The Seduction (16 page)

He resumed walking. "This conversation is making me understand something that Lady Agnes told me about you."

"Agnes has been telling you about me?" she asked, falling in step beside him. "What did she say?"

"She said—with admiration, I might add—that you were a very modern young lady, and you have very modern views. I am beginning to understand just what she meant by that."

"Oh, I'm a quite a sensation among Cornelia's English friends, I know."

"Most American girls are. You do things no English girl would dream of doing."

"What is true of most American girls is doubly true for me, I'm afraid. I've always been rather a rebel. Tell me I can't do something, and I will always find a way to do it."

He knew he could not allow her to be that way with him. He said nothing more until they reached the back garden of the townhouse. Once inside the gates, he decided to make it clear who was in charge of their midnight outings. "Margaret, before I agree to any more escapades, I will have your word that from now on, when I give you an order, you'll follow it."

She started to speak, but he interrupted her. "You won't waste time arguing with me. You'll do what I say without question. Don't get the idea that I'm bluffing, or that you'll be able to get around me. I'm not your father to be cajoled or maneuvered."

She was clearly displeased with his choice of words, but she did not argue with him. She seemed to appreciate that he meant what he said. She bit her lip and did not answer for a long moment. He sensed the internal battle she was fighting, and he waited patiently, knowing he would win in the end. She was not a woman to easily surrender control or put her trust in another, but her desire to go out with him overcame this. She surrendered. "Very well. You have my word."

"Good. Tomorrow night, I think we should go back and see the acrobats, since we missed them this evening. They really are good."

"That would be nice, but Trevor, I doubt Chinese
acrobats could be as thrilling as what we experienced tonight."

"Don't be too sure of that. I'm sure many more exciting surprises lay ahead."

"I'm convinced you will be able to handle whatever happens." She gazed up at him in admiration, and he found that look quite a gratifying reward after what they had been through. "The way you spirited me out of that street brawl was quite heroic," she went on. "Really, I don't think I could have found a better companion for midnight adventuring had I planned it. How fortunate that we met."

She thought him heroic? An unexpected bonus, and one he was quick to take advantage of. "As to that, you have my complete agreement," he murmured, and took both her hands in his. "I, too, am glad we met. Especially at moments like this, when I have the chance to be alone with you."

Margaret wasn't certain she wanted to be alone with him, however. His disturbing words of the other night still echoed through her mind.

I intend to seduce you.

A dangerous game with a dangerous man, and now that the time had come to play it, she wasn't certain she wanted to do so. She'd thought control of the situation was in her hands, but Trevor was not a man to be managed or maneuvered to her wishes. She started to pull her hands away, but he only released one. He lifted the other to his lips. "Don't run away, Maggie," he murmured against her knuckles.

"I wasn't running away."

"No?" He turned her hand over and pressed a kiss to her palm, then looked up at her as he caressed the tender skin on the inside of her wrist. "Good. I was hoping we could tarry here a few moments," he
murmured. He felt her hand tremble within his, and he pulled gently to bring her closer, expecting her to come into his arms.

But she did not react as he'd expected. She pulled her hand free, gave him a skeptical frown and folded her arms beneath her breasts, clearly unaware of how the gesture accentuated her generous curves. She was such an intriguing combination, with the romantic ideals of a schoolgirl and the cynicism of a jade. And the body of a goddess, he added to himself, his gaze lingering on the shadowy cleft of her cleavage.

"What exactly are your intentions, my lord?" she asked.

He leaned back against the wall of the garden. "I thought I had been perfectly clear on that point the other night in the library."

Even in the moonlight, he could see her blush. "You said you were going to seduce me."

"And you think that a vague statement?"

"I don't know what to think," she confessed with such clear bewilderment, he almost felt sorry for her. "I am not accustomed to such shocking proposals."

"No, you're used to much more honorable ones, I'm sure," he said, smiling at her. "From men who get down on bended knee and stammer out how fond they are of you before they offer you marriage."

"What I am used to," she said in a hard voice, "is men who look at me with dollar signs in their eyes."

He straightened away from the wall and reached out to grasp her chin in his fingers, lifting her face to study her beneath the light of the moon over their heads. "You underestimate yourself," he said, sliding his hand to the side of her face to caress her cheek. "A man would have to be an idiot if he didn't look at you with better eyes than that."

She quivered slightly beneath the light touch of his fingers. "And when you look at me, my lord, what do you see?" she asked.

He didn't answer for a moment, as if giving her question serious consideration. Finally, he said, "I see a woman who would make a man an excellent mistress, but a difficult wife."

She caught her breath. "Is that your goal then, Ashton?" she asked bluntly. "To make me your mistress?"

His hand curved around the back of her neck, and he drew her toward him. "You must know that I want you," he murmured. "I will do whatever it takes to have you."

Her hands flattened against his chest. "You don't mince words, do you?"

"Should I? You don't seem a delicate flower that would faint away at the idea of a man's desire for you."

"And your desire for me has nothing to do with my money, I suppose?"

His arms tightened around her, and he laughed low in his throat. "And you tell me I make shocking proposals? Maggie, I know there are women who pay men for their services, but no woman has ever offered to pay me before. I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."

She stared up at him in shock. "That isn't what I meant at all!" she gasped. "You are outrageous!"

"Yes, well, that's probably a good thing. If I were just another humdrum English gentleman, you'd toss me aside without a second thought, and I'd never have the chance to do this." He captured her lips in a fierce, hard kiss, expecting a token resistance, but, again, she did not do what he expected. This time, she yielded immediately, opening her mouth beneath the pressure of his as she slid her arms around his neck.

Her sweet response started a fire inside him like a match to tinder. He ran his hand up her ribs to rest just beneath her breast. He slid his tongue along her lower lip, then between her teeth, tasting her.

She arched in his hold, an instinctive move that beckoned him and sent all thoughts of restraint spinning out of his mind. He pushed her back against the evergreen bougainvillea vines that covered the garden wall. He plundered her mouth with his tongue and leaned into her, but it was too much.

She turned her head aside with a startled gasp, breaking the kiss. He knew he had moved too fast. He had to stop.

Slowly, he pulled back, striving for control. Trevor looked down at her, his gaze roaming possessively over her face. He could see the trembling of her lip, hear her soft little gasps for breath, and feel the hammering of her heart against his hand. He was more pleased by her response than he had ever been by a woman's passion.

"Now do you understand my intentions?" he asked softly, running one finger down her soft, round cheek. He felt her shiver, and she looked up at him with an expression of vulnerability on her face.

"So," she whispered in an uncertain voice, "you are only interested in me, not my money?"

He lowered his head to press a kiss against her throat. "Maggie, right now, I'm only interested in one thing," he said with complete honesty, "and it isn't your money, I assure you."

He felt her relax in his hold with a little sigh and lean toward him as if inviting another kiss. But as much as he wanted her, as much as he wanted to
linger here and sample more of what she would one day give him freely, he knew he could not. If he was to eventually win her, he always had to leave her slightly dissatisfied, wanting more. Patience, he reminded himself and reluctantly pulled away.

"It's nearly dawn," he said. "And I'd best take my leave. If we stay out here much longer, it's going to be light enough for someone to see us."

"You're right, of course," she answered stiffly, stepping back out of his arms.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Trevor grasped her hand and kissed it quickly, then left. He hoped he had left her aching with the same hot need he was feeling. If he was going to suffer the torture of unrequited lust, then by God, so was she.

The following night,
Trevor was late. Margaret stood by the garden wall, fidgeting and trying not to be impatient. He was probably having some difficulty getting away from Lady Lytton's ball.

Lady Sally had spent most of the evening clinging possessively to his arm, and Margaret felt renewed irritation at the way he had tolerated the other woman's clearly desperate attentions. Really, the lengths to which some women would go to obtain a husband.

He had made no effort to avoid Lady Sally. In fact, he had danced with her three times. Margaret was not the only one who had noticed. Several other people had commented on it, some speculating that an engagement might be in the making. Others, more cynical, had disagreed, saying that Lord Lytton would never agree to such a match since he was quite short in the pocket himself and an alliance with Ashton would gain him nothing.

Margaret wondered again just what Trevor St. James was all about. Her first conclusion had been that he was another fortune hunter out to marry her for her money. But then he'd claimed he wanted to seduce her, not marry her. She thought again of the unswerving attention he'd given Lady Sally all evening, and she felt rather annoyed. If seducing her was his aim, he wasn't showing much enthusiasm about it. He hadn't given her more than a passing glance all evening.

Above the sounds of Carnival, she heard the church clock strike half past twelve and she shifted her weight restlessly from one foot to the other, wishing Trevor would give Lady Sally short shrift and be on his way. They were missing all the fun.

The squeaking of the gate drew her attention, and Margaret watched as Trevor slipped inside the garden. She gave a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming tonight."

"I had a devil of a time getting away from Lady Lytton's."

"So I noticed."

"Did you now?" he drawled. "Margaret, I'm flattered you pay so much attention to my choice of feminine companionship."