Chapter Six
On the Sixth Day of Christmas
My True Love Gave to Me
Many Words of Mischief
Alexander trailed Adriana out into the hallway, following her twitching skirts and angry steps. It had taken hours to find her alone. After presents, she had whisked Georgiana away for a short nap, then the two had gone for a long walk in the snow, and then there had been another nap, and he’d been absorbed being a dutiful host.
A host of guests had long been a Berresford Ducal tradition. A tradition he could have done without at present.
Finally, he’d tracked her down in one of the upper hallways. When she’d spotted him, her gaze had narrowed and, if he’d been a lesser man, his balls would have withered. He wasn’t about to let her ire continue. “Adriana,” he called, keeping his voice low.
She stopped, turned on her heel, and pointed at him. “Making a fool of me was not part of our deal. You fed me to the wolves down there.”
Alexander waited, letting her vent her fury.
Her pale cheeks blazed red. “I understand you think little of me, but to hand me over to those vicious harpies for their own amusement tells me a great deal about you. After your present, my heart felt so warmed, but then I realized I am nothing, just a plaything for you to make use of. I can’t—”
Unable to bear another minute of the thoughts that had apparently swarmed her head, Alexander strode to her, and in two swift steps he backed her into a small narrow hall, thankfully tucked far away from the prying eyes of his guests. He cupped his fingers around her nape, tilted her head back, and just before he slanted his lips over hers, he whispered, “I did it so you wouldn’t be able to leave my side. How else could I keep you close, Adriana?”
The rage vanished from her face, replaced by disbelief.
Before she could speak, he seized her mouth with his own, not holding back, not gentle as he was the night before. He wanted to consume her. To make her want him as madly as he wanted her. There was something about this woman that flung all reason from of his head, and he wouldn’t be the only one waving adieu to sanity.
She gasped against his mouth, her hands limp by her sides until at last, she moaned against him and embraced him in turn.
He needed no further encouragement. Alexander pressed her between the wall and his body, determined that she should feel his unyielding hardness and the ridge of his cock, hungry to thrust deep inside her body.
She panted for breath, but he wouldn’t give it to her. Instead, he stole the air from her lungs, taking her mouth savagely, thrusting his tongue into her mouth just as his cock wished to do to the folds between her thighs. Slowly, deliberately, he thrust his tongue in and out, opening her mouth wider, so that she could deny him nothing.
Her fingers clawed at his back, and she angled her head, granting him an even deeper kiss. Despite the layers of her gown and his trousers, her hips cradled his hard, pulsing erection. Though it was the height of madness, every instinct demanded he lay her on the wood floor and take her now.
As it was, he grabbed a fistful of her skirt and slid it up her thighs.
“W-What?” she gasped against his mouth.
“Shhh,” he murmured. Before she could say anything else, his fingers found her slick folds and her knees nearly buckled. He wouldn’t let her fall but held her upright as he kissed her and stroked his fingers deeper, seeking the tight spot of her desire.
She trembled against him before she wound her hands into his coat, grabbing fistfuls of the fabric.
Even as he rubbed his lips tantalizingly over hers, he stroked his thumb over the swollen nub of flesh he knew would drive her wild with passion. She arched toward him, a whimper coming from her mouth.
He could drive her over the edge. Right now. But he wouldn’t. For one very important reason. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “I want to be in you when you come.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “I-I…”
He stroked his thumb in a tantalizing circle over her folds one last time before he slid his hand out from between her legs and dropped her skirts back to the floor. “Tonight.”
She closed her eyes, her face flushed, her breath harried. “I am still angry with you.”
“Because I wish to be with you?”
Slowly, she opened her eyes, and there was such vulnerability he felt his heart stammer. Was this the shocking, prevaricating woman he’d believed her to be? Where was this gentle fragility originating from?
“Do you mean that, or is that just part of your seduction?”
He almost let the words does it matter? pass his lips, but he held them back because they weren’t true. He did want to spend more time with her and not because he wanted to get to the root of her so he could ensure she never hurt Georgiana or himself, but rather to know her completely because he desired her for his own pleasure. Adriana was no cold schemer. He knew it in his bones. “I shouldn’t, but I wish to have you with me because I do not wish for us to be parted. You see, I’m learning that every aspect of you is appealing.”
At that her face shuttered, the passion fading. “You tell that lie very well.”
He grasped her chin and tilted it up so that she looked him in the eyes. “Lying is not one of my traits.”
“But it is one of mine,” she countered.
“Well, you are a novelist,” he teased. Good God, but she trusted no one. Likely, she had no reason to. If her books were any proof, she’d never had someone to love her. To take care of her. Suddenly, he found himself asking quite rashly, “Are you the heroine in all your books?”
She scrabbled against the wall, trying to find a way to avoid the pointed question, no doubt. “I beg your pardon?”
“In your books, the heroine is always quite friendless, perhaps finding love, only to be betrayed, and she dies in the end. Alone.”
Her jawline set.
He’d hit a nerve, and he stared down at her in wonder. “They are you.”
“Please, I don’t wish to discuss it.”
“You’re not going to die alone, Adriana, and I’m not going to betray you.”
She snapped a furious look at him. “Last night you threatened to throw me out into the snow.”
Her words cut brutally. Was he really such an ass? “Adriana, I kept you here because I wished you to be in my bed. And I have wanted you there for some time. But if you do not also wish it, I will not force you to it.”
“But you will send me away.”
There she had him. He had no idea what to do with her. For the last year, he’d watched her, admiring her but not allowing himself to become too intrigued lest he head down a dangerous path. Now, he’d launched himself down said path at a full run.
He didn’t want to turn back. Still, he had no easy words to give her. He’d seen the way she loved Georgiana and the way his daughter loved her in turn. To separate them would be unbearable, but to keep Adriana could be just as dangerous. “I don’t know what to say.”
She raised her hand and clasped his wrist. “Don’t say anything. Not now.”
So, he didn’t. Instead, he did the only thing he could think of—he leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss to her brow, then rested his forehead against hers. He stood like that, unsure how much time had passed, only knowing that in her presence, in her embrace, he felt more alive and more the man he thought he could be than he ever had in his life.
Finally, he whispered, “What is it about you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You make me wish to be so much more.”
She pulled back, a bemused smile turning her lips. Carefully, she brushed a lock of hair back from his brow. “You’re a duke. How much more could you be? The king?”
“I was born to be a duke,” he said factually. “I’m a duke because of the fortune of my birth. You make me wish to be a better man. One of my making, not birth.”
That smile faded and she averted her gaze. Shadows danced in those eyes, suddenly making the harsh cares of her life present. “Please don’t.”
That damned feeling was back. The one that wanted to protect her from all the pain she’d ever known or ever could know. “What?”
“Make me care about you.”
He caressed his palm over her cheek. “Would that be so terrible?”
Her fingers curled into fists and she still kept her gaze to the left, fixed on some imaginary object. “Yes.”
He circled one arm about her waist, embracing her, holding her to him as if he could somehow make them one. “But I already care for you, Adriana. So perhaps it is only fair that you should come to care for me.”
A scoffing sound escaped her lips. “You don’t play fair.”
Leaning his head down, he whispered against the curve of her throat, “Are we playing?”
“Aren’t we?” she demanded. But there was a note of doubt in her voice.
“No.” He let his lips brush over her hot, delicate skin. “Our games are long done.”
“So, what are we doing, then?”
“I have no idea, but there is no game about it. For there is far too much at risk.” He dared not say that if anything, this had become a game of hearts, what with the way she was storming into his. But he couldn’t trust her with that yet. Not when he was uncertain. Not when he still couldn’t be sure if this seduction was entirely about her keeping her place.
He prayed that in some way it was about him. That she didn’t just seek to keep her position, but that she hungered to be with him as badly as he now hungered to be with her. Over the last year, he’d had an inexplicable need for her. Could he hope she’d felt the same?
“Will you come down to dinner?” he asked gently. “For me?”
She lifted her gaze to his, her soft lips parting. “For you… Yes, Alexander.”