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"Indeed," Nick replied nonco from his outstretched hand to Meredith pointedly

She could not refuse without appearing ill-mannered No enerate speculation a her hand in his, sheher hand in his elbow, Nick led her out the French doors and onto the far end on the veranda She barely inhaled the night air before he spoke

"You should have better care for the company you keep, Meredith He may be a duke, but he’s a reprobate" Nick crossed his ars braced apart as though he stood at the prow of a rollicking ship

"I had little to do with it He sat down besideher ti with hihed, I had to be flirting?" Her snort of disbelief indicated what she thought of that logic

"It was the way he laughed… and the way he looked at you when he laughed"

"Neither of which is in h to consider his don’t come to fruition with Havernautt Your dowry does not co his needs"

"He’s a drunkard And a chronic gahts on him?"

"He is a duke It would be quite a coup for any woman"

She turned her back on hi her shoulders in a carelessly affected shrug as she faced the gardens "I have not given up on Havernautt"

"You o of that one" His voice sounded alar her neck at the puff of his breath on her nape, at the answering spark of heat that flared to life deep in her core She stiffened her spine and resisted the overwheled her to melt into his broad chest It took every last ounce of willpower to appear impervious "His mother will never allow him to marry you"

"It’s his decision, not hers"

"You overestimate Havernautt’s will--or your wiles Whichever the case, other suitable gentlemen are present Extend your attentions to the"

She had actually tried to further her acquaintance with the other gentle for a husband had dwindled Especially when her treacherous heart was invested elsewhere

She fixed her gaze on the shadowy shrubs of hawthorn ahead, unable to turn and face hi in her mind "What happens if I don’t beco before her

He inched closer, until the hardness of his chest pressed against her rigid back She resisted the iainst hie with hers until neither could tell where the other’s body began and ended

"That was not our agreerowl at her neck

She couldn’t turn around unless she wanted to bury her nose into his chest And while she ht want to do that--she could not So she stayed just so, her back to his chest as she gazed out at the reement between us I only remember tersely worded commands and decrees"

"Call it whatever you like, we had an understanding Are you reneging now?" An undeniable desperation hu tone of his question, and she wondered at it

She spoke into the night "Has it ever occurred to you that I si a proposal?"

"No Not unless you deliberately set out to reainst her nape "Are you trying to back out?" he softly queried His lips grazed the skin beneath her ear, and her entire body trembled A lick of heat curled low in her belly

She twisted around to escape the fiery brand of his ainst hiely out of s cannot be so easily controlled" The croak of her voice betrayed her, revealed how much his nearness undid her, exactly how uncontrolled she felt

He stared at her for a longevery inch of her face Her breath hitched when those , her hands went behind her to clutch the railing in a death grip The ainst her bodice

"You’re correct," he growled "Sorabbed her by the waist and hauled her against hi kiss that fired her blood and invaded her soul Coripped fistfuls of his jacket Nick devoured her lips, licking, nipping, sucking She didn’t care that they stooddoor where members of the ton sipped their after dinner drinks Didn’t care that she hovered on the brink of scandal His kiss obliterated all thoughts of propriety, ignited a deep, soul-singeing recognition within her body that deown Her niles tightened, straining against the thinfor the feel of his callused hands, for the wet-velvet rasp of his tongue He sed herit deep in his mouth

Driven by a wild need to touch, to feel him, she slid her hands inside his jacket and ran thees of h her blood, eainst the hard bulge of his th He throbbed in her hand, and heat rushed through her veins, liquefying her bones

He ainst her ht"

His words served as a cold dose of reality She jerked free and collapsed against the stone railing, inhaling raggedly "No--this is insanity"