind your scars.’ Millie licked her lips. She wanted to touch his chest, to test the textures of soft skin stretched over hard muscle. To kiss the violent souvenirs he carried and try to absorb the echoes of pain still embedded within him.
‘You haven’t seen all of them.’
‘Then show me.’ She needed to speak with him about their relationship. Share her truth and see if he held it close or crushed it, but right now, this seemed more important. If he didn’t honour her revelation, she still wanted the memory of this moment with him. No matter how much it hurt if everything went to hell.
Millie was stepping into a new self. Instinctively, she understood joining their bodies into one would be a cataclysmic event rebirthing her into an entirely different creature. And she wanted that rebirth, even if her time with Drake was limited to this one night.
He stepped back, sweeping his arm out in a gesture of welcome. ‘Come in, Millie.’
A thrill of victory at both his use of her pet name, and his invitation pushed Millie through the threshold and into Drake’s domain. She forced her gaze away from him to take in his room. His walls were papered a dark colour, blue or maybe brown; it was difficult to see in the firelight. A massive, mahogany bed dominated the centre of the room. Thank God she was tall, or she would need a ladder to reach the mattress. Justthe idea of climbing onto his bed shot her heart rate into a new stratosphere. She pushed the thought aside. One incendiary fantasy at a time. She needed to keep her focus on this moment, or the evening would overwhelm her.
There were two wingback chairs sitting in front of his fireplace, and a solid dresser sat against the far wall. Leather, cloves, and smoke permeated the room. She inhaled deeply. Spinning to face him, Millie ignored the bed at her back.
She didn’t reissue her command but instead crossed her arms beneath her breasts, lace straining against her sensitive skin. She raised her brows and tipped her chin at his pants.
‘I promised I wouldn’t compromise you until we wed.’
‘And while I love that you’re a man of your word, I’m asking you to break that promise tonight.’
‘There are things we must discuss first. Not the least being your skill with darts. A suspicious man might wonder how a young lady of your breeding became so adept at a soldier’s pastime. I can’t imagine your stepmother approving of such diversions.’
‘Patricia spends a lot of time looking for the bottom of her wine bottle. It allows me a certain amount of freedom to pursue my own fancies, and darts is a harmless game, is it not? Certainly less dangerous than archery, which is a skill many women are encouraged to pursue.’ Millie couldn’t stop her triumphant smile. It was a masterful evasion, and she didn’t even have to lie. Darts was a harmless game. And archery was encouraged for upstanding young ladies. Never mind that she hadn’tplayeda game of darts orshotan arrow.
Drake’s lips twitched, but he wasn’t taking the bait. ‘Archery might be all the rage for young ladies, but throwing knives of the quality you keep strapped to your person are reserved for activities far more nefarious than garden games.’
Damn his intelligent hide.
Maybe Millie could distract him with more truth. Just not the truth he was seeking. ‘I don’t have any weapons strapped on tonight. It’s just me under this gown.’
Drake’s gaze took a noticeable detour from her eyes to breasts, then lower. He ran his hand over his head, his bicep flexing in an arousing display of power. ‘How can any man keep his wits about him with you standing there, in that?’
Millie wanted to purr like a cat. Her gamble with the nightgown was paying off. ‘I don’t want your wits tonight, Beau. I want you.’
‘Are you sure? If we start this, I will want all of you. Now. Are you ready?’ His gravelled voice stroked over her senses, and she arched toward him.
‘I’m starting this becauseIwant all ofyou. Tonight. Areyouready, Drake?’ Her voice only shook a little as nerves skittered through her veins like a million fireflies.
