Redemption Read Free

deep within her that she
couldn’t ignore any longer. This was what her heart yearned for.
Somewhere deep inside, she suspected that he had just branded her
soul. Was it so wrong to snatch a precious memory for
herself?
    What
they were sharing tonight was something no woman could ever forget,
and she strongly suspected it had just changed her, and her life,
completely. If she could draw the affection of a man like Ben she
would be more than happy to settle into a life of matrimonial bliss
and would never ask for anything else from life. But alas, her
rather plain looks were no match for Melissa Bradwort’s stunning
beauty. He was tall, dark and handsome; Melissa was petite, blonde
and beautiful. As far as everyone in society was concerned, Ben and
Melissa were a match made in heaven.
    Was it
selfish to enjoy this so much? Especially given he was still, for
the time being at least, a single man? If she could get out of the
folly before her identity was revealed nobody would ever be any
wiser about what they had shared. This could be her precious secret
– a few moments of tenderness stolen for herself. Her identity
would always be a mystery to him, but what did it matter so long as
what they shared didn’t become common knowledge amongst the
gossips?
    “God,
you unman me,” he muttered as he desperately pecked random kisses
across her cheek.
    Lips
slid along the gentle curve of her jaw to recapture her soft sigh
and, with a groan, his hands began to slide down her back until
they came to rest upon her hips.
    Not even
when the cool night air swept across the bare flesh of her thighs
did she make any attempt to remove his intimate hold. She made no
objection when one large palm slid higher and began to explore
deeper at the same time that warm lips captured her sigh. For
several long, wondrous moments, the silence was broken by their low
moans as hands explored and lips plundered. Desire built with
irresistible force until their clothes suddenly became too much of
a barrier for either of them to bear and they began to tug
desperately at their clothing, desperate to find the warm flesh
beneath.
    “How
dare you take such liberties with my sister, sir?” A voice suddenly
boomed into the silence.
    Lizzie’s
eyes popped wide and her stomach lurched at the sound of her
step-brother’s voice so horrifyingly near. She knew, in that
moment, that her ruination was absolute. She was not just ruined,
but humiliated as well because the man in her arms, the man who had
been doing such wondrous things to her body, was going to find out
he had the wrong woman and there was nothing she could do to
prevent it from happening.
    “Stop,”
she whispered when Ben nuzzled into the base of her neck again,
seemingly oblivious to their discovery. She glanced toward the
house barely visible through the folly door, and gasped at the
sight of Julian standing on the grass a few feet away surrounded by
what appeared to be most of the men he had been gambling
with.
    “Oh,
God, no,” she moaned. “Please, Ben.”
    She
pushed hard at Ben’s shoulders, determined to put some decorous
distance between them, even though she knew it was already far too
late. To her consternation, he seemed reluctant to release her.
Rather than withdraw, he pressed a gentle kiss to her neck and
slowly lowered her leg but made no attempt to step away from her.
Instead, he placed another kiss on her shoulder as he tugged the
top of her dress back into place. It was then that she realised he
was using his body to hide her from the witnesses while she covered
her modesty. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his
chivalry, and had to wonder if he realised just how many people
were watching them.
    Heat
flooded into her cheeks while she waited for him to realise her
true identity. There was nothing she could do now except let the
next few minutes play out. There was nowhere to hide and nothing
she could say that would get her out of this horribly humiliating
situation