A Dangerous Temptation

by L. R. Olson

  Shite, even if he had slept with Jules, I still wanted her. Just once. I’d sleep with her just once to get her out of my system. Then move on and be done with the woman. I downed my whiskey and set the glass on the table. “I must take my leave.”

  “One more drink?”

  Of course he wanted another round, as I was paying. “No. But you order what you want on me.”

  I’d give the man barrels of ale merely to get the hell away from him. As I stood he protested. “No, wouldn’t think of it.”

  I turned, intending to leave. “Very well then—”

  “But if you insist.”

  Disgusted and annoyed, I left the pub with Welch’s shout of thanks ringing in my ear. He was lucky I hadn’t beaten the truth out of him. But I had a feeling I didn’t want to know the truth. The pub was on the outskirts of the small village that boasted all of one lane. Although I’d been here over a week, they still watched me warily. Some nodded a reluctant greeting, but I didn’t bother to respond. I wasn’t planning on staying here, I didn’t need to make friends.

  I found the trail that led into the woods.

  Yes, arriving here early had been a mistake. It was time to get what I wanted and leave. I’d had a plan, a carefully constructed plan, damn it all. The trail forked and I started to follow the path to the left. The problem was that I was no longer sure what it was I wanted. I knew one thing…I was restless and impatient to see Jules again. She had started this game, but I would finish it.

  “Push from behind,” a familiar voice called out.

  “Shite,” I muttered, pausing.

  “Again, Ramona!”

  Fate, apparently, was on my side for once. Unable to stop myself, I followed the sound, heading to the right. Jules stood ankle deep in a mud puddle, pulling on a rope, attached to the neck of a stubborn cow, while an older woman pushed at the beast from behind. The mere view of Jules gave me pleasure like nothing else. Hell, I despised my body for reacting.

  I crossed my arms over my chest, watching. They looked completely ridiculous. Why was I not surprised to see Jules standing in the middle of a mud puddle? Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I saw her running nude through town. Nothing she did shocked me.

  Jules had her eyes squeezed shut, her teeth gritted as she pulled with all her might. I gave a nod to the older woman who watched me warily, standing behind the cow. Her mother? No, they looked nothing alike. But seeing Jules ankle-deep in mud told me everything I needed to know…she sure as hell didn’t come from a titled family. Was she a servant from a nearby estate? Or was she something more? The memory of Welch’s red face flashed to mind. Was Jules the town whore?

  I narrowed my eyes and studied her features, attempting to see through her ruse. Who was she? Innocent servant or town whore? Did it matter? I needed to rid the woman from my system and fast. She was like a damn itch I couldn’t scratch.

  “Jules,” the woman said hesitantly as I continued to stand there, quiet and moody. “Dear, perhaps we should leave it be for now.”

  Jules opened her eyes. “Not yet! I do believe she moved a step. In fact, I….” Her voice trailed off as she caught a glimpse of me. I quirked a brow. Her face flushed red. She dropped the rope and straightened, attempting to smooth her wayward curls into place. “Oh. Good day, sir.”

  “Jules,” I said, by way of greeting. Before she could respond, I slapped the cow’s rump. It mooed and jerked forward. Jules got out of the way just in time. The cow raced down the path, disappearing around a bend.

  “Hurry, before it escapes!” Jules started by me, but I wasn’t about to let her get away. I grabbed the girl’s arm.

  She struggled against my grasp, glaring at me. “Let go! Can’t you see I’m busy?”

  “Your friend will catch her.” I released my hold only to give her my hand, daring her to take it. “Come.”

  “Why?” she asked warily.

  “Hell, woman, I’m merely trying to assist you from the puddle like a gentleman.”

  Hesitantly, she slid her hand into mine. The friction of skin upon skin aroused my blood to boiling. I pulled her from the murk, noting she wore tall boots. The hem of her skirts were covered in mud and her hair fell in a braid down her back. She was a mess. I’d met stunning opera singers. I’d slept with ladies of the highest quality. But this woman…this…this…ruffian was the most beautiful specimen I’d ever seen.

  “Thank you.” She curtsied and started to leave. I fell into step beside her. She slid me a glance out of the corner of her eye. “You’re following me.”

  “Merely seeing you home.”

  She bit her lower lip. “Maybe I don’t need an escort.”

  Maybe she didn’t want me to see her home. Was she ashamed? As if I cared where she lived. I only cared what was underneath that dress. Perhaps I wouldn’t take her just once. Perhaps I’d keep her for a while. Surely she could use the money and she did amuse me. I could set her up in the city before anyone noticed my interest.

  “I take it you’re not married?”

  “No,” she said as we found the trail and followed after the cow. “Remember? I was quite ruined.”

  “Right. Of course.” I didn’t believe her story in the least. No doubt she was ruined, but not for the reason she had proclaimed. A mere kiss. “And is anyone interested in you?”

  She laughed. “Not that I’m aware of. Why?”

  “Because.” I paused near the creek. The same creek that led to the spot where I had bathed and we had first met. “Perhaps I am interested.”

  She flushed, looking at the ground. Yes, she had the innocent act down quite well. I had enough money to keep her on for as long as I’d like. How long did I want her? Days? Weeks? Months?

  “Why?” She stopped and so I paused with her. “All we do is argue.”

  Why? Because I wanted to own her. Hell, I wanted to take her there under the old elm shading the trail. An animalistic desire that would not fade, that dominated my waking hours. “Not always.”

  She frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. I wanted to reach out and drag my fingers through her hair, to hold her captive and kiss her thoroughly. “You’re quite arrogant.”

  “Which you like.”

  She sighed. “I doubt you think of anyone other than yourself.”

  I wanted to savor her cries of pleasure when she came over and over, leaving her limp and depleted in my arms. “I’ve found it better to take care of myself than expect others to take care of me.”

  She tilted her head to the side, studying me. “Have you no friends? Family?”

  “Of course I do. A mother. Brothers.”

  “That’s a relief.” She started down the trail again. “I was beginning to think you had sprung from the sea…or perhaps the depths of…”

  “Don’t say it,” I warned.

  She gave me a saucy grin. Hell, if my blood didn’t heat. I wondered briefly if I would be here, teasing and strolling with this woman if I wasn’t positive she would lift her skirts at some point.

  “Some people actually enjoy my company.”

  She rolled her eyes, noting that I had used similar words to what she had said only days ago. “Shocking.”

  “You enjoy my company.” I stepped in front of her, causing her to draw up short. I could see the rapid beat of a pulse in the side of her neck. “Don’t you, Jules?”

  She stared at my throat. I was making her nervous. “Not particularly.”

  I reached out and cupped the side of her face. “Don’t lie.” I brushed her lower lip with my thumb. “You do enjoy spending time with me.”

  She trembled, her eyes growing dark, but still she did not look at me. “Perhaps.”

  “Good enough.” I lowered my head and breathed in her scent right before I pressed my lips to hers. I caught her gasp of surprise. Worried she’d escape, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her up close to my body, completely uncaring if we were caught. Her lush form fit perfectly into my hard planes. My cock flared, p
ressing eagerly to her lower belly.

  More. I needed more. I forced her back, shoving her up against the tree and partially shading us from view. Jules didn’t slap me. She didn’t try to push away. No. Instead, she groaned as her hands brushed up my biceps and around my shoulders. My tongue swept across her lower lip, demanding she open for me.

  When she parted her lips it was as if I tasted heaven. While my tongue dueled with hers, I drew my hands down her back and cupped her arse. No padding, only her lush bottom. My already pulsing cock grew uncomfortably hard. My trousers felt tight.

  Her mouth was warm silk. It was too damn much. Hell, I wanted to take her right there in the middle of the trail. And she would let me. I could tell by the way she arched her hips up against me, the way she clung to my body, that I could take her then and there and she wouldn’t stop me.

  Shite, I was losing control. Gripping her hips, I pushed her back. For a moment we merely stood there, foreheads touching, harsh breaths mingling.

  “We shouldn’t,” she said breathlessly. “Be doing this.”

  I found her hands and gripped them, our fingers twisting around each other, our palms connected. “We should be doing whatever the hell we want.”

  “Do you always just take, with no concern to others?”

  I thought about it for a moment. “Yes.”

  Before she could leave, I thrust up against her again, pinning her to that tree. “Do you feel me, Jules? Do you see how hard you make me?”

  She whimpered, shifting her hips, my cock nestled so intimately to her lower belly. “Don’t.”

  “I won’t wait forever,” I warned her.

  “I…I need to go,” she whispered.

  But I didn’t move back. “If you expect an apology, my pet, know that I never apologize for anything.”

  She narrowed her gaze, glaring at my neck. “Of course you don’t.”

  I released her hands, and slid my finger underneath her chin, tilting her head back, forcing her to meet my gaze. The awareness that pulsed between us could not be denied. I wanted to taste every inch of her body. I wanted to do things to her that would make a practiced whore blush.

  “I want you, Jules. It’s up to you whether you’d like to come to an agreement, or if you want this to be only once.”

  She hesitated, biting her lower lip.

  “Jules?” I demanded.

  She looked me boldly in the eyes. “I think I’d like to come to an agreement.”

  The relief I felt was immediate and disconcerting. She held too much bloody control over me and I didn’t care for it at all. I needed to have her completely, and get the woman out of my system, once and for all.

  I wanted her like I wanted no one else. And I was going to have her. The problem was I needed to take her quickly, before my fiancé arrived.

  ****

  Julianna

  “Jules, have you ever….”

  Penny didn’t finish her thought. I’d been laying on my back, staring at the canopy above my bed for hours while Penny told me story after story about London. Most of which I’d already heard multiple times. I’d managed to tune her out as I thought about James and his kiss. James and his proposal. But the hesitant tone in Penny’s voice gave me pause.

  Curious, I rolled onto my side to face her. Penny lay on her back, playing with the blue ribbons that tied together her night wrap. It wasn’t like her to hesitate. We told each other everything. Although I still hadn’t gotten up the courage to tell her about James. I tucked my clasped hands under the side of my face. How could I? How could I explain the unbearable ache that even now thrummed through my body?

  He hadn’t asked me to marry him exactly, but it was coming. First, of course, he’d have to meet father. But there was no reason for a long, drawn out courtship. I would prefer to marry before Penny, and do something the proper way. I knew she and my family would rather I married first as well. The elder sister was always first in line. But as much as I was attracted to him, I admit I had my reservations. He hadn’t apologized for implying I was a whore after kissing me in the orchard. Had dismissed our arguments as if they meant nothing.

  “What, Pen?” I asked when the silence continued to stretch.

  She slid me a glance. “Have you ever wanted to kiss a man?”

  I blushed over her blunt question. We’d never talked about such things, but I decided to be completely honest with her. We were old enough, after all. “Yes.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t mean Welch’s son.”

  “Me neither.” I grinned, finding her innocence amusing. “Welch’s son kissed me. I didn’t really have a say in the matter. But to answer your question….yes.”

  Oh how badly I’d wanted to kiss James again. Why? One would think that after the first kiss, desire would wane. Much like when eating sweets. You’d have a couple and be content. But I wasn’t content with James. No. I wanted more. And more.

  “Truly?” Penny asked, her curiosity caught.

  “Yes. Why do you ask?”

  She shrugged. “Samuel kissed me three months ago. Right before we left for London.”

  Startled, I sat upright. “Samuel? Our stable hand?”

  She flushed, nodding.

  “Oh Penny! Mother and Father will kill him!”

  “No!” She bolted upright. “You mustn’t tell! It was nothing. Nothing at all. It’s over. We’re friends now, and I would hate for you to ruin it.”

  I sighed, reluctantly agreeing. I had no wish to get Samuel fired as I liked him well enough, and he’d been with our family for five years now.

  “Tell me about your kiss,” Penny demanded. “Now that I’ve told you mine, you must!”

  I could hold back no longer. Giddy, I pressed my hands to my chest. “Oh Pen, I’ve met the most amazing man! He’s a farmer. A gentleman farmer,” I quickly added when she frowned. “He’s…amazing. He makes me angry, he makes me laugh, he makes me…”

  “Nervous?”

  I frowned. “Yes. But…in a good way. Do you understand?”

  She shook her head, her blonde curls swaying.

  I realized something was wrong. “What’s wrong?”

  “Lord Whitfield.”

  I brought my knees to my chest and tucked my feet under my wrap. The nights were still cold. “What about him?”

  She sighed, but there was no dreamy quality to that sigh. “He’s handsome. He’s wealthy and…he frightens me, Jules.”

  I reached out and took her hand. “Oh, Pen. It will be better once you get to know him.”

  Tears shimmered in her large blue eyes. “Will it?”

  My anger flared. This was the very reason the ton repulsed me. Matching people together when they didn’t know better. Forcing women to marry men they didn’t care for. But I knew Penny, and I knew my sister would go through with this ruse of a marriage for our parent’s sake. “Tell me about him. Surely there’s something you enjoy.”

  She took in a deep trembling breath. “He has three brothers.”

  “That’s…nice.” She was merely telling me facts, but it was a start. “Are any of them married?”

  She shook her head, frowning again. “No. They’re quite the rambunctious lot, or so I’ve heard. The second oldest is a known rake. The third a recluse, injured in the war, and the last, an odd doctor who shuns society.”

  Oh dear lord. I forced myself to smile. “Well then, it’s about time they had a female influence. And you, my dear, are perfect. You’ll bring a softness, a happiness to their home they’ve obviously been missing.”

  She seemed to perk up. “You think so?”

  I nodded. “And his mother?”

  She instantly sobered. “Rumor has it that he pushed her off into the dowager house and rarely visits.”

  I stiffened. That didn’t sound good at all. What sort of son ignored his mother? They said you could tell the way of a man’s heart by the way he treated his mother. I moved from the bed and scurried across the cold floor. My worry for Penny had inc
reased, and I didn’t want her to see the truth upon my face. “What else?”

  “Well, he’s very handsome and wealthy.”

  I took in a deep trembling breath as I knelt before the fireplace and stoked the flames. She’d already said as much…repeatedly. “Are you sure, Penny, that you wish to marry him? I don’t remember hearing anything good about the man when I was in London. I don’t remember hearing much at all.”

  “Yes. He’s a wonderful catch.”

  “Penny,” I whispered, standing to face her. “Don’t do this for Mother.”

  She was back to looking at her ribbons. “I’m not.”

  “Then why?” I moved across the room and crawled back into bed. “Do you truly wish to ruin your life merely to land a man with a title?”

  She didn’t respond, just continued to play with those ribbons. There was something she wasn’t telling me. I knew my sister well enough to know when something bothered her.

  “Penny, I know you. You’re not that shallow.”

  “I have to, Jules,” she cried out, frustrated. “I have to because…”

  She moved across the bed, her back to me. This wasn’t like my sister at all. Penny never lost her temper. She was always happy, always kind. “Why, Pen?”

  “Because my match will make the biddies forget.”

  I parted my lips to question her odd comment, but as understanding dawned, I went completely still. She wasn’t marrying him to appease Mother or Father. She was marrying him to clean up my mess. “So they’ll forget me?”

  She nodded.

  I crawled across the bed and settled next to her. “Oh Pen. Don’t you dare.” I rested my head on her shoulder. “Don’t you dare ruin your life for me!”

  “I’m not. Don’t you understand?” Frustrated, she jumped from the bed, and paced across the room. “If I don’t marry him, no one else will have me because of what you did! Mother said you…”

  She paused, her face flushed.

  Slowly, I settled my feet on the floor, heart pounding with anger. She wasn’t worried about me, but herself. “I what, Pen?”

  She moved to the windows, her back to me, but I could see her morose expression in the reflection of the panes. “You ruined the family name.”