“Vixen,” he murmured, again trying to push her away. But his attempt was halfhearted, his lips gentle as they moved over hers. Never once did he press on her bruise, never once did he hurt her.
It was delicious, this kiss. It poured through her like warm chocolate, stole her thoughts like a too-hot bath. She marveled at the soft texture of his tongue sliding against hers, the place where his hands gripped her shoulders.
She could lose herself in him.
Fool of a girl. She forced herself to focus. The footman would return any moment. Her right hand trailed across Radford’s shoulder to his chest—she would not think about all that muscle—and set in place under his chin. His hands slid down her sides to her hips.
Heavens. Tremors coursed through her and not just from nerves. She forced in a breath, started to draw back, tension in her every muscle. On her next exhale, now—
He dodged. Tipped his head to the side. Her hand smashed against the wall. Pain shot through her palm, up her arm.
“Bloody hell.” He twisted away and wrenched her arm behind her back.
Icy fear froze her heart and breath rushed out of her. She couldn’t seem to inhale again. She told herself she was breathing, told herself air was coming into her lungs, but still she felt like she was drowning.
“You tried to punch me,” he growled, his voice at her ear.
Mazie’s knees wobbled and threatened to give way beneath her. Her arm throbbed both from where she had hit the wall and where he held it twisted behind her back. He would strike her now, as Harrington had.
She steeled herself for the blow.
But he did not abuse her. He let her go with a little push that sent her stumbling into the center of the room. She pulled her bodice together and whipped around to face him.
Lord Radford pinned her with his stormy grey eyes, his face held tight by fury. The man had a look, intimidating to be sure, as if he was seeing through her, through to the days she wound her hair in braids and held her mother’s hand. She forced herself not to react. He wasn’t all-seeing, or he would know who she was.
Her breath came in large gulps of air, and she rubbed her sore arm. Pushed away her worry with a determination honed from experience. He did not remember their introduction many years ago. There was that to be thankful for.
“This is a dangerous game you play, Miss Mazie. It would be best not to underestimate me.” His hands were heavy at his sides. She would not look at them.
“Yes. I will remember that next time.”
A flash of rage. She was pushing too far.
“Tell me where the highwayman is,” he demanded. “When were you to meet him again?”
Her chin raised, she walked to the window and gave him her back. She would give him nothing more. Not ever.
A gust of wind pelted rain against the window, obscuring the view over the drive.
“Very well, Miss Mazie. We do this the hard way.”
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“Naughty in Nottinghamshire” Series
The Runaway Countess
The Misbehaving Marquess
The Rogue Returns (coming August 2012)
The Governess Affair
The start of the Brothers Sinister series
She will not give up.
Three months ago, governess Serena Barton was let go from her position. Unable to find new work, she’s demanding compensation from the man who got her sacked: a petty, selfish, swinish duke. But it’s not the duke she fears. It’s his merciless man of business—the man known as the Wolf of Clermont. The formidable former pugilist has a black reputation for handling all the duke’s dirty business, and when the duke turns her case over to him, she doesn’t stand a chance. But she can’t stop trying—not with her entire future at stake.
He cannot give in.
Hugo Marshall is a man of ruthless ambition—a characteristic that has served him well, elevating the coal miner’s son to the right hand man of a duke. When his employer orders him to get rid of the pestering governess by fair means or foul, it’s just another day at the office. Unfortunately, fair means don’t work on Serena, and as he comes to know her, he discovers that he can’t bear to use foul ones. But everything he has worked for depends upon seeing her gone. He’ll have to choose between the life that he needs, and the woman he is coming to love…
From Chapter One:
HUGO LOOKED UPWARD. “Drat.”
“Drat?” She hid a smile. “Surely a man as awful as you could conjure up a ‘damn’ in mixed company.”
“I don’t swear,” he explained. “Not in any company.”
“I see. You are bad.”
He glanced at the sky in exasperation. “I am aware that this fact in isolation hardly proves my point. Which is this: If you wish to speak to me in confidence, if you wish to tell your tale without fear of judgment, I’m your man. Nobody would dare to gossip with me.”
She stared at him. “You’re very convincing,” she said, in a tone that implied she believed anything but. “But you are…what, an accountant? Someone who keeps the household books?”