Heiress in Regency Society: The Defiant Debutante. Helen Dickson

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СКАЧАТЬ bath immediately, shaking in every limb. After drying herself and struggling into her clothes, she unpinned her hair from its fastening and shook it loose so that it cascaded just past her waist. Emerging from the bathroom into the lion’s den, she drew a deep breath as she tried to steady her nerves. Having thrown on a shirt, Alex stood with his back to her looking out of the window, his whole body tensed into a rigid line, as if he fought some private battle within himself.

      Sensing her presence, he turned, his jaw set. She was oblivious to the sight she presented to him. The pure, sweet bliss of having her close spurred his heart. She was too damned lovely to be true. Her cheeks were still rosy from her bath, and her hair—all the wonderful shades of autumn he’d imagined it to be—formed a torrent of brilliant silk tresses, with adorable damp tendrils clinging and curling around her face. The very sight of her here in his rooms wrenched his vitals in a painful knot, and the urge to go to her and pull her into his arms savaged his restraint. If she knew the full force of that emotion he held in check, she would tremble and seek the sanctuary of her room.

      In a calm voice that nevertheless carried an unmistakable threat of command, he said, ‘Come here.’

      With the width of the room between them, clutching her towel and lotion bottles to her, Angelina could almost believe she was crossing an immeasurable abyss. As she slowly moved towards him, Alex’s towering height increasing. Halfway there she paused.

      Alex raised one black devil’s eyebrow. ‘Closer. That’s not far enough.’

      He looked like a dark, invincible god, forbidding, intimidating, and yet strangely compelling. When she stood close his hand reached out and touched her tumbling hair, taking one curling tress and winding it gently round his finger.

      ‘You have beautiful hair, Angelina. It’s a sin to restrain it the way you do.’

      Frantically she began to think of things she could say, but all she could do was stare at him in mute appeal. Alex’s suppressed energy and desire seemed to burn in that warm, elegant room, where all reality had been suspended. Angelina felt weak, unable to find the antagonism amid her confusion.

      ‘You should not be here.’

      ‘I know,’ she whispered, finding her voice at last. Her pulse quickened when he stepped nearer. Feeling the bold look of his hungry gaze she trembled and instinctively took a step back, her only thought being to avoid any contact with him. ‘I—I was not expecting to see you back so soon.’

      ‘Evidently. I concluded my business in half the time and returned early—and it’s as well that I did. The last thing I expected was to find you making use of my bathtub. I shall have a few choice words to say to Wyatt.’

      Angelina’s eyes flew to his, alarmed that he would vent his wrath on poor Wyatt when the fault was all hers. ‘Oh, no. Please don’t be angry with him. I am entirely to blame.’

      ‘I believe you,’ Alex replied drily, thrusting his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching out and dragging her into his arms.

      ‘I—I didn’t mean to intrude, but—I—’

      ‘You wanted to sample my bathing chamber.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Then don’t you think it would have been common courtesy to ask me first? Why didn’t you?’

      ‘Because I didn’t find out until this morning that you had one. Besides, you would have refused,’ she said softly.

      ‘On the contrary. I would gladly have given you my permission,’ Alex said, finding that with the light from the window washing over her she was like a radiant sunburst and looked adorable.

      Surprise etched Angelina’s lovely features and her misty eyes widened. ‘You would?’

      ‘Yes,’ he answered reasonably. ‘Does that surprise you?’

      ‘Yes, it does.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because I—I don’t understand you,’ she murmured hesitantly. ‘I never know what to expect from you. At the beginning you were hostile towards me. You were my judge, jury and executioner all wrapped into one.’ Her luminescent eyes were large and desperate with confusion. ‘And now—these last few days—you—you—’

      ‘I told you not three days ago that I was wrong in my assessment of both you and your mother and I apologised. But you know, Angelina,’ he said softly, seeing his reflection in the dark centres of her eyes, ‘I seriously think you enjoy baiting me, and nobody does it as well as you. But shall I tell you what I think when I look at you now?’

      ‘I—if you like,’ Angelina said, trying to answer lightly, but her voice was low and husky.

      ‘I see an extremely beautiful young woman with shining hair all the wonderful shades of autumn and the smile of an angel.’ His heavy-lidded gaze dropped to the inviting fullness of her mouth, lingering there.

      Angelina stepped back a little, but an answering quiver that was a combination of fright and excitement was tingling up her spine. ‘Please don’t look at me like that,’ she whispered.

      ‘Then I think you’d better go.’

      Alex’s desire for Angelina was hard driven, but he couldn’t overstep the mark. But then, he thought, dwelling on a suspicion that had been forming in his mind since before he’d left London, would his uncle mind all that much if he made advances towards Angelina? Wasn’t that what that wily old man had in mind when he’d insisted on her accompanying him to Arlington while he removed himself to Cornwall?

      Clutching her towel and bottles to her chest, Angelina crossed the room and opened the door, only to find it slam shut when Alex came up behind her with the sure-footed skill of a panther. She stood there, frozen, anchored between his strong arms, the sleeves of his shirt rolled back to reveal their power. Unable to turn, she could feel his closeness, the muscular hardness of him, the vibrant heat of his body pressed close against her back and his warm breath on her hair.

      She trembled when he drew the heavy tresses to one side, feeling defeat, afraid, when she felt his mouth on the soft warm flesh on the back of her neck. On a gasp she sucked in her breath when he parted his lips and touched her skin with the fiery tip of his tongue. Her heart was pounding, and for a moment she knew a feeling of sheer terror when his voice spoke very quietly into her ear. ‘I want you,’ he murmured hoarsely. To his surprise she didn’t fight him; in fact, as his lips began a slow, erotic seduction over her flesh, she didn’t seem to know what he was doing to her.

      ‘Please—don’t do this,’ she whispered, her heart thundering in her ears.

      ‘Why? Don’t fight me, Angel. What are you afraid of?’

      You, her mind screamed. You, and what you might do to me.

      ‘You are as much a victim of the overwhelming forces at work between us as I,’ he murmured, his lips continuing their tender assault on her neck, the scent and living heat of her invading all his senses. ‘You and I are one. The simple truth can no longer be denied.’

      Lowering her head, a small knot in the wood of the door became the focal point of Angelina’s concentration, a misshapen image tugging at the heart of her memory, conjuring indistinct, cloudy visions in her mind and blending СКАЧАТЬ