Free How I Married a Marquess by Anna Harrington Page A

playing the pianoforte…I like to buy lace and try on gloves and bonnets.” She swallowed nervously as his fingers played at the buttons of her collar, as if he were contemplating undressing her right there in the stable. “I—I like dances…”
    “You already said that,” he breathed hotly against her ear, making her shudder.
    “Well, you are making it difficult to think straight!” She groaned in frustration and somehow found the will to slap her hand against his shoulder to capture his attention and make him stop kissing her ear like that. He was so scandalously delicious, too dangerously close.
    He shifted back far enough to look down at her, and the burning heat in his eyes stole her breath away. “Good,” he purred.
    Velvet. Dear God, his voice was velvet …
    Her stomach knotted. Could he feel the hammering of her heart, the humming of her blood through her veins? All of her shook now, worked up to the point of bursting from a combination of nervousness at not knowing what to do and fear that he would uncover her secrets just as he claimed he would. And from a craving she didn’t know how to satisfy, one that left her aching and frustrated because she was certain that he did.
    Oh, how dangerous he was for her! Did he have any idea what wanton sensations he swirled through her with just a kiss and a caress of his hands? Or, God help her, how much she enjoyed it?
    She looked into his eyes, and the heated desire she saw there…Oh, he certainly knew, all right.
    “You are a mystery to me, Josephine.” He slowly unfastened the top two buttons of her jacket. “You’re beautiful, with a sharp mind that keeps me wondering what you’ll do or say next.” Another button slipped free. “Although if that’s all it was, I’d be able to stay away. But you’re so much more than just that.”
    His fingers gently pulled open her collar, and her breath hitched in her throat. No man before had ever come this close to discovering—
    His fingertips fluttered over her throat, and a soft gasp tore from her. She closed her eyes against the temptation of him. Futile resistance, because instead of shoving him away her traitorous body leaned toward his heat. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, and her heart, certain to be broken, pounded a fierce tattoo.
    “Which means you’ve compelled me to discover why you of all women, Josephine, are the one to invade my thoughts and capture my attention so completely. So I’m going to peel back the layers of you, one at a time.” He lowered his head to place his lips against the bare flesh of her exposed neck. Goose bumps raced down her arms, and she shivered. “Until I figure out exactly what spell you’ve cast over me.”
    She stifled a whimper with a bite to her bottom lip. “Lord Chesney, please! You—”
    “Thomas,” he insisted as he brushed his lips tantalizingly against her throat. “My name is Thomas. Say it.”
    She sucked in a ragged breath, somehow praying she could find the strength to make him stop before he did exactly as he’d warned and discovered who she truly was. “You have to leave.”
    “Say my name, Josephine.” He lifted his head to stare into her eyes, and she immediately missed the heat of his very capable mouth on her body. And wantonly wanted it on her again.
    In helpless capitulation she breathed, “Thomas.”
    “Thank you.”
    In reward his mouth lowered to touch hers, the tip of his tongue slowly tracing along her bottom lip, as if savoring her. Then he pulled away and gazed at her in wonder, as if he couldn’t quite believe…
    “My God,” he murmured. “You taste like peaches.”
    She blinked, lost in the fog of arousal. “I… what ?”
    A barrage of gunfire erupted from the gardens. Flinching violently, he shoved her away, and his hand flew to his side.
    She staggered backward from the unexpected force of the shove and stared at him. What on earth… ? Stunned, she pressed the back of her hand against her lips and caught the