Read Online The Notorious Nobleman by Nancy Lawrence - Free Book Online Page B

moment. Then
slowly, alert to her reaction, he changed the tenor of their kiss,
deepening it until he held her completely in his power. His hands
move slowly over her, spanning her narrow waist, pressing her
against him, willing her to kiss him back.
    Julia didn’t disappoint him. She raised one
arm up to encircle his neck and returned his kiss wholeheartedly.
She had never kissed a man back before. Having been taught that
ladies were merely passive recipients of such passions, she had
never initiated a kiss with her husband when he had been alive. But
she wanted to kiss Gavin. She wanted to return to him a small
amount of the pleasure he was giving her.
    After a moment he raised his head and look
down at her. “You’ve never been kissed that way before, have you?”
he asked.
    “ Never,” she answered, feeling a little
light-headed.
    “ Not even by your husband?”
    “ No.”
    He looked down at her, at her kiss-bruised
lips raised so enticingly toward his. He tightened his arms about
her and whispered, “William Pettingale was a fool.”
    Julia wasn’t sure what exactly he was talking
about, but she heartily wished he would stop talking altogether and
just kiss her again.
    She was to have her wish. Gavin’s mouth met
hers once more and this time, his kiss was long and lingering and
tender. His kiss was unlike anything she had ever experienced and
it left her hungry for more.
    After several more minutes of such heaven,
Gavin raised his head. Slowly, and more than a bit reluctantly, he
loosed his hold of her and stepped away. “God, what you do to
me.”
    Julia watched him move very pointedly toward
the other side of the room. Her eyes met his and she saw that he
was regarding her rather fixedly. He was also smiling slightly. The
thought occurred to her that he could no doubt very easily make a
woman fall in love with him when he looked at her in just such a
way; and that thought was swiftly succeeded by the startling
realization that he had just succeeded in doing exactly so.
    She strongly suspected that she was fast
losing lost her heart to him and she was a little bit stunned to
realize that of all the men in the world, she was half-way in love
with a man who had long made it his practice to scorn society and
fan the flames of gossip concerning his reputation.
    But the irony was that she could listen to
the stories of his notorious behavior and the logic of shunning him
only in his absence. When he was with her and her eyes met his, she
became instantly convinced that he was an honorable man, worthy of
her friendship and of her affection.
    Whether or not he felt any of the same
emotion for her, she had no way of discovering; for Harriet
Clouster tumbled back into the drawing room then, the promised
sewing basket in her arms. She was half-way across the room before
she realized he was there, then she drew up short and her
expression dissolved into one of shock. “Duke! Gracious, I had no
idea  ! When did
you  ? Oh,
heavens!”
    He saved her the trouble of forming a more
sensible conversation by stepping forward and sketching a very
proper bow. “Mrs. Clouster, how do you do?” he asked, so politely
as to stun her even further. “I have called merely to satisfy
myself that Lady Pettingale was well and suffered no ill effects
from our encounter earlier this week.”
    “ Oh, no! Julia suffered not at all
and  and she is very well!”
sputtered Harriet, still quite flustered.
    “ I am glad to hear it,” said Gavin. He
turned and claimed Julia’s hand momentarily. “Lady Pettingale, I
hope I may have the pleasure of seeing you again
sometime.”
    Julia was reluctant to allow his fingers to
slip from hers and she heartily wished he would stay longer. “But,
will I not see you at any of the village parties? Mrs. Ludhill is
hosting a card party this evening and tomorrow there is to be an
assembly with dancing. Will you not be there?”
    “ No, I never partake of neighborhood
society,” he said,