Hawksfell Manor 04: Derek's Dare (8 page)

He said something under his breath then shrugged. “No reason. I’d heard the earl was expecting a guest, but I thought Baron Holbrook would be on his own.”

“I’m sure he wishes he was.” Tears burned in her eyes and she couldn’t keep them back. “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping at her eyes with chilled fingers. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I shouldn’t be surprised.”

He walked closer. “Surprised about what?”

She sniffed and looked into his face. He really was quite lovely. Very different from Derek but just as compelling. “Derek told me he doesn’t want what I want. Yet I pushed and pushed.”

Evan smiled, causing her stomach to flip.

“And what is it you want?” he asked.

“Oh, I can’t say it!” She could smell his scent, warm and bright, and she breathed in deeply. “It wouldn’t be proper.”

He arched one brow. “You’re down here talking to the staff, Miss Holbrook. I imagine you don’t care much for propriety.”

She pulled herself away from him and chose instead to study the car he’d been working on. It was sleek and shiny, but she couldn’t identify it. No doubt Eddie or Harry could. They were both motor mad. The tufted seats were plush and covered with leather. “This motor is quite pretty.”

“Pretty?” He stepped next to her. “I don’t know about that.”

She smiled up him. “You can’t tell if something is pretty or not?”

He leaned his face closer to hers. “Oh, I can see beauty, all right.”

She licked her lips and his gaze fell to her mouth. How could she want this man she’d just met to kiss her? How could she think about anyone other than Derek that way?

“I wager I would get a nice ride,” she said softly.

His blue eyes flared with something different now. Something she’d seen in Derek’s eyes last night and that night back at Holbrook Hall.

“A nice ride.” His nostrils flared. “You’d like a ride?”

She should have run screaming from the garage, but she couldn’t make her feet move. She must be so twisted up about Derek her nerves were overly sensitive. That was the only reason she could think of for wanting this man to ride her. She stifled a giggle. A ride! No wonder he was looking at her like she was truly the wanton she longed to be.

“I thought I’d find you out here,” Derek said from just outside the open doorway.

Evan stepped away from her and she turned. Derek strolled inside, a big smile on his face. He lost that expression the moment his gaze fell on her.

“You must be Baron Holbrook,” Evan said.

An odd expression crossed Derek’s face, like he was holding his breath. “Yes. And you are?”

“Evan Mosley.”

Derek nodded and looked around. He seemed to be looking everywhere but at her.

“Why would you think I’d be in the garage?” she asked him.

He shrugged and faced her. “I didn’t see you in the gardens.”

“I wanted to take a walk.” Why was she explaining herself? He’d made it perfectly clear he wanted nothing to do with her despite what he’d done to her the other night. Despite the fact that she’d taken his cock in her mouth!

“I was talking to Evan here,” she said. “About getting a nice ride.”

Evan made a choking sound behind her.

“What?” Derek asked.

“Excuse me,” Evan said, stepping back toward stairs at the back of the garage. “A pleasure meeting you, Miss Holbrook. Baron Holbrook.”

Derek followed Evan with his eyes then rounded on her.

“What is this about, Diana?”

“Why do you care?”

He growled and grabbed her arms. “You’re out here with Evan, talking about getting a ride?”

“Evan, is it?”

Something like guilt crossed his face, but why should that be?

“That is his name,” he bit out. “Didn’t he say so?”

She turned away, walking slowly as she let her hips sway. “Evan was telling me he would take me for a ride, Derek.” She looked over her shoulder. “Why should you care? You told me you would never give me a ride.”

His mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

“There is nothing for me at Holbrook Hall.”

She let her words settle on him. He clenched his jaw. “You don’t even know Evan.”

“I’ve known you forever, Derek. Please tell me what good that does me now?”

He stalked around the garage, raking his fingers through his hair as he muttered something about curses and women and fools. Diana watched him, her heart in her throat. Was he jealous?

He stopped and faced her again. “You want a ride with Evan?”

She shrugged in a way she hoped looked carefree. “I have no future at Holbrook Hall. Not with Sir Simon or anyone else my mother throws my way. Why am I holding on to my virtue?”

His lips curved in that carnal manner she’d seen before. Her nipples tightened, and her pussy pulsed to life.

“You want a ride?” he asked again.

“Yes.”

He turned and pinned her against the nearest wall. “I should fuck you right here. Give you the ride you’ve been begging for.”

Her pulse pounded in her ears. “Derek.”

“Or maybe I’ll call Evan back down here and he can fuck you. I bet he’s got a big cock, Diana. He looks fit, doesn’t he?”

“He is very attractive, yes,” she managed to say.

“I bet he’s gifted with his tongue, too. You’d like him to lick your pussy, wouldn’t you?”

The thought of Evan’s pretty face between her thighs caused her traitorous body to weep. “Please, Derek.”

He breathed in. “I can smell it on you. Your pussy is soaking wet. You want to get fucked.”

She slapped him. “That’s enough!”

He released her and rubbed his cheek. “Fine. I tell you what. Use our visit here to gather your thoughts.” His gaze was hot on her body. “Or indulge your desires. I don’t care.”

She lifted her chin. “You have never cared about me.”

Somehow his eyes grew darker. “I do care about you. That’s
why
I won’t take you.”

Something shifted in her chest, a decided shattering of her heart. “You won’t take me because I won’t give myself to you!”

She stomped out of the garage and back out into the chill autumn day.

* * * *

Derek took long, deep breaths as he tried to recover. He wanted Diana. That was clear to him and anyone within earshot. She wanted him, too.

“What are you going to do about her?” Evan asked.

Derek turned to him, watching as he stepped out of the shadows near the staircase.

“What the hell can I do?” he asked. “The girl wants to get fucked, for God’s sake. She wants to escape Holbrook Hall and thinks this is the way to accomplish that. She doesn’t care about the consequences.”

“She wants you, Derek.” Evan held up a hand to still any objections Derek thought to make. “She might have been flirting with me, but she wants you.”

He leaned against the motor Evan had been working on. “Well, that’s a bloody shame.”

Evan shook his head. “I never took you for a cruel man. Then again, I suppose I don’t really know you.”

Derek met his gaze evenly. “You know me, Evan. We’ve been together. We’ve talked about anything and everything. Hell, we’ve fucked a woman together, too.”

“I suppose.” He polished the already-shiny bonnet of the motor. “What are you going to do about her?”

“What should I do?”

Evan shrugged. “I’d take her.”

“Then please do.”

Evan’s mouth dropped open as he faced him. “I meant, I’d take her if I were you.”

“That doesn’t matter. She wants a ride, and apparently she’s quite taken with you. Fuck her.”

“You don’t want me to fuck her. You don’t want anyone else to have her.”

“That’s not…entirely true.”

“You care about her, Derek. I think you could love her if you thought your blasted Hawk heart was capable of it.”

Derek found a smile. “And you have the audacity to say you don’t really know me.”

Evan returned the expression. “I admit she’s the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. There’s a quality about her, too. A vulnerability and a bravado. I find the combination enchanting.”

“And she has a stellar pair of tits and the sweetest pussy you’ll ever taste.”

Evan flushed. “She must, if you’re this torn up about her.”

“I’m serious, Evan. You don’t have to fuck her, but indulge her. Show her there’s more than martyrdom in her future.”

“You really believe marriage to you would destroy her?”

“Marriage? Hawks don’t marry, evidence here at the manor aside. But giving her heart to a Hawk would destroy her. It killed my mother.”

“You’re not your father.”

“How the hell do I know that? I never knew the bastard.”

“Then what about the earl? His brother? His cousin, for Christ’s sake? You say to put the evidence aside, but how can you deny the fact that some Hawks have been able to find happiness?”

Derek blew out a breath. “If you’re going to be rational about this, I can’t argue with you.”

Evan came close and stroked his hand over Derek’s cheek. “You care about Diana. You don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I know you. You would never hurt her.” He was certain of this. From what he knew about Evan, from their time together, he knew the man was tender and passionate. He’d be good for Diana, for the time being. “Just indulge her. If she pursues you…” He shrugged.

“Let her catch me?”

Derek clapped him on the shoulder. “Exactly.”

Chapter 9

Evan smelled Diana first, that intoxicating orange blossom scent that had lingered in the garage after she’d stormed off yesterday.

“Evan?”

Her voice was tentative. The sound of his name coming from her was like a caress. It was late afternoon and his work was over for the day. He should tell her he was off to the village and certain escape. He should leave her to Derek. He glimpsed her in the soft autumn light, her raven hair limned blue and her blue eyes dark. She really was quite lovely.

“Miss Holbrook, you shouldn’t be here.”

She shook her head. “Diana, please. I thought we grew closer yesterday.”

“As you say.”

“How do you know Derek?”

He hadn’t expected the question. “What do you mean?”

“There was something between you two, Evan. I felt it.”

He smiled and she returned the expression. “You’re being fanciful.”

“Oh, I’m never fanciful. You can ask Derek. He will bear up my story.”

He leaned against the motor he’d serviced today, crossing his arms and hoping to contain his burgeoning erection. He’d never reacted to a girl as swiftly as he did to this particular one. It must be because Derek had tasted her. The thought of Derek’s tongue deep in her pussy made his mouth water.

“Hmm, never fanciful.” He brushed a thick lock of hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her perfect little ear. “Then what do you call this?”

“Call what?”

“Coming here to see me in the late afternoon, when you know you’ll find me alone.”

She tilted a smile up at him and the ground seemed to shift beneath his feet. “I call this forceful, not fanciful.”

He swallowed. “Do you know what you’re doing, Diana?”

She leaned closer, her scent strong now. “I’m offering myself to you.”

His blood began to pound. “Why? Because the baron won’t take you?”

Her eyes widened, and then she shook her head. “Derek avoided me all day today. He doesn’t want me, but that’s only part of it.”

He pulled her close. “Then tell me the whole of it.”

She touched his face, her fingers cool against his burning cheeks. “I want you, Evan. I know we’ve only just met, but—”

He captured her mouth with his. Her lips were sweet and soft, and he plunged his tongue inside. She gasped and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body flush against his.

He nuzzled her cheek. “Are you sure about this?” He flicked his tongue over her earlobe. “Are you sure you want this?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Take me, Evan.”

God help him, he wanted to. He wanted to lift her skirt and fuck her hard. He couldn’t do that to Derek, though. Despite everything his friend said about not wanting to tie himself to Diana, he was in love with her. Derek had to be her first.

“Take me,” she said again.

He would taste her, though. His mouth watered as it had yesterday. What was it about this girl?

“I’ll take you,” he said, grabbing his hand and pulling her toward the stairs. “I’ll take you upstairs to my rooms.”

She giggled and ran behind him up the steps. They were soon in his rooms, and he took a moment to watch her remove her overcoat. Her dress was a silky-looking thing of rosy pink. Like her lips. Like her nipples, he’d wager. He bit his lip. Like her pussy.

He shrugged out of his uniform and grabbed her to him. He kissed her again, reveling in the sensation as she melted against him. Burying his face in the crook of her neck, he breathed in deeply of her scent.