She squirmed against him, burying her fingers in his hair and pulling his head closer as he spread one hand across the smooth, bare flesh above her décolletage. She was as sleek as her own silk but far warmer, and she shimmered with response, her breathing quick and rough.
He slid her dress off her shoulder and kissed the tender curve revealed. Dancing had left her skin flavored with delicate saltiness, and a sweet floral fragrance from her loosened hair mingled with the musky scent of leather.
His hand glided under the neckline of her gown, beneath the constraints of corset and chemise, and molded the soft warmth of her breast. Her nipple instantly tightened when his fingers found and teased it, and he felt the rapid beat of her heart under his palm.
In a distant corner of his mind, he admitted that he was glad that words had not changed her mind. He had wanted an excuse to do this, and not just because passion was a surer way of separating Sara from his enemy.
He tugged her gown still lower, baring the gentle swell of her breast. Then he took the dusky nipple in his mouth, delighting as it grew harder yet under the pressure of his tongue. As Sara moaned softly, once more he came perilously close to losing himself in desire, even though he knew it was a self-indulgent mistake.
The clock in the back of his mind was warning that the half hour was almost over, and he knew that he must conceal this lovely curving breast again. In just one more moment he would...
The squeal of the opening door hit with the impact of icy water. They both looked up to see the horrified faces of Ross, the Duke of Haddonfield, and Sir Charles Weldon.
Chapter 11
It was a moment from hell, time suspended and saturated with emotion. Sara gave a choked cry of dismay, her slim figure going rigid as stone. Peregrine swore softly. While he had intended to compromise her, he hadn't meant her to suffer the additional shame of being discovered half-undressed. Under his breath he said, "I'm sorry, Sara."
Instantly changing from lover to warrior, he yanked her gown back into place. Then he sat up and pulled Sara to a sitting position next to him, his left arm protectively around her.
The three intruders seemed frozen by the unexpected scene. The duke was appalled and unbelieving at the sight of his virtuous daughter in the throes of passion, while Ross glowered with a fury that must be rooted in the suspicion that his friend had deliberately deceived him.
But Peregrine noted Ross and the duke only in passing, for most of his attention was on Charles Weldon. His enemy's expression of shock, disbelief, and annihilating rage was everything Peregrine had ever hoped for, and he exulted in the sight. The first blow had been struck—but not the last.
Then the moment shattered. As Ross closed the door to give them privacy, Weldon fixed his furious gaze or Sara and snarled, "You filthy, disgusting little slut!"
Though Peregrine could feel Sara trembling under his arm, she did not try to avoid the accusing eyes of her betrothed. "I'm sorry, Charles," she said, her voice unsteady. "I did not mean to hurt you."
Her apology inflamed him rather than mollified him. "Instead you meant to betray me behind my back." Weldon exploded across the room, his expression murderous. "My God, to think that I believed you were pure, a genuine lady. But you're just another little whore. I'm going to..."
Peregrine stood and stepped in front of Sara, but it was Ross who stopped Weldon, grabbing the older man's arm. "Control yourself! I don't care how outraged you are, you can't take it out on a woman half your size."
Weldon spun against the restraining grip, and for a moment seemed on the verge of attacking Ross. Then common sense put a fragile check on his madness. He glared at Peregrine, who stood only a yard away. "I told Sara to stay away from you, that you couldn't be trusted, and the little slut pretended to be shocked at the very idea of you touching her," he said viciously. "How long has she been spreading her legs for you?"
"Enough!" Ross said sharply. "I know you are shocked, but I will not let you speak of Sara that way."
Weldon shook Ross's hand from his sleeve and turned to the duke, who watched gray-faced and silent. "Your little cripple didn't know when she was well-off, Haddonfield. If she had been able to keep her legs together, I might have made her a countess some day. Fortunate that I discovered what she is in time."
"You have reason to be angry, Charles, but you are making too much of this. Sara was just kissing him. Girls on the verge of marriage are often curious about other men. That doesn't mean they will not become virtuous wives." The duke's voice was almost pleading. "There is no reason to end your betrothal because of an innocent experiment."