Bradley, Celeste: Desperately Seeking a Duke by Bradley Celeste

Author:Bradley, Celeste
Language: eng
Format: epub

Bradley, Celeste: Desperately Seeking a Duke

She didn't even hesitate. "Please, excuse me for a moment, my lord. I-I feel the need for the retiring room."

Why hadn't she hesitated? No, don't think on that. Don't think at all.

Calder stood instantly. "Are you ill?"

She smiled quickly. "No, I'm quite well. It's simply the crowd-I'm not used to this..."

It was a ridiculous excuse for an excuse, but he seemed to accept it "Please, let me know if I can-"

But she left him behind, supping past a sturdy dowager who was complaining of the number of people, moving through the crush like water seeking level, entirely intent on him.

This is not good. This is not the him you ought to be thinking of.

Of course it wasn't.

She didn't care.

IN THE HALLWAY, Rafe found himself pressed to the wall by an advancing Lilah. Unfortunately, he wanted only to have her step back and stop looking at him as if she wanted to have him on her plate at dinner.

Did this mean that he was ruined for other women forever? Could that happen from one evening's sweet-God, so sweet-encounter in a garden and a mere moment in a parlor? Could a man like him catch such a serious case of devotion in such a short amount of time?

Not if he could bloody help it.

He smiled false invitation. Lilah glowed. She hadn't had more than a nodding acquaintance with sincerity for years, so it was no surprise that she did not detect the lie.

She moved closer still. "For a moment there I thought you'd forgotten me," she whispered.

Rafe let habit take over. "I could never do that." He ran his fingertips delicately up her bare arm. She let out a husky sigh that tickled his ear. Her touch felt soiled, although to be truthful, she was no more soiled than he himself. His past covered him in grimy regret... and only the understanding in Phoebe's clear blue eyes could have washed him clean. She would have been his redemption and his reward. His new beginning. A chance to be the man he ought to have been.

A chance he'd lost forever. So what was the point of trying anymore?

He quelled his distaste and opened his hand around the back of Lilah's neck. She was beautiful and willing. He was a man, damn it! That was all a man needed, right?

Perhaps sometime between now and getting her naked, he would recapture his free will.

God, I hope so. If not, he was in for a bit of embarrassment. Lilah was more woman than most men had in a lifetime. If she couldn't liberate him, no one could.

"Lilah wants," she whispered throatily.

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