Lately?
If he were honest, he would admit he’d lusted after her for a long time. Ever since he first turned around at that garden party and saw her standing there. It was a dangerous realization—knowing he had wanted her for so long and being this close to her now, without an inch even separating their bodies.
He eased back, but then that obstinate chin of hers went up and she actually had the gall to look affronted. As though she were the victim and not the perpetrator of this day’s deeds. “It was an accident, Camden. Unhand me.”
“Was it? You pushed me—”
“You were being a wretch!”
“Enough,” he bit out, closing in again on her. It was as though his body had a mind of its own. “Aren’t you tired of it? The quarreling. The pranks? I know I am. You’re a child . . . you have to stop acting like a spoiled little girl.”
Her eyes widened. “And it’s all me? You have no part in any of it? How dare you! You’re not my father! Or my brother!”
He glanced down. Standing this close together, he couldn’t see much of her body, but he felt every inch of it. The press of her breasts against his chest. The soft splay of her stomach against his hardening groin. As much as he wanted to throttle her, he could not stop his body’s response. With a pained breath, he inserted some much-needed space between them while still keeping his hands anchored to the wall on either side of her head. “Oh, I’m well aware of that fact.”
“And I’m not a child either—”
“You do whatever you want—say whatever you want with no thought.” Then, before he could consider his next words, he flung out, “No wonder no man wants to marry you.”
The color drained from her face.
Cold washed through him as he took in her stricken look. He was a bastard through and through. A slap to the face could not have wounded her more. He recognized this at once.
“Aurelia . . .” he started, but her stricken expression fled at the sound of his voice. A shutter slammed over her eyes and her expression turned to steel. That should have given him warning.
“Go to the devil, Camden!” Her fist landed squarely in his stomach, knocking the wind from him in a whoosh. He bent over, catching his breath. Stunned, he lifted his face, his eyes locking with her equally shocked stare.
She’d hit him.
The air hummed around them, electric and alive.
She covered her mouth with her hands, in shock or horror. Then she fired into action, trying to dodge past him.
Something primal took over. There was only one thing to do. Only one recourse.
He didn’t think. Simply hauled her back against the ivy-thick wall and covered her mouth with his own.
Chapter 12
The moment his lips crashed over hers, she felt as though she was swept up into a dream. None of it was real. Not the firm pressure of lips that felt surprisingly soft against her own. Not the slant of his mouth or the placement of his thumb on her chin, urging her jaw to loosen.
And if it wasn’t real, then she could indulge herself in the delicious fantasy. Embracing that delusion, she parted her mouth for him on a sigh of surrender. His tongue slid inside and she moaned at the taste of him.
He shoved her deeper into the wall and it might have been uncomfortable if not for the cushion of ivy at her back and the delicious press of his body sinking against hers.
His hands gripped her shoulders, powerful fingers digging into her skin through her gown. She relished the sensation. The feel of him everywhere, the man, the body she had fantasized over since her gaze feasted on him at Sodom—and this with layers of clothes between them. She couldn’t fathom what it might feel like skin-to-skin. The very possibility made her light-headed.