My Own Private Hero by Julianne Maclean

Author:Julianne Maclean [Maclean, Julianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical
Published: 2010-12-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

He shouldn’t be doing this, Damien thought, as he led the way through the trees and around the lake. He should not have suggested they ride on. He should have started back toward the house.

But he’d taken one look at Adele on her horse in the natural splendor of her feminine beauty, with her top hat perched at an enticing forward tilt on her head, and her luscious raspberry lips just waiting to be kissed, and he’d slid down the slippery slope of his less gentlemanly inclinations.

It was at that moment an instinct deeper than logic prevailed. It was the instinct responsible for his notorious reputation for being able to successfully seduce any woman of his choosing.

He did not, however, choose just any woman.

He had very particular tastes, and he always chose his lovers with careful, sound logic. Except for today, he thought irritably, when the opportunity to follow his more primitive desires had caused his body to respond promptly on cue with a most sizable and untimely arousal.

“I want to thank you for arranging for the doctor,” Adele said, trotting up beside him.

He draped an arm across his pelvis.

“I wasn’t sure how to handle that,” she added. “I’m glad you thought of it.”

He had thought of a great many things over the past few days.

“Did you tell Harold you were going to take care of it?” she asked.

Damien steered his mount around a fallen branch. “No.”

She considered his direct, flat response. “Why not?”

“The subject didn’t come up.”

The sound of their horses’ hooves tapping over the soft earth filled the silence. “I did talk to him about it myself,” she said, “after I had the doctor explain the situation to him. I wanted Harold to know that I had not been harmed.”

“What did Harold say?”

“He was relieved, of course, but I think he was a little uncomfortable talking about it.”

Damien shifted in the saddle. He knew his cousin well, and he knew that Harold wasn’t entirely comfortable around women, nor was he comfortable with anything to do with sex.

The truth of the matter was, Harold lacked experience, and Damien suspected he would be ill at ease on his wedding night. Painfully so. But it would be disloyal for Damien to express such an opinion to the woman Harold was going to marry. Instead, he would talk to Harold about it. He would prepare him for his wedding night, and tell him what to do.

The thought of that caused a sudden tightness in Damien’s neck and shoulders. Could he do that? Tell Harold how to make love to Adele?

“I was surprised,” she said, ripping him quite violently out of his thoughts, “when Harold suggested you show me the stables, given that we just spent so much time together.”

“Harold trusts me.”

“But how can he trust me? He doesn’t know me as well as he knows you. It didn’t even occur to him that I might be tempted by your reputed allure when it comes to women. Am I that predictably pure?”

He smiled at her, choosing not to answer.

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