Between Scandal and Desire by Alyssa Clarke

Author:Alyssa Clarke [Clarke, Alyssa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Darkan Press Inc.
Published: 2022-05-02T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Good heavens, I’ve said it.

Cressida waited for Nicholas’s reaction, her heart shivering inside her chest. She sat up, tugging a blanket from beside the chaise, and wrapped it about her body, covering her nudity. Those beautiful blue eyes flickered over her in a thorough appraisal. Today he wore no coat or cravat, just a white linen shirt and dark trousers that stretched over his thigh muscles. His hair needed trimming, and a dark stubble covered his jaw. Nicholas Fairbanks wore a rakish air about him, and Cressida should be vexed that she was so attracted to him. It felt disastrous, yet she could not help wanting to know more about this gentleman.

Her question lingered in the air between them, and she dared him to answer with her eyes. How long have you been thinking about kissing me?

His mouth quirked. “I have thought about you every day since as well, Cressida.”

“Is that usual for you?”

Warmth gleamed in his gaze. “No. Very unusual, I admit. Perhaps even a bit bewildering and I am not a man easily bewildered.”

She liked the sound of that.

“I wondered what it would be like to kiss you the first time I saw you laugh. You were riding in Hyde Park, and a sharp gust of wind tugged a pretty, green bonnet from your head. You raced after it as it danced in the wind, your laugh trailing behind you. I followed at a discreet distance, thinking I had never heard a more delightful sound.” He cleared his throat. “You caught it, and I had the thought right at that moment that I would give anything to kiss you.”

Her heart ached, and it physically hurt with the control it took to not dash herself into his arms and kiss him. Cressida stood, holding the blanket tightly around her, a sudden sense of disbelief enveloping her. She had sat before this man, completely naked for the past two hours. And they were not married. Something wild and free bubbled inside her belly and erupted as laughter.

“Ah, the lady is just realizing she had been naked before me.”

She held a hand over her mouth to stem the mirth. “Are my thoughts so obvious?”

“Your eyes are very expressive.”

“And what are they telling you now?” she asked pertly.

Nicholas drifted closer, taking with him a most rousing, masculine scent. “That you would not mind if I claimed my reward.”

Cressida managed not to step back, but it took tremendous effort. She was so aware of him, so very tempted to lean into his strength and yield to the temptation in his gaze. “You wish to kiss me,” she whispered, an answering ache rising inside her.

A small smile hitched at the corner of his mouth. “Yes.”

“We did agree I would reward your efforts with kisses.”

He arched a brow. “Is that the only reason you would kiss me, hmm?”

“No,” she said with honesty. “I am drawn to you; I admit it.”

He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, his thumb feathering over her lips. That whisper of a caress sent her belly into a hot swirl.

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