Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,39

less than a week ago and already he was having visions of spending his future with Sophie.

His craving for her was not merely physical, he realized. The more he came to know her, the more he wanted to share her company. His spirits rose each time he saw her, and when they were apart, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He was intrigued by her patient kindness and sensual grace, captivated by her own uncommon brand of charm. When she laughed, the sound danced over his skin. And when she kissed …

Despite her virginal innocence, she kissed with a hunger that reached inside to touch some long-buried, vulnerable part of him—which likely explained why he was so ensnared by her. That artless, eager passion set him on fire. At the first arousing taste of her lips tonight, he’d gone from enchantment to burning-hot need in a heartbeat.

Remembering the flush of sexual desire on her beautiful features, the dreamy look in her huge violet eyes, Jack felt the hard clutch of desire all over again.

Whatever the reason for his enchantment, though, the simple fact was, he was past the point of no return. He wanted to be Sophie’s lover.

Even more, he wanted the right to simply be with her instead of suffering these damned clandestine rendezvous.

Jack glanced toward the curtained windows, wondering if it was too late to pay a visit to the stream running beneath the stone bridge where they’d met two mornings ago. He could use a good dousing to cool the fever in his blood.

It would require all his willpower to make himself leave Sophie’s bed tonight, he knew. He was assailed by the wild urge to claim ownership of her then and there. To take her trembling body and make her his.

But until he had that right, he would force himself to wait.

In the wee hours of the morning, Jack left Sophie’s bed reluctantly—and more determined than ever to make her father see reason.

His opportunity came later that day during a picnic luncheon by the lake, when the guests were preparing to return home to the manor. As the company meandered toward the line of waiting carriages, Jack sent a footman to intercept Oliver Fortin with a request for him to travel in the first vehicle with Mrs. Pennant.

When the Fortins obliged and climbed inside, Jack entered after Sophie’s parents and took the seat opposite. As soon as the door shut, the carriage pulled away, just as he’d instructed his coachman.

Fortin looked puzzled at first and none too happy to be trapped in a closed carriage with a notorious Wilde. Frowning, he rapped on the roof and called out to the driver. “I say, Coachman! You must wait for Mrs. Pennant.”

“That won’t be necessary, sir,” Jack said politely. “She will be following in another vehicle.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Fortin demanded, eyeing Jack with active dislike. “I thought Mrs. Pennant invited us to ride with her.”

“No, the invitation was entirely my design.”

He’d needed Fortin’s complete attention and so had manufactured this opportunity for a captive audience. “Since I wanted to speak to you alone, I am escorting you back to Pennant Hall.”

Fortin looked irate. “You will turn this carriage around at once, sir. I have nothing to say to you. Luring us here under false pretenses is most certainly not the act of a gentleman.”

Jack kept his expression conciliatory, even though the devil in him would have dearly loved to show his amusement. On the scale of his past misdeeds, a temporary abduction did not rank in the top one hundred. “You strike me as being a fair man, Fortin.”

“Fair? Of course I am fair.”

“If so, you will give me a hearing.”

“I will do nothing of the kind. You are a trickster, resorting to such underhanded means.”

“I only require a few moments of your time.”

Fortin started to retort, but Rebecca Fortin spoke up in her soft voice. “Perhaps we should hear him out, my dear.”

Fortin sat there fuming, yet amazingly enough, he tempered his bluster somewhat. “My wife has a delicate constitution and ought not be inconvenienced in this deplorable manner. But since you have connived to trap us here, you may as well have your say.”

Jack had debated divulging his resolve to court Sophie—but decided it wiser to soften Fortin’s resistance first.

“I know there is bad blood between us,” he began. “You hold my relatives responsible for the loss of your family’s title and fortune. But there is another side of the tale.”