One arm snaked around her and brought her up close to his chest. This wasn’t the first time she’d beenthisclose to him. But it was the first time shefeltclose to him. The man’s presence, usually calm and flirtatious, turned to an air of subtle command and enveloped her with a confidence many men seemed to lack.
So this was the true power of Dare’s charm. Unleashed, it was quite terrifying.
His tongue retreated to trace the seam of her lower lip before he nipped it with his teeth.
He’d been right. Her mood had turned for the better. Well, perhaps hotter. Her whole body seemed flushed with heat.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Why?” she breathed. “Is it over?”
“It doesn’t have to be if you don’t want it to be, but we are still in your drawing room.”
She raised her eyes to meet the hawkish gaze focused solely on her. The powerful, commanding presence had vanished again, and his place the flirtatious rake reigned supreme once more.
“Do you feel better?” he asked hoarsely.
“I cannot say.” She aimed to tease, since any other answer might come out wholly inappropriate. Likekiss me again. A rake kissed a lady. This was certainly one of her top moments.
“But you’re not sad anymore.”
“I was never sad,” Leonora murmured. “Just caught up in my own thoughts for a while.”
“Moody, then.”
“Call it what you will, I certainly don’t feel the same as I did when I walked in on you standing all roguish in my drawingroom.” She eyed him askance. “Speaking of which, aren’t you afraid Heart will have a fit of rage when he sees you?”
“He is at the House of Lords.”
“Shouldn’t you be as well?”
“Are you chasing me away?”
“Never.” Merely still wondering what on earth had just happened and how she would ever recover from that kiss. And whether she even wanted to recover...
She wiggled her toes and pumped her fingers. She wanted to experience that feeling again. Because she’d felt more than just the kiss and her body’s reaction to the man. She’d feltprecious.
Worthy.
But that wasn’t entirely the truth, was it? She enjoyed Dare because he was confident in who he was as a man. He didn’t shy away from the truth of his reputation. Dare was a rake. He had built an infamous reputation on his charm.
She fell back onto the sofa.
And Leonora knew better than to fall for the charms of a rake.
*
Dare rose tohis feet and held out his hand. “Let’s go.” He couldn’t stay here any longer or he might kiss her again. And he really wanted to kiss her again. The curve of those soft lips—
“Let’s go where?”
He forced his mind out of his trousers. “Anywhere other than this dreary drawing room.”
“You don’t like my drawing room?” She accepted his hand and rose.
“I don’t care for drawing rooms in general.” He also didn’t kiss innocent ladies in said drawing rooms in general, which was probably why he felt so restless all of a sudden. He needed tomove, but he also wanted to stay with Leonora a bit more. Which meant they needed to move together. “You know, you’re the first woman I’ve ever called upon.”
“I feel flattered.”