Page 35 of The Rogue’s Offer

In a tentative, light caress, she brushed her lips over his. Although he didn’t move, the heat of his mouth sent a fiery pulse sliding through her as if she’d been shocked. With increasing persistence, she pressed her lips against his before her tongue slid along the seam of his mouth.

Whiskey teased the tip of her tongue as a drop of coffee might. The tantalizing taste made her heart jump in her breast as she gently sought to part his mouth beneath hers. Another sound rumbled out of him, and a small wave of triumph swept through her at his reaction. In the next instant, his lips parted, and her tongue slipped into his mouth to savor the fire of the whiskey and its caramelized coffee taste.

A part of her half expected him to take control of the kiss, but he held himself rigid against her while yielding slightly to her caress. She swirled her tongue around his in a warm dance that teased her senses. Although he still held back, the tension holding him rigid eased a small fraction. A liquid fire streaked through her until her heart pounded frantically in her chest. From somewhere deep inside her, a wild need spread its way through every muscle in her body.

The need became a powerful longing. Without thought, she shifted her body until she was in his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. A low growl rumbled in his chest as his fingers wrapped around the nape of her neck, and he took control of the heated caress. A white-hot heat singed every inch of her until the urge to have nothing between them made her tug at his necktie. She was already beginning to unbutton his shirt when he shuddered against her.

In a flash of movement, Mathias wrapped his fingers around her wrists and pressed her hands into his chest. He jerked his head away from her to press it into the leather squabs behind him. Eyes closed, his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. A second later, his gaze met hers, and the fire blazing in his green eyes made her breathing hitch slightly.

“Are you trying to seduce me, Ophelia?”

His voice sounded as though he was being strangled, and she tipped her head to one side as she studied him for a moment. The dark emotion on his face made her realize the power had shifted between them somehow. She wasn’t sure how or why, but it had.

A sense of triumph, anticipation, and excitement skimmed through her body. Mathias wanted her. She was certain of it. She’d succeeded in arousing a man’s desire. The knowledge caused her mouth to go dry. Ophelia dampened her lips with the tip of her tongue as she nodded.

“Yes, and I believe I succeeded.”

The moment her quiet reply echoed between them, an odd expression swept across his face. In an abrupt, rough movement, Mathias lifted her off his lap and set her down on the seat opposite him. She murmured a soft protest and bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at him in surprise.

Startled and confused by his reaction, she frowned in puzzlement. What on earth was wrong the man? He’d been nothing but a curmudgeon all evening. She had yet to understand why, and now he was angry at her attempt to incite his desire. No, her success at arousing him.

Despite her bewilderment, the knowledge sent another rush of triumph through her. She’d actually succeeded in exciting Mathias Gilchrist. A man who she was certain was always in control of his emotions when it came to any liaisons he entered into. As she studied him in silence, he grimaced then looked away from her.

“I must be insane,” he muttered. The terse comment made Ophelia stiffen as her confidence in her success wavered.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m saying, I’m a madman for allowing things to go this far.” Mathias pinched the bridge of his nose.

“This far?” The relief that she’d not misjudged her success in arousing him was a short-lived emotion. Exasperated by his reaction when she knew he wanted her, she narrowed her gaze at him. “One would think you coerced me into doing something I had no inclination to do.”

“Can you deny that if it weren’t for our arrangement, you would never have kissed me the way you just did?”

“No. I cannot. But then I never had to agree to our arrangement in the first place.”

“As I recall, I was quite persuasive in my efforts to secure your agreement to do so.”

Anger surged through her at his conceit. The man actually thought she was incapable of resisting him.

“You, Mr. Gilchrist, are an arrogant bastard.” Her sharp words made him jerk in surprise. “I am not some weak-minded female unable to resist you or understanding the proposition you made. One I originally proposed, and as I just said, I agreed to.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he growled, and she wasn’t sure whether his anger was directed at himself or her. He looked away from her once more. “I’m saying I provoked you into accepting my offer. Your original proposition was made under duress to regain your home. My proposition was an entirely different one, and it’s an agreement I am revoking as of this moment.”

“An excellent decision,” she snapped.

Mathias’s gaze swung back to her as he rapped viciously on the small wooden window just above his head. The small hinged door swung open almost immediately.

“Thomas, drop me off at the house my brother uses on occasion then take Lady Havenstock home.”

“Yes sir,” the driver replied before closing the small conversation window.

A stoic expression hardening his handsome features, Mathias sat rigidly across from her. Frustrated by his behavior, Ophelia glared at him, but he simply stared back at her with an unreadable expression. Even his gaze was unreadable. She exhaled a breath of irritation before looking out the window. The soft gas light of the pole lamps lining the street allowed her to recognize Battersea Park before they turned off onto a side street. Moments later the carriage rolled to a stop, and Mathias hastily exited the vehicle. About to close the door, he paused to look at her, his expression still unreadable, but she saw a tic flex the muscle in his cheek.

“Goodbye Ophelia. Chelmsford is a good man. He’ll treat you well.”

With those parting words, Mathias closed the carriage door. Stunned by his assumption she intended to become intimately involved with the earl, she watched him stride up the steps of a small townhouse. With the same vicious knock he’d used on the carriage’s small driver conversation window moments ago, she saw him pound on the front door of the house. A moment later it opened and light spilled out onto the steps.

It illuminated his tall figure, and his profile was no longer unreadable. What she thought had been anger was more like an expression of self-disgust. She barely had time to register the fact before Mathias disappeared through the door and the carriage rolled away. Ophelia sank back into the leather cushions of her seat trying to comprehend what had just transpired between the two of them.

Was it possible Mathias had rejected her silent offer to enter into a liaison with him out of a sense of misguided guilt? He wanted her. She knew that. But their original agreement had been for her to become his pupil, nothing more. Mathias might think he’d coaxed her into being his student, but she knew better.

The man would never have been able convince her to accept his proposition if she’d not wanted to do so. From the moment of George’s death, Ophelia had been determined to make her own choices and choose her own path going forward. Mathias had been right. What she’d lacked had been the confidence to believe her husband was wrong about her.

George’s constant criticism and physical abuse had drained her of anything but the belief she was exactly what her husband had said she was—a woman unable to arouse a man’s desire or be excited by a man’s touch. George might have stolen her confidence day by day throughout their marriage, but his death had freed her of his domination.

His demise had also given her the right to never give a man power over her again. But the most important thing she’d just realized was that George had been wrong. Very wrong. She was capable of passion and desire. It was a sensation that made her realize how much she wanted Mathias to touch her in the most intimate way possible.

Leaning forward, Ophelia rapped on the wood conversation panel. It was opened immediately, and she ordered the driver to take her back to where Mathias was. As the small window closed, she smiled. Mathias Gilchrist might think he’d coerced her into their agreement for him to transform her, but going to him now was solely her decision.

It was a choice she made not because of a need to test any of the skills Mathias had taught her when it came to intriguing men. The decision to go to him was simply because she wanted to feel the passion Mathias had said was inside her. A passion she wanted to experience in his arms. The knowledge that she was capable of something her husband said she wasn’t made her even more determined to make Mathias listen to her. She would make him understand her decision to enter his bed was of her own volition, and the thought of what she would experience tonight sent a multitude of emotions flooding through her body. Sensations she knew would explode inside her with pleasure the moment Mathias touched her.