What a Duke Dares

Chapter Six

Chetwell House, London, February 1828

Harry marked the moment that Sophie slipped from the crowded ballroom. Hardly surprising when he’d observed her every move.

All week, he’d waited impatiently to catch her alone. The burning need to speak about something more significant than the weather had built until it threatened to explode.

The night they’d met, he’d obtained a formal introduction. He’d managed a country dance and a schottische with her since—quite a feat when she rapidly became the toast of London. During their dances, he’d confined himself to platitudes. He’d had to be satisfied with touching her hand and delighting in the shy attraction glittering in her blue eyes.

Tonight, neither the watchful marquess nor Lord Desborough attended. Under other circumstances, Harry might admire Leath’s protectiveness. In worldly terms, an undistinguished younger son from a ramshackle family was no fit match for the Marquess of Leath’s sister. But surely Sophie should marry a man who adored her, rather than one who treated her as Desborough did, like a pretty pet to fuss over or ignore at his whim.

Harry didn’t move in Desborough’s exalted circles. But he had eyes and a brain, however rarely he’d exerted it. While he discerned no dislike between Sophie and the man touted as her husband, he discerned no genuine attraction either.

Damn it, she deserved better.

Whether she deserved Harry Thorne, well, that was her choice.

Harry tracked Sophie into the gallery. The long room faced the gardens with doors open onto the terrace. Fortunately, for February, it was a mild night, but even so, away from the crush, he shivered in the chill air. At the far end of the room, a couple he didn’t know bent their heads toward each other.

Sophie paused before a portrait of a bewigged, double-chinned gentleman. She looked beautiful tonight in rose silk and with pearls tangled in her upswept hair. Harry stopped a few feet away, waiting until the couple wandered into the garden without sparing him a glance.

“You followed me,” Sophie said, without turning.

What point prevaricating? “Yes.”

As he’d stalk a skittish animal, he edged closer. He stared at her vulnerable nape, wanting desperately to kiss her there. Wanting to kiss her everywhere.

It was too soon.

Still she didn’t glance back. “My brother warned me against you.”

Did the bastard, by God? “What did he say?” Harry kept his voice soft. He and Sophie might be alone, but they were still in public.

“That you’re a fortune hunter.”

He laughed dismissively. “You know I’m not interested in your money.” While he’d love to see her face, there was a delicious suspense in standing so near, catching the soft drift of her fragrance, flowers and beautiful girl.

“That’s what a fortune hunter would say.”

“Probably. But in my case it’s true.” He paused. “That wasn’t all he said.”

She shifted and spoke reluctantly. “He said your family was—”

“Shady?”

Finally she turned. She didn’t look annoyed or flustered. She looked curious. “After Uncle Neville’s villainy, our family can’t boast.”

He was impressed that she broached the scandal. Harry had always sensed that Sophie Fairbrother was made of stronger stuff than society suspected. Which meant that something more important than a petty disappointment had made her sob her heart out in the Oldhavens’ garden.

Despite his determination to remain within the bounds of propriety—just—he took her arm. She gasped in surprise without pulling away. Beneath his touch, her skin was smooth and cool. A bolt of heat sizzled through him, startling him with its power.

“If I drag you into a private room, will you scream?” he murmured.

He wasn’t sure what reaction he expected. Certainly not a soft giggle. “That depends on what you intend to do.”

For a beat, shock held him silent. She wasn’t afraid. Instead she looked interested and eager. Heaven help him. Clasping her slender arm and drowning in eyes as blue as a summer sky, he didn’t feel like a gentleman. He felt like a starving man presented with a table groaning under lashings of food.

“Not as much as I want to,” he admitted.

He whisked her behind the nearest door. The latch’s click sounded like thunder. His heart thudded with excitement and uneasiness. If they were discovered, there would be the devil to pay.

“This is dangerous.” His grip softened to a caress and instinct alone led his hand to her other arm. This room was as dark as a coalmine.

“It is. My brother is a famous shot.”

The warmth of her skin under his hands set him trembling. “For a few minutes alone with you, I’ll take any risk.”

“Will you think that when he puts a bullet into you?” In the quiet gloom, the rasp of her breathing was audible. She was more nervous than she pretended. That hint of vulnerability contained Harry’s rocketing desire as nothing else could.

“Even then, it’s worth it.”

“Such a flatterer.”

He knew he deserved the mockery, but he couldn’t like it. How to explain that this time everything was different? Sophie wasn’t one of his women. She was the woman.

“I’ll be missed if I stay too long.”

He smiled. “That sounds promising.”

“How so?”

“That you mean to stay at all.”

She offered no coy protests. The more he saw of her, the more he liked her. “Are you a fortune hunter?”

He breathed unsteadily too. Not because of fear, but because her nearness set his heart galloping like a wild horse across the moors. Her scent tinged the air. Something fresh like running water. “What do you think?”

“I think I’ve spent far too long thinking about you.”

Triumph flooded him. He exhaled and cupped her face, feeling her silky cheeks beneath his palms. “I can’t stop thinking about you either. Are you going to marry Desborough?”

She started, but didn’t move away. “My brother wants me to.”

“Do you?”

“It’s a good match,” she said unenthusiastically.

He released her. “So good it makes you hide away and cry.”

“That wasn’t—”

“Don’t lie, Sophie. Not to me.”

“You can’t call me Sophie.”

He laughed softly. “I can’t address the woman who shares my cupboard by her title. It’s a rule of society.”

Her gurgle of amusement made his blood fizz with happiness. “You don’t strike me as a man who follows rules, Mr. Thorne.”

The need to kiss her surged, but despite her unexpected if hesitant cooperation, he didn’t want to frighten her away. “You’ve listened to too much gossip. And my name is Harry.”

The pause that followed vibrated with significance.

“Harry…” she breathed, turning his prosaic name into music.

His heart crashed against his ribs. Dear God, he was in trouble. “Lovely, lovely Sophie,” he whispered and despite the risk of taking everything too far too fast, he curled his arms around her.

“Oh!” She jerked from the brush of his lips.

He set her free and withdrew as far as the cupboard allowed. “Forgive me.”

To his astonishment, she caught his shirt. “You took me by surprise.”

“I had no right—”

“You’re a very chivalrous rake, Harry Thorne,” she said drily.

Her tone piqued his curiosity. Ignoring common sense and self-preservation, not to mention the gentleman’s code, he placed his hand over hers. “Don’t you want me to be chivalrous?”

“Not right now.”

“You deserve better than a furtive courtship,” he said helplessly, even as his other hand snaked around her slender waist to arch her against him. “But since the day we met, I’ve dreamed of you.”

Her sigh conveyed wonder. “Really?”

His voice deepened into urgency. “I’ve dreamed of kissing you.”

And other things, but he couldn’t sully her innocence with his wanton fantasies.

“I’d like to make your dreams come true.” She leaned closer, her breasts grazing his chest. “Will you kiss me, Harry?”

“Sophie—” Her scent filled his head like wine, overwhelmed thought. His hand tightened around her waist.

“Don’t you want to?” she asked in a small voice.

“Of course I bloody want to,” he said roughly, then dragged in a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not acting the gentleman.”

This time her sigh was disgruntled. “You’re acting too much the gentleman.”

“Sweetheart—”

She interrupted before he pointed out that he cared for her reputation. After all, how convincing could any avowal sound when he embraced her in a cupboard in the middle of a ball?

“I don’t want to hear it.” Her voice softened. “Unless it’s ‘Kiss me, Sophie.’ ”

Oh, hell. How could he resist? “Kiss me, Sophie.”

Harry lashed her to him and pressed his mouth to hers. Her lips trembled beneath his. Her fluttering uncertainty hinted that this was her first kiss. Tenderness stabbed at his heart.

Automatically he gentled, nipping and licking at her, until her breath hitched and she leaned closer. His tongue slid into her mouth, tasting her fully. Her flavor blazed through him like lightning.

The world beyond Sophie’s clumsy but ardent responses vanished. All Harry knew was her warmth and the way her tongue danced around his. Her broken moans. Her soft, quivering body pressed into his.

It took him longer than it should to realize that she’d stopped participating. He raised his head and struggled to see her through the darkness. “What—”

“Shh!” Her hands formed claws in his shirt. Now she trembled not with passion, but with terror.

There were voices outside. Damn. His arms tightened and he drew Sophie against him. Anyone within a mile’s radius must hear his heart. He wasn’t frightened for himself but for her. Only a bloody fool would risk this encounter.

He strained to hear if the people outside mentioned the Marquess of Leath’s sister. They discussed supper arrangements. If Harry hadn’t been thickheaded with delight, he’d have recognized his hostess’s voice immediately. She seemed to be talking to her butler.

Fleetingly, he relaxed. Until he wondered if the butler needed supplies from this tiny storeroom.

In vibrating silence, Harry and Sophie clung together until the voices faded. Eventually he whispered in her ear. “I need to get you out of here.”

With a trust he didn’t deserve, she laid her cheek upon his chest. “I thought I’d die when I heard them.”

“I shouldn’t have brought you in here. But I’ve been desperate to see you, and your brother’s like a collie with a ewe lamb.”

“He’s terrified of fortune hunters spoiling his plans.”

“To be fair, that’s his duty.”

“But you’re not a fortune hunter.”

“I’m not.” He paused. “I’m not?”

“A fortune hunter wouldn’t hesitate to ruin me to force a marriage.”

Marriage? The word clanged through him like a great bell.

The malaise dogging his heels disappeared in Sophie’s company. The sight of her turned his day to brilliance. That left the choice of taking himself off and leaving her to the man her brother chose. Or ruining her. An idea which made every cell in his body revolt.

Or marriage.

“Harry?” she asked on a thread of sound. “What’s wrong?”

It was too early to mention lifelong commitment. Already she’d surrendered more than he’d hoped. His heart kicked as he remembered those wondrous kisses.

He eased his grip. “We’ve been here too long.”

“Yes.” Regret weighted her voice. “Will I… will I see you again?”

Despite the last fraught moments, he couldn’t contain a laugh. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know. I’m not experienced with flirtation.”

Another pang of painful tenderness. He wasn’t experienced with love. In this glorious new world, they were both innocents. “When can I meet you?”

“The park.” She sounded relieved. “I ride tomorrow morning.”

“With your brother?”

“He’s away this week.”

“I’ll find you.”

“I hope so.” He caught a quiver of uncertainty.

“I swear it,” he said.

“I don’t want to leave you.”

How he basked in hearing that, however difficult it made this parting. “I don’t want to let you go. But I must.”

He kissed her quickly. He meant the contact to be sweet and brief, but he found himself drowning again.

Luckily for failing willpower, she broke away and opened the door a crack. “Tomorrow,” she whispered, slipping outside.

“Tomorrow,” he confirmed, then waited in the dark while she shut the door with a soft snick. Right now he wasn’t fit for civilized company. He hoped Sophie was. He had a horrible feeling that she’d look mussed and thoroughly kissed.