Never Trust a Scoundrel Read Free Page B

She wasn’t even trembling. He knew she had probably never held a suitor’s hand without gloves between them. He took advantage by pressing a kiss to the back of her hand, then turning it over and pressing another to her palm. Lavender seemed all around him now, burned into his brain. Whenever he smelled it again, he would remember this night, the challenge of this woman. He touched her with his tongue, and although she stiffened, she did not gasp or frantically pull away.
    â€œA time limit, Mr. Throckmorten. You have one week to prove my supposed inability to resist you,” she said with subtle sarcasm. She removed her hand from his.
    â€œThree weeks.”
    â€œTwo,” she shot back.
    â€œVery well.”
    â€œAnd all I have to do is resist you.” She sounded as if she would be getting off lightly.
    â€œAnd soon you won’t even want to do that, Miss Banbury.”
    â€œI’ll be doing other things as well, have no fear.”
    â€œAgainst me?”
    â€œAgainst you.”
    â€œAh, I look forward to it.”
    Then neither of them spoke, and they just looked at each other. Daniel wondered if she were taking his measure, as he was hers. He was suddenly glad that he’d won that card game.
    â€œYou may leave now, Mr. Throckmorten,” she said softly.
    â€œI look forward to our next visit, Miss Banbury.”
    Strangely, it took effort for him to turn away from her. He wanted to sweep her into his arms, carry her up the stairs, and prove to her that she would be no match against his seduction.
    But that wasn’t part of the game.
    When he reached the door, she said, “Mr. Throckmorten?”
    He glanced over his shoulder, and she held out her hand.
    â€œThe key, please.”
    â€œI own this town house.”
    â€œAnd you agreed not to reveal that fact. While I am living here, you will not find it so easy to enter again. The key, please.”
    He walked back to her, noticing with amusement that she still had not come all the way down the stairs. She liked meeting him eye to eye. And he didn’t mind giving her the key—he still had one to the kitchen door. He placed the key in her palm, and before she could pull away, he folded her fingers around it.
    â€œClutch it tightly, Miss Banbury,” he said in a soft voice. “I won’t willingly give up anything else.”
    She pressed her lips together, but all she did was nod.
    He bowed. “Good evening.”
    As he closed the door behind him, he heard her turn the lock. He didn’t look back as he descended the stairs to the street, where his horse waited. He felt lighter than he had in a long time.
    He’d been restless lately, on edge—bored. He was almost thirty, and the life he’d been leading since he’d been sent down in disgrace from Cambridge years before no longer seemed enough. He had accumulated a fortune, and the making of it now seemed too easy. Even gambling, taking wild risks and winning, had lost its appeal, for he was talented enough to win at anything that required skill—including seduction.
    But now he had a new challenge to focus on. He sensed that Grace Banbury wasn’t used to someone with his control. Her mother surely had none. By the sight of the bare town house, her brother was not much better.
    Grace most likely took care of them all, as she was trying to do now. The violin couldn’t be all she wanted, although he knew it would bring a pretty penny. She’d just been betrayed by her mother, had just lost the security of a home.
    But she was playing her own game with him, and he wouldn’t deprive her of it.
    Or deprive himself of the chance to have her willingly naked in his bed. Daniel didn’t need the lengthy commitment of marriage. He had no need to please his family, for he wasn’t the real heir. He and Grace would tire of each other and move on, the inevitable result, but until then, he would show her pleasures that