Page 58 of The Boxing Baroness

“I find your—”

“Please, Uncle. Go,” Marianne said, cutting off his bluster.

Barnabas made a strangled sound of displeasure, pushed past her, and stomped out of the room, leaving the door open, as was his wont.

Marianne shut the door and locked it so they’d not be interrupted, and then turned to the duke.

He winced when he saw the swelling on her jaw. “Good Lord.” He reached for her, but she slapped away his hand.

“Don’t,” she snapped.

He sighed, crossed his arms, and leaned back against the wall in the pose of a man who was about to tolerate an outburst from an overwrought woman.

It was a good look to receive just then—because she had, foolishly, softened toward him over the course of the evening. Other than Jack, the duke was the only man who’d ever tried to protect her from pain or seemed to care that fighting for a living was a hard, dangerous job. Marianne had discovered that she liked his solicitous attitude far too much.

Both his protective instinct toward her—and her appreciation of it—had to stop.

“You need to accept that this is what I do, Your Grace.”

He lifted a brow.

“If you cannot do what you are here to do—keep me in a fight for seven rounds and preferably help me win—then I need to find some other occupation for you on this journey.”

He merely stared.

Suddenly, his remoteness—his untouchability—combined with his chaotic effect on her body and mind, were unbearable. She stepped toe-to-toe and poked him in his surprisingly hard chest with one finger. “I know you consider my life brutish and low but—”

Rather than look at her offensive finger, his gaze dropped to her mouth, and then his jaw tightened. She knew what the look meant because she was feeling the exact same way: clenched.

And then his head dipped down an almost imperceptible amount.

Without hesitation Marianne pushed up on her toes, bringing her face closer to his.

This is a mistake, a voice whispered in her head. But like a piece of flotsam tossed and battered by waves, the voice was speedily borne away.

Marianne didn’t need the voice; she already knew it was a mistake.

But she no longer cared. Instead, she pushed up that last fraction of an inch.

And he covered her mouth with his.

Chapter 14

It turned out that the duke’s firm, severe mouth was not hard, at all.

In fact, it was soft as he crushed her lips. His hand, strong and familiar, slid around her waist and fingers splayed against the base of her spine as he pulled her body close.

His other hand cupped the back of her head, and his tongue, slick and warm, stroked over her lower lip. He kissed just the way she’d known he would: with utter command.

Marianne did what she’d been wanting to do for weeks and slid her hands over the warm buckskin that sheathed his hips. A moan slipped from her mouth to his as she dug her fingers into the tight weave of muscle. He felt even better than she’d imagined—and as good as he looked. Marianne pulled his hips tight to her body and massaged his buttocks, grinding her pelvis against the hard ridge of him.

He grabbed her waist with both hands, lifted and turned her with startling ease, not stopping until she was pinned against the unyielding wall where he’d just been leaning. His mouth roamed from her lips to her cheek, to beneath her ear, the bridge of his elegant, aristocratic nose nudging the sensitive skin of her neck as he inhaled deeply, his chest expanding against her as he filled his lungs.

“You smell so good.” His deep voice vibrated from his chest to hers, his words drenched with desire. His lips, eager and hot, parted over her throat and his slick tongue caressed her skin. “You taste even better,” he muttered almost angrily, trailing kisses until he reached the hollow of her throat.

Marianne caught her lower lip with her teeth to keep from making a mortifying noise as he took a mouthful of delicate skin and sucked hard, the pain oddly pleasurable. Some distant part of her brain pointed out that he would likely leave a mark, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

His knee pushed between her thighs, and she eagerly spread her legs for him.