Wickeds Scandal (The Wickeds) (14 page)

“Oomph!”  It sounded most
unladylike.

  Her head hit him squarely in the
chest.  An unexpected shock of desire ran through him as her small form
made contact with his larger one. Every nerve in his body came to life in an
instant.  Blood rushed to his groin.  He stifled a groan. The books
she carried dropped with several loud thuds across his black Hessian
boots.  He heard her tortured sigh of disbelief and frustration that she
hadn’t eluded him.

The tiny figure straightened, like a
spike, as she geared for a confrontation with him, ready to do battle. 
Several curls escaped the bonnet.  A small foot stamped in dismay. 

God, how he wanted the tiny tempest
before him. 

He took in her small, gloved hands, the
way her nose crinkled in anger, the stormy gray eyes, and the heaving generous
bosom.  The tops of her breasts pushed her bodice back and forth,
straining the fabric, as she struggled to maintain her composure. 

Sutton tamped down the sudden urge to
push her against the stacks and lift her skirts, wrap her legs around him and
thrust into her.  He felt like an untried lad of fifteen instead of the
jaded roué he was. 

“You!” Her face flushed. “You nearly
scared me out of my wits!”

“Doubtful, Miss Dunforth.  I sense
you don’t scare easily. Besides,
you
ran into me.”

Her cheeks puffed out.  Clearly, she
was not pleased to see him.  Unlike most women, she did not care to be
attracted to him.  Or, have him desire her.  The Badger was most
difficult.

She put her hands on her hips, glaring,
as if she could scare him away. It was all Sutton could do not to burst into
laughter.  She resembled an angry chickadee. Wrenching heat ran down his body,
making him stiff with arousal.   He wanted her.  Badly. 

“What are you doing here?  Stalking
innocent women?”  Her voice shook slightly.

Ah, Sutton thought.  Not
angry. 
Nervous.
 

  “How can I stalk something I
cannot even see?  Perhaps little Badger, you should wear a bell, like a
cat, so at least one would know you were underfoot.  Good Lord, I nearly
stepped on you!”  He teased her hoping to annoy her into erupting. 
He much preferred her anger.  He didn’t want Miss Dunforth,
Alex,
to
be skittish around him.

Miss Dunforth’s mouth opened as if she
would scream.  He could see she wanted to.  She truly took offense at
being compared to a badger.  He must call her that at every
opportunity.  Instead of screaming, she took a deep breath.  Her
voice sounded calm and polite.  She struggled for composure.  

“If you will excuse me.  I will get
my books and go, least you feel the need to tell me I remind you of a speckled
toad or a diseased rat.   My apologies, Lord Reynolds, for my clumsiness.
” She bent at his feet eager to pick up the scattered tomes.

Sutton knelt down to assist her, noting
with pleasure the angry snort of surprise that erupted from her.  
His hand fell on a particularly large book about the Far East.   His
glance fell on another, this one a memoir of a captain who had traded spices in
Java.  Not exactly required reading for a young woman.  It pleased
him to see there was not one book on fashion or etiquette.   He held
out one of the books to her and raised an eyebrow in question.

Angrily, she grabbed the book from him,
shooting him a look of annoyance.  She pulled back so fiercely on “
Tales
of a Seadog
”, she lost her balance and fell back on her bottom.  
Green muslin puffed around her as she slid back on her elbows. Her legs fell
open to reveal a glimpse of slim thighs encased in sheer stockings. 

Sutton took a deep breath.  
Her skin would be creamy and feel like satin underneath the stockings.  He
wanted nothing more than to run his hand down her calves and thighs and take
one lacy garter between his teeth.  The rock hard arousal in his breeches
was becoming uncomfortable.  Painful.  He reached for her hand to
assist her.  She ignored it.

Alexandra sat up and attempted to smooth
her skirts.  “Oh, just go away.”  She moaned. She sounded miserable
as if being near him caused her undue pain.  His Badger was rapidly losing
her bravado.

“Alex.  Let me help you.” 

“No. And don’t call me that. ” She pulled
back from him.

“Why ever not?” He moved towards her.

“It doesn’t matter why.  Go away.” She
made a futile effort to push against him.  Her cheeks pinked and her eyes
lowered.  She grabbed one of the large books and held it against her chest
as if it were a shield. 

“Are you interested in the Orient, Miss
Dunforth? Or travel to faraway places?” He gestured to the large book she
clasped to her chest.  “I read many such tales in my youth and decided not
to trust the opinions of those who wrote the books.  I wanted to travel
myself.  I lived in Macao until a few years ago.  It’s a fascinating
place.”

  “So I am given to
understand.  The
ton
speaks of nothing else,” she said
tartly.  The Badger watched him from underneath her lashes and cocked her
head.

Sutton winced.  So she
had
heard the gossip surrounding him.  “I’m not sure anyone in the
ton
knows where Macao is,” he said under his breath, ashamed for just a moment, of
his reputation in front of this blazing, fierce girl. 

Alex let out a small laugh catching him
off guard.  “I’ve
heard
that Macao is full of unsavory
characters.  Heathen Chinese.  Pirates.  Have you ever met a
pirate, Lord Reynolds?  Or been one?”  Boldly, she looked up, meeting
his eyes. 

Sutton didn’t speak for a moment,
enthralled with the way her mouth moved, as she said “unsavory”.  All he
could think of was touching his tongue to her lips again, as he had in the
library.   “Macao is indeed full of unsavory people.  I should
know.  I was one of them.” 

Alex gave him a forthright look. “Your
sister claims you kept a monkey who smoked opium.  What was it like? 
The jungles?  Do you speak Portuguese? I’ve read about the Chinese and
their customs.  It all sounds so interesting and I think I should like to
go there someday.”  She looked at him, as if waiting for him to dissuade
her, or tell her she shouldn’t wish such things.  The lovely gray opals
shimmered with curiosity.  A chestnut curl sprung out across her
forehead. 

What would she do if he touched
her? 

Sutton was at a loss.  The seduction
of women came easily to him.  He adored women, but didn’t necessarily
respect them, outside of his grandmother and sisters.  And, while he
certainly enjoyed the company of the fairer sex, especially in bed, he didn’t
actually have intelligent conversations with them.   Nor did he give
much thought to
liking
a woman.   Until, Alex.

 A spurt of warmth hit Sutton right
in the middle of his chest.   The feeling so intense, he restrained
himself from rubbing his breastbone.  His Badger
knew
Portuguese
was spoken in Macao.  She actually
knew
where Macao was.  Miss
Dunforth, while she didn’t know it, was the most exotic, seductive creature
Sutton had ever met.

“I do speak Portuguese and Chinese. 
Jonas was my monkey, and he smoked opium like a fiend.  I could not bring
him to England with me.  When one is being shanghaied, one does not have
time to pack.” 

“Shanghaied?”

“Kidnapped.”

“Oh, yes.  It took ten men,
ten
men
, to bring you back.” 

Sutton laughed.  She imitated the
tone of Lady Agnes Dobson to perfection.

“Why?  Why did your grandmother have
to kidnap you?  Didn’t you wish to come back and be a Marquess?”  Her
honest question gave Sutton a thoughtful pause. He didn’t know how to answer
it.  The title and the money, even his looks, he considered of little
import to who he really was.  He’d lived by his wits in Macao. 
Penniless upon his arrival, he’d managed to build a successful trading
post.  He’d explored vast areas of jungle and studied the flora of the
peninsula.  He traded with the Chinese, smoked opium, and generally did as
he chose.  A Marquess had no such luxury.

“There is more to life than a title,
Alex.”  He didn’t shirk from her gaze.  It was heresy for someone of
his standing to say such a thing, but he didn’t care.  Something told him
Alexandra didn’t either.

Her gray stare shifted and ran along his
torso.  He could see her mind working.   She imagined the
tattoo.  Every woman in London knew about his tattoo, so it was no
surprise Alex did.  Women found the tattoo erotic, it added to the allure
of bedding Satan Reynolds.

The Badger shot him a curious, appraising
look.

  “It is indeed a green
dragon.  The eyes are red.”

Alex shook her head, mortified that he’d
guessed her thoughts.  “I didn’t mean –“

His hand stayed her. “It’s all right, I
don’t mind telling you.  It covers the whole of my back and the tails
wraps around the lower part of my waist.”  He waited for her to blush and
run from him, as most young ladies of proper breeding would do if body parts
were discussed.  But Alex never looked away.  

“Why did you have it drawn on you?”

“I don’t have it by choice. The tattoo was
painted on me as a type of punishment, to mark me.   I was put in
charge of some property for a friend, a Chinese warlord, while he saw to his
business elsewhere.  He did not appreciate the way I handled his property
and decided I needed to be punished for my indiscretions.  One of his
concubines told him that the English called me Satan Reynolds.   The
warlord thought it a great joke that my own people likened me to the
devil.   He decided to mark me so that all who saw it would know I
was cursed.” Sutton had, in fact, nearly seduced the man’s young, fourth
wife.  If he had succeeded he no doubt would be dead now.  The
punishment was for the girl to tattoo Sutton with the face of the devil, but
she had no idea what the devil looked like.  She chose a dragon
instead. 

 “Did it hurt?” 

He nodded. “Like the bloody dickens. I
stayed drunk for nearly a week, the pain was so bad.”

Her hand lifted, as if she would touch
him, but she quickly put it down.  She smiled shyly.  “Did the
warlord’s ‘property’ object to your punishment?”  She met his gaze, and
looked into his soul without judgment, only concern and tempered
amusement.  He felt the pull towards her.  Stronger.  Insistent.

“No.” Slowly he reached a hand towards
her, as if she were a frightened animal he didn’t want to run from him. 
“She was the one who drew it on me.”  His hand cupped the side of her
face. 

Her eyes widened in surprise at his
touch, then fluttered closed.  She gave a small sigh of satisfaction and
tilted her head into his hand.  Sheer need punched Sutton in the
gut.  Primal.  Fierce.

Sutton reached swiftly with both hands
and grabbed her shoulders.  He stood up, drawing her small form against
him.

Alexandra’s eyes popped open.  Her
mouth rounded in an “o” of surprise. 

A shock of heat coursed between them as
their bodies melded together.  His hand ran down her spine, clutching her
around the waist.  One hand held her tightly as the other roamed down her
tiny form to grab underneath her bottom, cupping her buttocks. 
Deliberately, he pushed her against the hardness nearly bursting through his
breeches. 

She struggled half-heartedly.  The
action rubbed her breasts against him in an agonizing rhythm. A gloved hand
swatted ineffectually against his chest.  The hand stayed against his
shoulder, the fingers caressing him, seemingly of their own accord. 

“Put me down, Lord Reynolds!”  It
was the same tone she used with him in Lord Dobson’s library.  Two spots
of color stood out on Alexandra’s cheeks.   Her body softened against
him.  She stopped struggling. 

“You are depraved to think I wish to be
accosted by the biggest rake in London, in a
bookstore
of all places,
next to a shelf of ..of... “ She peered over his shoulder and squinted. “
Etiquette
for Young Ladies
!”  I know what you are about, and I have no desire to
become yet another conquest of the great Satan Reynolds.  As a plain girl,
far beneath you socially, you might imagine I would welcome your amorous
attentions, but I assure you I do not.”

Plain?  Alexandra thought she was
plain?  Sutton thought she sparkled like a tiny snowflake that had by mere
chance, landed on his tongue.  Unique and beautiful.  He pushed her
harder against him, which earned his shoulder another ineffectual swat of her
hand. 

Alex’s chin lifted in a determined manner. 
She thought this a game to him.  Sutton couldn’t blame her.  He had a
rather black reputation, especially with women. Their mutual attraction to each
other confused her.   He saw the fear of rejection in her eyes even
as he moved her against the fiercest arousal he’d ever had in his life.

  “Shut up, Alex.” He wound his arms
around her, kissing her deeply and possessively.  He nudged her mouth
open, touching her tongue to his.  Gently he sucked her tongue into his
mouth.  Her body shivered in his embrace. He kissed her harder, all the
need he felt for her spilling into the kiss.