Free Three Schemes and a Scandal by Maya Rodale Page A

reminding her how long she’d been absent from the ballroom. She thought nothing of the ball, or the Eversham Motif or the hard wall against her back. But she did think of his hot, possessive kiss and the unmistakable evidence of his desire for her.
    She wrapped her arms around him and arched her back, needing to feel more of him against all of her.
    His mouth claimed hers for a kiss that was as tentative as it was demanding. He licked the seam of her lips. She shied away from nothing. This was trouble in its most exquisite form: something wicked that made her heart beat, something new, something Young Ladies Did Not Do, something that made her, oh yes, oh God, completely forget everything.
    He tasted like champagne, like a dare, like the best sort of trouble. She nibbled on his lower lip the way he’d just done to her. His hands, oh God, his hands explored her and dared her to say no to curving around her waist, dared her to say no to caressing her breasts, dared her to forbid him not to tug down her bodice.
    It should go without saying that she never said no to a dare.
    Thus when he shoved her bodice out of the way, freeing her breasts, she sighed and surrendered.
    And then she raised the stakes and tugged off the finely crafted Melbourne Knot his valet must have spent … who cares how long it took to do! She was kissing James, oh wait, no … James was … his mouth … her breasts …
    She was sure Young Ladies Never Did This . But she did. And she liked it. Oh, dear God, she loved it.
    James did things with his tongue, with his mouth, with his hands that made her mind cease to function, her breaths to become gasps and her only thought to be James. Love. More.
    She might have said more .
    “You want more?” he said, low.
    And then James claimed her mouth once again for another one of those devastating kisses in which time ceased to register. And then James began to tug up her skirts. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close and savoring the mad feeling of his hard, muscled body pressed against hers.
    She caressed the planes of his chest and wished to feel his bare skin beneath her palms.
    His fingers skimmed along the insanely sensitive skin inside her legs … Very young, well, Young Ladies Absolutely Never Did This, which meant she was about to allow him such liberties because if young ladies never, then it was probably wicked good fun …
    … Oh, God, it was. His fingers found her most intimate place and she thought she’d die from the newness, strangeness and pleasure of it. But he wasn’t a renowned rake for nothing, so she surrendered to his touch—light at first, in slow lazy circles as if they had all week in this alcove and not a chance in the world of being interrupted. The heat started, a spark here, then a smolder. The heat and the pressure began to spread until she too was gasping his name and that of the Lord …
    … Until she nearly shattered, nearly cried out his name as the most outrageously pleasurable sensations exploded over her again and again. He caught her cries with his kiss.
    She slowly came back to earth, to this alcove, and became aware that he held her close. He was hard … and she still wanted him. Wanted more.
    F inally, it dawned upon them that The Loudly Amorous Couple were gone. Their cries had died down and the room was silent. James peeked out of the curtain, and she saw from the relaxation of his shoulders that the coast was clear.
    “Wait here, I’ll make sure no one is about,” he said, stepping through the curtains and leaving her alone, breathless. She peeked through the curtains, gazing at the man who had just given her the greatest pleasure she had ever known.
    Her cheeks still felt warm and pink.
    Quickly she pulled the curtains shut tight with a gasp.
    “Oh, hello there, Dudley,” James said. Charlotte shrank back from the curtains. A burst of chattering people entered the room with the despicable Lord Dudley.
    “We have come to see the Eversham