Seduced by a Scoundrel

Author:Barbara Dawson Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), Fiction
ISBN: 9780312972721
Publisher: St. Martin's
Published: 1999-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

It was inevitable that he escort Alicia to her bedchamber. Inevitable that he dismiss her maid, a shy little mouse who bobbed a curtsy and darted from the room. Inevitable that he close the door and turn the key.

A lamp glowed on the bedside table, and a fire burned on the hearth. The muted lighting wrapped the room in cozy intimacy. In the canopied four-poster, the linens had been turned down and the pillows lay plump and white against the gilded headboard.

Alicia felt caught in a strange dream. She watched, helpless with longing, as Drake set the champagne bottle on a rosewood table, then unbuttoned his frock coat and shrugged out of it. All the while, his dark and determined gaze held hers.

Controlling a tremor, she picked up the bottle and poured champagne into a glass. For one night, she wanted to forget all the reasons he was wrong for her. She wanted to forget the past and pretend they had a real marriage, the happiness her parents had known long ago.

Before she could lift the glass to her lips, Drake caught her wrist. “You’ve had enough of that.”

“I thought you wanted me tipsy,” she said, lifting her chin in dignified defiance. “So that I would do as you willed.”

“I did,” he admitted. “But I’ve changed my mind. I want you to be fully aware of who I am.”

Her brief rise of rebellion died. It would serve no purpose to delude herself. He was the man who had forced her into marriage. Tonight she would give herself into the power of Drake Wilder, gamester, scoundrel, pirate of noble fortunes.

He took the glass and set it on the table. Then he moved his hands to her upper arms, caressing lightly over her bare skin. “Alicia,” he murmured. “There is but one way to rid ourselves of this obsession we have for each other. One way to be done with it.”

She couldn’t answer. She could only stare mutely at him.

“I am going to make love to you,” he went on, and the confidence in his voice raised an inexplicable pleasure along her nerves. His fingers left a trail of sparks down her arms and over her breasts. “I will touch you and kiss you as I please. And when it is over, you will no longer be a virgin.”

She felt incapable of denying him. The bargain that had been so vital to her pride and her self-preservation seemed unimportant now. She could think only of the need burning inside herself, the need that made her lie awake in the darkness, her mind and body too restless for sleep. If one night with him ended this torment, then it would be well worth the price.

And she might conceive a child. A healthy child. A child to hold and love and guide. The possibility shone like a bright beacon in the dark turbulence of her desire.

I would never, ever forsake my child.

Did Drake want an heir to his fortune? Most men did. Yet she knew little of his thoughts, his dreams, his past.

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