Free Seducing the Spy by Celeste Bradley Page B

eyes in false flirtation. "I declare, I am beginning to forget the sound of his voice!"
    Lord Wyndham growled. She blinked at the sound. "Was that you?"
    He took a step toward her. "You believe you have nothing to lose by taunting me thus?"
    She raised her chin. "I have nothing, therefore I can lose nothing."
    He came another step. She had never been so near him—at least not while upright. He truly was a very large man. An icy tingling began in her belly—or was it fiery? Either way, her mouth still went dry at the way his shoulders blocked the light.
    "There is always more to lose," he told her, his voice a husky rumble that worked its way beneath her very skin.
    That did it. Her knees went fully weak and she staggered back a step. Or rather, she meant to back away. Apparently, her body had something else in mind. She found herself fully pressed to his broad chest.
    Startled, she pulled away, but it was too late. His hands came to grip her shoulders and pull her closer.
    "Lady Alicia, you continue to surprise me."
    "And me," she gasped. She meant to back away, she truly did, but then she had that thought.
    It was the thought that had caused the entire mess that was her life. It was the thought that led her to eat too many green apples when she was twelve. It was the thought that led her into the arms of a liar.
    Always the same thought—and always followed by the most terrible consequences.
    What is the worst that could happen?
    Not a bad thought in itself. The fault always seemed to lie in her lack of imagination. The worst was always much, much worse than she'd envisioned.
    She quickly ran down the list of terrible things that could ensue from kissing Lord Wyndham.
    He might kiss her back. That would not be so bad.
    He might not. That would be a pity, yet survivable.
    Then again, considering the dark heat she sensed within him at this moment, his passionate response might land her in his bed… or rather, her bed, since they were in her house.
    Hmm. She had no reputation to shatter and no virtue to lose. What she did have was one very large, very comfortable bed and two very weak knees.
    Yes, all in all, she rather thought she might want to kiss Lord Wyndham.
    So she closed her eyes and lifted her face to his, lips slightly parted. And waited.
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    Stanton couldn't move. She was too close… too real.
    This was a mistake.
    Alicia continued to wait. Finally opening her eyes, she stepped back. Her eyes narrowed. "Never mind. I've reconsidered helping you. Piss off." She turned to stalk from the room.
    Stanton came out of his daze in an instant. His witness was walking off the case. He caught up with her in a few swift steps.
    "You cannot reconsider, Lady Alicia."
    She turned. "Oh? Can I not? Observe." She moved away from him.
    Stanton ignored a lifetime of social training and caught her by the arm, pulling her closer. "You belong to me now."
    Startled—and angry, he'd do well not to forget angry—green eyes fixed on his. "I beg your pardon?"
    "I paid for a mistress—put her in a house, bought her a new wardrobe, a new staff. I demand that certain services be rendered in return."
    She gazed at him for a long moment. "Very well. But only once."
    Then she went up on her toes and kissed
him
.
    It was a clumsy, untutored kiss—the kiss of a sheltered girl, fervent and hesitant at once. The innocence of her lips on his transported him directly back to his first achingly sweet kiss, to the boy with the shaking hands and the pounding heart, his first taste of female lips on his. Another time and place—indeed, another Stanton entirely.
    Except that boy of the past still lived within him. And what had happened next still loomed over his present. He couldn't allow himself to kiss her back… but neither did he stop her. He merely went very still, neither advancing nor pulling back.
    This gave Alicia a delicious sense of power. She allowed herself to selfishly explore his lips with hers, tantalizing herself with the