as her kiss turned voracious.
She was warm, fragrant, and desperate. He usually didn’t find desperation to his liking either. But Selina’s wholehearted desire was the most exciting thing he’d ever known.
Too exciting. If she kept kissing him, he’d push her down onto the cushioned seat and have her. To hell with discretion. And while the wicked, selfish side of his nature would like nothing better, he’d promised to look after her.
Selina roused his rusty honor from its long sleep. He lifted his head, ignoring her murmur of disappointment, and stared down at her in wonder and regret. Because he’d like nothing better than to rip away that ugly dress and squeeze her breasts and cup her delectable rump and part her legs and slide deep inside her.
Soon…
When he held her in his arms like this, soon wasn’t soon enough.
"We must stop," he said gruffly.
Her eyes were heavy with desire. "Yes," she said with no conviction whatsoever.
Despite his agony of frustration, a grunt of reluctant amusement escaped him. "We shouldn’t have started."
Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were full and red from his kisses. "I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first saw you."
As ever, her honesty carved a great rift in his heart. "Tomorrow, you can kiss me all you like."
"It seems a cursed long way off."
A pox on it, it did. It took an almighty amount of willpower to shift her off his knees and lift his hands away from her. A reminder of how close he verged to consigning any thought of scandal to perdition.
"Dream of me." He stood up and stepped back, although he had a grim foreboding that he could retreat as far as Cathay without it making a scrap of difference to his captivity.
"I do," she whispered, staring up at him with unabashed hunger.
He closed his eyes and told himself he couldn’t tumble Selina Martin in Lord Derwent’s library. Tonight she’d told him so much. She’d revealed even more in what she hadn’t said. One selfish sod had already shared her bed, and Brock feared she went to another in a fortnight. Now she deserved a man who took time and care to coax every ounce of sensuality from that slender body.
"Selina…" he said on a groan.
"I know."
He opened his eyes to catch such longing on her face that he couldn’t help surging forward.
This time, she raised a trembling hand to stop him coming closer. She stood. "Don’t touch me again, or I won’t go. We’re not safe here."
With yearning eyes, he watched her leave. He told himself he couldn’t rush after her and catch her and carry her upstairs to his room. On her way out, she didn’t look back, he guessed because she teetered as close to forsaking all caution as he did.
"We’ll be safe tomorrow," he said after her.
But Brock knew he lied. Because the passion that flared between him and Selina Martin was the kind that shook kingdoms. When desire burned so hot, nowhere was safe.
Chapter 3
"But, madam, I can’t leave you here on your own. What if your friend doesn’t come for you?"
Nor far off crying with frustration, Selina stared at her maid Kitty and, God forgive her, cursed the girl’s loyalty and affection. They were in a private parlor at the Blue Wagon, which was a bustling coaching inn about an hour away from the Derwent estate.
Everything this morning had gone so smoothly. It even worked to Selina’s advantage that she wasn’t selling her carriage and horses until just before Christmas. If she’d traveled in one of Cecil’s vehicles, she’d have had much more trouble sneaking away.
Everything had gone so smoothly. Until now.
Last night, it had seemed a simple matter to say that she’d send Kitty on to London, while she remained behind to await Lord Bruard. In practice, Kitty was horrified to think of abandoning Selina alone at a public inn.
"I’m sure she’ll come, Kitty," she said for what felt like the hundredth time.
"I don’t mind waiting."
"But John Coachman is eager to get back to London."
"He can sit tight, too. You’re too kind to your servants. We’re meant to wait on your convenience, not you wait on ours."
"My friend lives nearby," she said with barely concealed desperation. "She won’t be far away."
A mulish expression settled on the girl’s pretty, freckled face. "Even more reason for me to wait then, Miss Selina."
She hadn’t been Miss Selina since she was seventeen and a new bride, but Kitty had worked for her parents and at times of stress slipped back