by Lucy Ashford
‘I believe I might take my leave as you are so out of sorts,’ Dante now told Rupert.
‘I will stay here and finish my brandy and cigar before making my own excuses,’ the Duke answered.
Pandora was still too lost in her own misery to take any further heed of what they were saying. Too overwhelmed by the unhappiness of the memories their previous conversation had conjured up to do anything other than allow that misery to claim her, as it had so often this past year since her husband and Sir Thomas Stanley had both died so needlessly, and in doing so created a scandal which would be talked about for months, if not years. She—
‘Ah, here you are,’ a familiar voice oozed at her out of the surrounding darkness. ‘And all alone, too,’ Lord Sugdon added with satisfaction as he stepped into the dim candlelight escaping through the lace curtains at the library windows.
Pandora eyed him warily as she rose slowly to her silk-slippered feet. ‘I was just about to go back inside—’
‘Oh, surely not?’ The young Lord Sugdon stepped closer still. ‘It would be a pity to waste the moonlight. And the privacy this terrace affords us...’ he added with a suggestive leer in the direction of the swell of her breasts visible above the low neckline of her gown.
‘Nevertheless, I feel I really should return—Lord Sugdon!’ she gasped in protest as he reached out and pulled her roughly into his arms. ‘Release me at once!’ She pushed against his chest in her efforts to escape the confining steel of his arms about her waist, struggles he completely ignored as he now lowered his head with the obvious intention of claiming her lips with his own. Just the thought of his moist, full lips upon her own was enough to make Pandora’s stomach churn in sickening protest.
‘You don’t mean that—’
‘I most certainly do!’ Pandora insisted emotionally, sure that if she did not escape his steely grip very soon that she might actually swoon. Which she did not believe for one moment, from the expression of carnal intent now darkening Lord Sugdon’s face, would succeed in securing her release either; indeed, the man looked as if he were more than capable of taking advantage of her while she lay unconscious and unknowing in his arms. ‘You must stop this immediately, my lord!’
‘Like it a little rough, do you, my beauty?’ Sugdon grinned in satisfaction. ‘You will hear no complaints from me on that score!’ One of his hands released her waist long enough to grasp the neckline of her gown before pulling on the delicate fabric until it ripped and allowed her chemise-covered breasts to spill into view. ‘Now there’s a pretty sight to behold, to be sure.’ His gaze was heated on her semi-naked breasts as he licked the fullness of his lips in anticipation.
Pandora gave a choked sob, knowing that her life—a life that had been overshadowed by so much unhappiness these past four years—had just lowered to a depth of depravity she could never have imagined before this evening. ‘Please, you must not do this!’ she pleaded desperately as she continued to push ineffectively against the strength of Lord Sugdon’s hold upon her.
‘You know that you want me to.’ His hand now cupped one of her breasts, his fingers digging painfully into her tender flesh. ‘That you have been begging for just this all evening.’
‘You are wrong if you think that, sir!’ Pandora gasped. ‘Now please—’
‘It is you who shall please me in a few moments, my lovely— Why, you—!’ He snarled angrily as Pandora’s hand landed painfully against his cheek. ‘You shall pay for that, you little—’
‘I believe you will find, Sugdon, that when a lady says no as vehemently as this one is so obviously doing, that it is better to err on the side of caution and accept that she really might be turning down your advances.’
Pandora staggered back into the bench as she found herself suddenly released from Lord Sugdon’s hot and repulsive embrace, uncaring of the bruising of the metal into the back of her legs as she clutched her ripped gown tightly over her breasts, her face deathly pale as she stared across the terrace at her unexpected—and totally improbable—saviour.
Lord Rupert Stirling, eighth Duke of Stratton. Otherwise known to the ton as simply Devil...
ISBN: 9781460306949
THE OUTRAGEOUS BELLE MARCHMAIN
Copyright © 2013 by Lucy Ashford
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