Read Online Unbefitting a Lady by Bronwyn Scott - Free Book Online Page B

her face between his hands, gently tipping her head back,
her pink lips already parted ever so slightly, the dark pupils of her eyes wide
with curious desire.
    ‘I think it’s time to claim my forfeit.’ His voice was husky as
he bent to take her mouth in a slow kiss.
    * * *
    So this was what he’d meant by a real kiss. It was more
than a kiss, more than lips meeting lips in a fleeting buss. Phaedra was
blissfully conscious of his hand at the back of her neck, warm and caressing,
guiding; of her lips opening to him; of the decadent strokes of his tongue
inside her mouth; of her own tongue responding in kind until they were engaged
in a seductive duel.
    Their mouths weren’t all that was engaged. She was acutely
aware the kiss had aroused more than her mouth. Heat pooled in her stomach, low
and hot, while the core of her burned for more, helped along by the intimate
press of his body to hers. She’d seen the glorious muscle of him revealed that
morning, but to feel a man, to feel him against
one’s own body, was far headier than the visual.
    He was a granite wall against her, all planes and firm muscle,
generating an erotic male heat. The wanton in her longed to stroke those planes,
to run her hands down the contours of his torso. He danced her backwards to the
wall, their duel becoming more insistent, inspiring her own boldness. Her hands
were in his hair, then at his shoulders, gripping the muscled expanse of them
beneath the fabric of his shirt. His mouth moved to the curve of her jaw,
nipping ever so lightly at the column of her throat. She gasped at the pleasure
of it.
    ‘Does that feel good, princess?’ Bram feathered a breath
against her ear and she shivered delightfully for an answer. His hands were more
adventurous now, casting away the coat he’d draped her in and pushing down the
scooped bodice of her gown. Every last thought she possessed was centred only on
the present, on the wicked caress of his thumb across her nipple, on the heat
building in her body, and the hardness of him where their bodies met, that
unmentionable part of a man pressed against her.
    ‘Do you feel what you do to me?’ he asked, his own breath
ragged at her ear now, evidence that he was enjoying this as much as she.
    ‘Yes.’
    He kissed her hard one last time and stepped back. ‘That’s why
we have to stop this right now.’ He gave her one of his teasing half-grins. ‘If
we don’t, in a half minute or less, I’ll have your skirts about your ears and
your legs around mine.’
    Phaedra flushed and tried to gather her hauteur as she
straightened her clothing. ‘ Your ears? I doubt
that’s possible.’
    Bram leaned forward and adjusted the shoulder of her gown. ‘I
assure you it is, princess.’
    She grimaced, doubtful. ‘Sounds uncomfortable.’
    Bram laughed. ‘Sounds like a challenge.’
    Goodness, the man was arrogant, a fact she’d conveniently
forgotten when he’d kissed her. She couldn’t believe she’d let things go so far
or that she’d told him so much on such short acquaintance. She must be missing
Kate more than she thought, but that didn’t change the fact she’d enjoyed it—all
of it, the conversation and the kiss.
    Phaedra gave a regal sweep past him with a pointed ‘ Goodnight , Mr Basingstoke.’
    He gave her a short bow. ‘Goodnight, Lady Phaedra.’ She didn’t
have to turn around to know he was laughing again. She could hear it in his
voice. She kept her shoulders squared until she was out of sight. Aunt
Wilhelmina would say she’d gotten exactly what she’d deserved for sitting in the
stables late at night with a man who so casually ran around shirtless.
Unfortunately for Aunt Wilhelmina, her just deserts were proving to be quite
delicious.

Chapter Seven
    K issing Phaedra Montague was not an antidote for sleeplessness. If anything, it was
the cause, that and her infernal ability to talk without telling him anything at
all. He was well aware she’d not fully answered his question.
    She