Lady Vivian Defies a Duke - By Samantha Grace Page 0,44

needed to learn when to hold her tongue, but she had never mastered the skill. In truth, she rarely practiced it at all.

“I…” She grasped fistfuls of her skirts and contemplated running away.

Luke lunged and caught her around the waist. “You will never run from me again, Vivian. I want an answer.”

“You—you heard me the first time, Your Grace. You already know the answer.”

He wrapped her in his arms, holding her tightly. “God help me, but I know nothing when you are close.” His breath whispered across her lips and then his mouth came down on hers.

Vivi jumped. His mouth, soft and plump, played over hers and coaxed her to participate in her first kiss. Never had she expected a man to possess such luxurious lips.

The rigidness in her back began to melt away, and she dissolved against his uncompromising chest. His kiss elicited warm waves down her body, ending their travel in a quaking of limbs. She mimicked his movements as best she could, but she was half a heartbeat behind him. When his tongue skimmed the crease of her lips, she gasped and he swept inside her mouth.

A soft groan vibrated in his chest, beneath her palm where her fingers had tangled with his shirt. And by God, she wouldn’t release him for all the gold at the end of the rainbow. Not now when she was embarking on the most invigorating adventure she could have ever imagined.

Luke pulled her closer, deepened their kiss. She tossed her arms around his neck and held tightly, smiling against his lips.

His hands cupped her bottom and lifted until she teetered on the tips of her toes. Something hard pressed against her belly, distracting her from his delicious kisses. Before she could wiggle her hand between them to see what it was, he set her away from him.

“Don’t.” His eyes burned with black fire, and his chest heaved with each labored breath.

Her stomach flipped. “What did I do?”

He squeezed his eyes together and ran a hand through his black curls. When he looked at her again, the darkness in his eyes had receded. Holding out her gloves, he forced a smile, a tightening at the corners of his lips. “It was nothing, Vivian. Shall we?”

It was nothing?

She puckered her lips and shoved her hand into her glove. Their kiss hadn’t been nothing to her. And as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow, it had affected him too.

Refusing his arm, she stalked toward the stable yard. Luke followed at a less harried pace. Her chaperones were standing beside the carriage when Vivi pushed through the gate, their expressions giving away nothing at her state of disarray and agitation as she approached. She caught Winnie’s eye, but her maid looked down quickly, uncommonly interested in the dirt beneath her boots.

Vivi came to a quick stop. Lord Andrew’s horse had been fitted with a sidesaddle. Luke came up beside his brother. Her gaze darted between them.

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. Pink colored his face from cheek to cheek and across the bridge of his nose. “Drew is tired of riding. Would you care to join me?”

She brushed her hands over her skirts and lifted her chin. If she were wise, she would politely decline and nurse her wounds in privacy.

“A ride sounds lovely, thank you.”

Thirteen

Hellfire and damn!

Luke slanted a glance at Vivian. She rode with a straight back, her lips so tightly pressed together they might have been sewn shut.

What the hell had he been thinking to kiss her?

Oh, hell. He hadn’t just kissed her; he had been close to ravishing her. How he had mustered the willpower to set her away, he didn’t know.

He could still feel the curve and weight of her bottom cupped in his palm. Curling his fingers into a fist, he pressed his hand firmly against his thigh, battling with the voice inside him insisting it didn’t matter that he had taken liberties. Vivian was his, given freely by her brother. The twisted reasoning held great appeal, but the selfish part of him must be held in check. He was a better man than her brother. He had offered her a choice, and he couldn’t snatch it away. He had given his word to help her find a husband, but thoughts of surrendering her to another man were like an insidious poison, making his insides writhe.

Good God. He didn’t know what to do. Several options presented themselves: He could pretend nothing had happened, which seemed an ill-advised