My Fair Duchess (A Once Upon A Rogue Novel Book 1)

by Julie Johnstone

  She rubbed her temples as she thought. Heavens, had she made Charles into her hero, but he had thought of her as a mere friend? Rather like a secondary character? Had she been so lonely that she created a relationship in her mind? However she had thought of him, it did not compare to the way Colin made her feel.

  He stole her breath, raced her pulse, made her laugh, made her want to shout, and made her think she was beautiful. Possibly, she was falling in love with him. But could he ever love her back?

  “Amelia,” a voice said above her. Her heart raced as she jerked up and scrambled to her feet. The room was dark but not so much so that she could not see Charles standing behind the settee.

  “Charles,” she blurted, forgetting herself. She pressed a hand to her lips. “I beg your pardon. I mean, Lord Worthington.”

  Charles raced around the settee and grabbed her hands in his. “No, please call me Charles and let me call you Amelia. It’s how I think of you in my heart.”

  Amelia felt her jaw drop open. She promptly snapped it shut. Maybe how he felt about her wasn’t all in her head at all. “What are you doing in here?”

  “I followed you.”

  If he’d admitted that several weeks ago, she would have jumped into his arms for joy. But now… She pulled her hands out of his and took a step back. “Followed me? But why?”

  “Because you are driving me mad,” Charles replied, advancing on her.

  Instinct sent her scuttling backward out of his reach, but she hit her shoulder blade on something hard. A quick glance behind her confirmed she had run into a bookshelf. “Charles,” she placed her hand out to keep him at a distance, and he grabbed it. She gave a tug, but he held firm. Huffing, she said, “I’m going to have to insist you leave the library at once. This is improper, and if anyone should see us―”

  “Do you worry about being proper around him?” Charles asked, his tone sharp and his lip slightly curled.

  “Who?”

  “Aversley. That’s who. Do you ensure he is not alone with you in a room? I assure you that you should. The man is a danger to your innocence, unless you’re no longer innocent.”

  “Lord Worthington!” Amelia snapped, anger blossoming in her belly and spreading like fire through her veins. “I assure you, though it is absolutely none of your business, His Grace is always a perfect gentleman with me.” Except for yesterday’s crushing kiss followed by that lovely gentle one, but that was her secret, and in truth she had enjoyed it too much to give a fig about the lack of propriety.

  “Let me go,” she demanded, pushing at his hand. He did release her, but his arms came up to either side of her hips, effectively trapping her. “Whatever do you think you’re doing?” she yelped.

  He leaned toward her, his face mere inches from hers. “Amelia, please. I know you care for me.”

  She did. Or she had. She stared at his eyes, not nearly as beautiful as Colin’s, and didn’t feel the tiniest heart palpitation. “What of Lady Georgiana?” she said gently. Charles was like a boy who did not want to share his favorite toy. He didn’t love her. “The two of you seem a breath away from the altar.”

  “Forget Lady Georgiana for the moment,” he whispered, his warm breath wafting over her face.

  That sounded like a bad idea, if there ever was one. “I think not,” she replied, in what she hoped was a prim voice. “Are you or are you not going to make an offer for Lady Georgiana. Or have you already?”

  “I have not. Amelia, it’s complicated, but seeing you with Aversley and thinking of you becoming his makes me want to find a different solution to my problem. Kiss me, Amelia. Surely you must want to feel my lips on you as much as I want to feel yours on me.”

  Anger burst throughout her body like a crackling, burning log that could no longer stand the heat. She wanted to slap him not kiss him.

  Before she could decide whether to do it or not, the slow creak of the door filled the room, and Colin stepped into the moonlight. The frown of cold fury he wore made her shiver. “Back up, Worthington,” he demanded in a tone that brooked no doubt that Colin would physically back the man up if he did not comply.

  Charles stepped back and set his hands to his hips. “Aversley, you’re intruding. This is none of your business.”

  “Lady Amelia is my business,” Colin said in a ruthless tone as he advanced in two long strides across the room. “If you ever proposition her indecently again or beg a kiss, unless you are betrothed, you better find a ship to the farthest corner of the world because I will hunt you down and tear you apart piece by piece.”

  Amelia’s mouth went dry at his statement, even as her stomach fluttered.

  “You’ve no right to order me around,” Charles snarled.

  Colin’s hand flashed out, and before Amelia could squeak of fright, Charles, having been rather roughly dragged forward, stood before a glowering Colin. “I don’t give a damn if you think I have the right or not. In fact, I rather find I hope you are challenging me. I will be happy to meet you in a duel if you wish it. Shall we?” Colin flung Charles away, and he went staggering backward.

  He pulled himself upright and tugged on his coat until it was straight. “That won’t be necessary. Yet. You are quite right that I should not have disrespected Amelia, but you had best not either.”

  “Are you threatening me?” Colin said, his tone one of sarcastic amusement.

  “No more than you just threatened me,” Charles snapped and thrust his elbow toward Amelia. “Come with me, Amelia. I’ll ensure you get back to the ballroom safely.”

  Amelia shook her head. “As far as I can tell you are the only one who was putting my person in danger. Please go. I am perfectly capable of getting back to the ballroom without your assistance.”

  Charles scowled at her but nodded. “As you wish. However, I am going to call on you tomorrow.”

  Before she could tell him not to bother, he turned on his heel. She watched as Colin stalked Charles all the way to the door. Colin’s back was to her, and for a moment, she feared he might simply leave her standing there without saying a word. Very quietly, he shut the door and turned to her. His face had taken on the look of a marble effigy. He paused in front of her, a grim smile spreading across his lips. “Very well played, Amelia.”

  She frowned at him. “What?”

  “You will have an offer for your hand from him in no time. I could not have planned it better had I thought of it. Leaving the ballroom was a brilliant stroke. I suppose you knew he had been watching you and would follow.”

  Her stomach twisted into a tight coil. Colin thought she had planned this to get Charles alone? To what―tease him, make him jealous? Sadness filled her. Of course, he would think such a thing because he believed women were inherently wicked, and well, because she had inadvertently nourished that conviction by agreeing to be part of that stupid wager. “No, Colin, I―”

  He pressed a finger to her lips. “There’s no use denying it. I saw how you were looking at him.”

  “How was I looking at him?”

  “With longing. And triumph.”

  Good heavens, the man was jaded and completely wrong and would never believe her if she told him so. What to do? She sucked her lower lip between her teeth and raced through possible solutions, discarding them as quickly as she had thought of them. The only thing to do was to turn the tables on him.

  She cared for him, and the only way she knew to possibly get through to him was to show him, beyond any doubt in his distrustful mind and wounded heart, that she was never going to hurt him. And that if he would let her, she could love him with all her heart if only he would give her his. Yet, to accomplish her goal she needed him to see that even if she had a hundred marriage offers from a hundred dukes just as lofty as he was or even more so, she would want him. Only him. Always him.

  “Kiss me, Colin,” she demanded, making her first move in a plan that was sketchy at best.

  “Kiss you? What for? Your prey has flown the coop.”

  Her che
eks heated, but she forced herself to speak. “I need to practice in case Charles and I become betrothed. I wouldn’t want him to cry off because I didn’t entice him.”

  “He wouldn’t dare,” Colin growled. “You need no practice.”

  She purposely licked her lips, feeling foolish but pushing forward. His suddenly bulging jaw muscles made her want to cheer in victory. She was getting to him, even if only to his baser side. For now that would have to do. War was often won with small maneuvers and softening Colin’s heart certainly felt like combat. “You promised to transform me,” she continued, knowing that would get to him. The man was honorable, whether he liked it or not.

  “One kiss,” he said, in a stern tone.

  “Yes. Just one.”

  “I find you impossible to resist,” he muttered.

  She bit her cheek to keep from grinning and forced herself to stay silent.

  Grunting, he crooked his finger at her. “Come here.”

  Suddenly, her legs trembled and her heart beat wildly. She judged the distance between the two of them. It was three steps at the most. Could she make it? She’d never experienced anything like the giddy anticipation racing through her that was leaving her this weak.

  A devilish smile played at his lips. “Changed your mind, have you?

  With that, she moved toward him on legs like jelly. His dark, glittering gaze met hers and her heart turned over in response. He slipped his hands up her arms and brought her closer to him, until her chest brushed his, and she inhaled harshly at the contact. His breath rang in her ears, sharp and uneven. The dual pressures of his warm hands coming to the small of her back and the base of her skull sent a shiver through her. With shaking limbs, she clung to him, having no desire to escape his embrace.

  He leaned near, and his lips touched hers like a feather being dragged gently over her skin. “Amelia.” Her name was a groan of need from his mouth.

  Deep within her, raw ache sprang to life and took her breath away. Unable to form words, she twined her hands into his hair and dragged his lips to hers, a silent plea that he fulfill his promise. His lips captured hers once more, demanding this time, and devouring the little bit of self-control she had left. Their tongues met and swirled in a tangle of urgency and longing.

  The pressure on her back increased until he crushed her to him so that she felt the savage beating of his heart. Her head rang with the sound until the beat of her own heart took up with his and the world seemed to slip away. She raced her hands down his neck, over his shoulders and the muscular planes of his back, just to press her fingertips against his hard body.

  His mouth left hers and moved with rapid-fire precision down her neck and to the skin of her chest exposed by her low-cut gown. Every place he touched burned, and when his tongue flicked out to trace across the top slope of one breast and then the other, she moaned deep within her throat.

  A loud knock yanked her back to the library and her insufficient senses. Luckily, Colin seemed fully aware of the scandal they were on the verge of. Before she had even blinked, he was across the room and behind the settee as a voice called out, “Aversley, are you in there?”

  Amelia wrinkled her brow, her muddled mind taking a moment to register the voice. When she did, she gasped. Her brother! If Philip suspected what she and Colin had just been doing, he would demand Colin marry her and that would ruin everything. If they ended up married, she wanted it to be because they were deeply in love. Yanking on her gown to set it in order and running her trembling hand through her hair, she had just enough time to glance at Colin before the door swung open and her brother and Lady Langley burst into the room.

  She swung her gaze from her brother’s astonished face back to Colin and prayed what she had thought she had seen was a figment of her imagination. But it was all too real. Colin’s cravat hung lose, his hair was nothing short of a disheveled mess that looked quite accurately as if someone had run their fingers through it, and the color she had used on her lips tonight was now smeared on his. It was the last part she had no idea how to explain. She tensed, expecting Philip to explode, but before Philip could say anything, Colin’s aunt rushed across the room and linked her arm through Amelia’s.

  “There you are,” Lady Langley exclaimed. “I’ve been frantically searching for you. There is a table full of eager matrons you simply must meet. They can help you make a spectacular showing this Season with just a word.” Lady Langley pulled her toward the door and stopped in front of Philip, whose mouth was hanging slightly open and gaze was darting back and forth between Colin and her.

  Lady Langley smiled at Philip. “You must let me take your sister with me at once. You will excuse us, won’t you?”

  “Certainly,” Philip said and inclined his head toward them both.

  As Amelia entered the hall, she heaved an inner sigh of relief. Lady Langley kept furtively looking at her, but instead of mentioning anything about the scene she and Philip had come upon, she chattered non-stop about the ladies to whom she was going to introduce Amelia.

  As they drew near the ballroom, Lady Langley paused and turned to Amelia. “You should not wear lip rouge if you plan to let Aversley kiss you in darkened rooms.”

  Heat flamed Amelia’s cheeks. “I had not intended― I mean, that is to say, I did not set out at the beginning of the evening to let him kiss me.”

  “I believe you,” Lady Langley said with a soft smile. “Which is why I interceded before your brother made the connection or decided to do something about it like demand you and Aversley wed. That wouldn’t do.”

  “I quite agree,” Amelia said, feeling rather odd having this conversation with Colin’s aunt.

  Lady Langley eyed Amelia. “Aversley is not going to be easy to soften, you know.”

  “I know, but the thing is… I think I may be falling in love with him.”

  Colin’s aunt frowned. “You think? That’s something you need to know definitely, my dear.” Her lips had pressed together in a smirk, and she was staring at Amelia in the most disconcerting way, as if she understood something Amelia did not. “I had not thought you the type of woman to let a man you don’t love kiss you in the dark.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t!” Amelia exclaimed, shock and realization flying through her the moment she said the words. She loved him. Warmth filled her, followed by joy and fear. Her stomach flipped. “I love him,” she breathed on a whisper.

  “Yes, dear, I know,” Colin’s aunt said, patting her hand.

  A dull ringing filled Amelia’s ears and head. “I thought I was in love before, but that wasn’t love. It was a childhood infatuation. I don’t even think I really know who Lord Worthington is. But Colin―” Her throat ached with the intensity of her emotions. “I know him. He’s jaded, wounded, and the best man I’ve every met. I’m frightened,” she murmured.

  Lady Langley squeezed her hand. “Love is a scary thing. I’d not go blurting you love him to him just yet, though. He wouldn’t believe you.”

  “Yes, I know. I need to show him he can trust in me and who I say I am.”

  “Well, yes.” Lady Langley nodded. “There is that. But he also needs to feel worthy of love. Your love, to be precise. Or he needs to want you so much he doesn’t care if he’s worthy or not. Have you any ideas?”

  “Not a one besides showing him that I don’t care about a title, just the man, by turning down other offers for my hand by gentlemen as well titled as he is. Of course, I would need some offers from other gentlemen who truly don’t care for me. I would not want to hurt anyone.” She frowned. “Basically, I don’t have any good ideas.”

  “My dear, you underestimate yourself,” Lady Langley exclaimed. “Your idea is brilliant!”

  “What?” Amelia looked at the woman, surprised. “But I don’t have any other offers. I don’t even have anyone else courting me, besides possibly Lord Worthington, and honestly, he seems as likely to ask for my hand as Lady Georgiana’s. And he wouldn’t do anyway. If he asked for my hand and I turned him down
, Colin―oh, I beg your pardon―I mean His Grace―”

  Lady Langley waved her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. You may call him Colin around me. I’ve never been one to stand on ceremony.”

  Amelia nodded. “Colin would think I had changed as he predicted if I were to turn Lord Worthington down. Unless, of course, I turned other gentlemen who were better titled down, as well. So you see, my idea is not a good one.”

  “But it is.” Lady Langley had a contemplative look on her face. “If there is one thing I have learned in all my years of watching my sister and the men who clamored after her it’s that men will make fools of themselves over women they know in their hearts they cannot have, including the man I loved.”

  “Oh my. I’m terribly sorry.” She had known there was more to Lady Langley’s story than Colin realized.

  Lady Langley shrugged. “It was years ago. My sister told Lord Giliford she did not love him and never would. I heard her tell him so, and he pursued her all the harder for it until she caved. Loneliness and neediness will do that to a person.” Lady Langley’s gaze caught hers. “Be yourself, but make clear to the gentlemen who call on you that you are not interested. I guarantee you it will make them more so.”

  “But what if no one calls on me?”

  “Oh, my dear.” Lady Langley grinned. “You do not truly see yourself or you would not have such a silly fear.”

  Colin darted a glance at the now-open library door, anxious to follow Amelia and make sure Worthington was staying away from her. Struggling to control his impatience, he watched Amelia’s brother pace the length of the library four more times. This was bloody enough. If Harthorne was going to call him out for kissing his sister, the man needed to say so now and be done with it.