A Momentary Marriage(77)

He clamped his hands around her arms and jerked her to him. She came up hard against his unyielding body. He hooked one arm around her waist, imprisoning her, and he plunged the other one into her hair, dislodging hairpins and sending her hair tumbling. She barely had time to draw in a little gasp before his mouth was on hers.

There was none of the tenderness of the last time he had kissed her. This was all heat and fury and hunger. And she loved it. Laura responded in kind, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body into his, meeting his kiss with fire of her own.

She clenched her fingers into his jacket. She wanted to meld herself to him, to crawl inside him. It was mad and wild and desperate, and it made her tremble. It was dangerous to feel like this, yet she rushed toward it. The kiss went on and on, and when finally his mouth left hers, he kissed his way down her throat.

James groaned, lifting her, and they tumbled back onto the bed. His hand went to the buttons down the front of her bodice, fumbling them open, and he delved inside, shoving her chemise down to cup her breast.

He bent to take her nipple into his mouth, and Laura jerked at the delicious surprise of it. She tangled her fingers in his hair, her breath catching in her throat. Every nerve in her body, it seemed, was alert, waiting, seeking each new pleasure. She loved this; she wanted more.

He came back to kiss her mouth, his hand caressing her breast. His leg lay over hers, pinning her down, and strangely, that, too, was exciting. She wanted—oh, God, she wanted so much and she wasn’t even sure what it was she yearned for.

But James, she knew, was leading her to it. With each kiss, each stroke of his fingers, each breath that tickled across her skin, he was drawing her closer. She gave herself into his hands, aching for the end, but reveling in each moment along the way.

His kisses were no longer frantic but had turned soft and seductive. He tasted; he savored; he feasted. “Laura . . . Laura . . .” He mumbled her name against her skin as he worked his way down her.

A sudden “Eek!” of surprise brought them out of their erotic trance. James’s head snapped up, and he turned toward the open door, where a maid stood, gaping at them. She quickly popped out of sight.

James let out a pithy curse and scrambled off the bed. Laura hastily rose to her feet, as well, her hand clutching together the opened sides of her bodice. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. This would be all around the servants’ hall in ten minutes.

“God. I—uh . . .” James shoved his hand back through his hair. “Laura . . . I didn’t mean— I— Forgive me.”

He whipped around and strode from the room. Laura stared after him. What in the world had just happened?

One thing was certain. Whatever James might say, he wanted her. Just as clearly, he did not want to be drawn to her. He ran from it—literally today. The question was: What was she going to do about it?

Laura set her jaw pugnaciously. This time she was not going to sacrifice her happiness for what was good or right. This once she was going to go after what she wanted.

She yanked at the bell pull and began to rebutton her dress. When the maid answered, Laura asked, “Have Lord and Lady Montclair left yet?”

“No, ma’am, they just walked in from the garden.”

“Good. Run down and tell them to wait.” Laura grabbed up her bonnet. “I’m going with them.”





chapter 29


James charged down the hallway as if someone were in pursuit, but he could not escape his thoughts. How could he have broken his word . . . again? And he hadn’t just stepped out of line—he had grabbed Laura so tightly he must have left bruises on her arms. Then he had compounded his sins by tumbling her onto the bed like the veriest doxy.

Laura was bound to be furious. She hadn’t asked for his kisses; indeed, only the moment before she had shoved him away, ordering him out of her room. It didn’t matter that her mouth had been soft and yielding beneath his. What was important was that he had been angry and demanding, not thinking of her wishes at all, only of his driving need.

James wasn’t aware of where he was going until he looked up and found himself at the stables. It had been months since he had ridden, but he realized that a long, hard ride was precisely what he needed right now. The groom looked surprised to see him, but quickly saddled James’s horse. He took off, thundering across the countryside, jumping fences and hedges and ditches without care for life or limb, until he had ridden both his mount and himself into exhaustion. Dem, smarter than both of them, had stopped beneath a tree a few minutes from the house and lay waiting there for them to come back.

But no matter how hard he rode, he could not exorcize his demons, and finally he returned to the house. The first person he saw when he stepped inside was his mother. James let out a curse under his breath.