Duke Looks Like a Groomsman - Valerie Bowman Page 0,31

thoroughly with his tongue and lips, sucking gently, then hard, tugging at them with his teeth until she called his name again.

She squeezed him through his breeches and Rhys wanted to come like an untried lad. Instead, he twisted his hips away and minutes later, he forced himself to pull his mouth away from her gorgeous breasts. He meant to only stop momentarily, to see if she was all right, to catch his breath for one timeless moment. He pressed his forehead hard against hers, his breath coming out in hard, short, pants.

She was breathing heavily too, her chest still rising and falling beneath the tatters of her shirt. He was beyond jealous of that shirt at the moment. “Rhys,” she breathed again. “Rhys.”

He knew this shouldn’t continue, but he couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and kissed her lips once more.

She pressed a hand to his chest, pushing him back.

He stopped, staring at her. His harsh breath hurt his lungs.

“We must stop, Rhys,” she whispered.

He pressed his forehead to hers once more. “Why?” he whispered. “Tell me, why?”

“Because,” her voice was pained but resolute, “I’m betrothed to the Marquess of Murdock.”

The lust in his eyes quickly faded. “You remembered that, did you?”

Chapter Twelve

Julianna stole to her bedchamber window that night. She pushed the curtains aside as was her wont and stared up at the glowing full moon. She wrapped her arms around herself tight and for the first time since that afternoon, allowed herself to think about what had happened.

She had kissed Rhys. With enthusiasm. She could hardly pretend it hadn’t been mutual. Oh, God. Where had all her outrage gone? Where had the anger at the months of heartache he’d put her through flown the moment his lips touched hers? The man was detestable. She’d kissed Detestable, of all people!

The worst part was…she’d enjoyed it.

He’d denied having been hurt by her engagement announcement in the paper but, dear God, he had quoted it word-for-humiliating-word. She’d never dreamed he read the gossip pages of the Times. She supposed it had been naïve of her to assume he’d never heard about her engagement or that someone hadn’t brought it to his attention, but…she’d never imagined he’d been hurt by it. He was the one who left and never returned, after all. However, the fact remained that he’d sounded angry when he’d repeated the printed words. Was he hurt? How was that possible?

Well, she’d been hurt too. That’s why she’d fired back with that bit about him lying about returning that Season. Only then he’d said, I suppose when one man is no longer available, any man will do for the most popular debutante of the Season. That had hurt too. Is that what he thought about her? Truly? Is that what he’d believed all these months? That she’d quickly tossed him over for the next eligible bachelor?

It still didn’t explain why he’d left. Her engagement announcement hadn’t come out in the paper until well into her third Season. He might have been angry about it, but that certainly wasn’t what had caused him to leave and not return. No. Rhys was being disingenuous. Doing his best to appear the injured party when they both knew precisely what had happened between them.

The kiss had been entirely unexpected. Perhaps wrong, but necessary as far as Julianna was concerned. Or at least that’s what she’d told herself earlier tonight as she’d tossed and turned in her bed. The kiss had been necessary, she reasoned, because it told her more clearly and powerfully than any words could that Rhys had not stopped having feelings for her.

All this time, these many months, she’d been dogged by the notion that he’d left her because he’d only been playacting with her to begin with. That he’d never truly felt anything for her. But she knew now beyond any doubt that not only had he felt something, he still felt it. Or at least could if circumstances were different.

She also realized that Rhys had a secret. He’d hinted at it, at least, when he’d said he’d ‘done her a favor’ by leaving her that spring. What did he mean? His reply had been vague. But she’d long suspected he’d left for something more than a visit to the country to see his mother. He’d been gone too long. Had written too little.

She’d eventually decided it had just been his way of disengaging from her, but now she suspected more than ever that there had been another reason for