Page 17 of Once a Scoundrel

“Faith,” he murmured. “I’ve changed. Let me prove it to you.” He took her bottom lip between his and sucked until he pulled the faint ache from between her legs all the way up through her body. “Say you’ll give me a second chance.”

Her breath came fast and shallow as his hand at her waist began to slid slowly upward over her ribs, higher and higher...When he cupped her breast, holding her fullness against his palm, a hot yearning shot through her with a fierce intensity she’d never felt before. He murmured her name and strummed his thumb over her nipple, and the soft friction made her shiver. She whimpered as every inch of her tingled with a desperate longing to be touched even more intimately.

“I’ve made terrible mistakes, Faith, but I swear to you that I will do everything in my power to correct them.” As his hand continued to caress her breast and tease at her nipple through her dress, the other one traced delicate patterns at her nape, and he placed a soft kiss against her throat, so tenderly that it stole her breath away. “Forgive me, Faith.”

“I don’t—I can’t—” she panted out, not knowing what to say or think. Her mind whirled beneath the heat of his touch, which was somehow both wicked and wonderful. She felt as if she were spinning out of control, and the emotions he churned inside her turned unbearable—

“No!” She shoved away from him, her eyes blurring with anger and tears.

Desperate to get away, she scrambled to her feet and snatched up her bonnet, then hurried down the lane as fast as she could without breaking into a run. Her chest heaved in painful gasps as she struggled to catch back the breath he’d stolen.

She blinked rapidly. The devil take the man! What right did he have to come sweeping back into her life like this, to think he could pick up where he left off—kissing her, no less! As if he had the right to take kisses from her whenever he liked, then flatter her into doing his bidding.

Oh, he hadn’t changed at all! He was still the same scoundrel he’d always been.

He fell easily into step beside her, his horse clip-clopping along behind and the wolfhound following at her heels. Her stomach plummeted. Oh perfect! She’d created a parade, when all she wanted was to be left alone.

“You have no right to kiss me,” she scolded, her eyes fixed straight ahead. He didn’t deserve her attention, not even a glance! Besides, if she did look at him, she’d see those smooth cheekbones of his, that curly dark hair that was perfect for running fingers through, those sensuous lips—Drat him!Why on earth did he have to be so blasted attractive? And why, ohwhy, did he have to be a rake who knew how to kiss so well? “Certainlynotto touch me like that.”

“None at all,” he agreed ruefully. “My apologies.”

That earned him an annoyed dart of her eyes. “Or to ask my forgiveness when you don’t deserve it.”

“I truly don’t.”

Another irritated flick of her gaze in his direction. “And do not assume that just because you came riding in like Horatio Nelson on horseback—”

“AdmiralNelson?”

“Yes—No!” Why did she lose the ability to think when she was around him? Oh bother! “You know what I mean. Just because you chased that man away doesn’t give you any claim to me.”

“None whatsoever,” he said in the same chagrinned tone as before, but Faith could have sworn she heard a deeper edge to his voice.

“Because you don’t.” The words tumbled from her as rapidly as her steps. “I believed you once before, you know. All those things you said, all the compliments you paid me…I believed that you cared about me, only to be hurt.Deeplyhurt, Stephen.”

“That was my mistake,” he said softly.

Thatcaught her off-guard, and she stumbled across a bump in the lane. He caught her arm to steady her but didn’t release her once she’d moved on.

Her heart somersaulted with a moment’s hope— Then the silly thing crashed down into the pit of her stomach because she knew he hadn’t changed at all. Feeling like a fool all over again, she yanked her arm away.

“You have no right to kiss me like that,” she admonished, “just because you wanted to.”

“I did want to,” he murmured, this time not at all remorseful. “I truly did.”

She ignored the knotting inside her belly. “We are only friends.”

“Friends who kissed,” he clarified. “With great passion.”

“There wasn’t any great passion,” she grated out the lie between clenched teeth, knowing exactly how passionate his kisses were but refusing to give him the satisfaction of admittingthat.

“There wasn’t? Then maybe we should try it again.”

The man was impossible! Her frustration with him—with herself—withallof it!—boiled to the surface. “We arefriends, nothing more,” she asserted, knowing she had to acknowledge the truth behind that statement, no matter how painful. “That’s all we will ever be.”

He murmured, “I wouldn’t sayever...”

Her breath hitched at the soft promise behind his words, but she knew he wasn’t sincere. Painful experience had taught her well what to expect from him. She’d hardened her heart enough to keep him from ever breaking it again, although each heated glance, each breathtaking kiss, and each caressing touch sliced deeper than she wanted to admit.