Free A Common Scandal by Amanda Weaver

swelling over the edge of her bodice, making him imagine tugging it down, setting them free. He could shift the fabric off her shoulder and it would give way and give him access... He didn’t decide to slide his hand up and touch her, but there he was, his large palm over her breast, his thumb dragging across where he could imagine her nipple would be, pebbled and hard beneath the bones of her corset. Her fingers clutched into his hair again, the luxurious pleasure-pain of it sending a jolt of heat straight to his groin.
    From inside the ballroom, mere steps away, came a tinkle of a broken glass and startled laughter.
    Nate pulled his mouth from hers with a gasp.
    For a long, heavy moment, they simply stared at each other, absorbing what had transpired. Her sparkling dark eyes were huge. Her lovely rosebud mouth was open slightly, lips pink, swollen and glistening. He squeezed his eyes shut. Slowly—achingly slowly—his body cooled and his brain began to turn again. He was still painfully hard. With a start, he realized where his hand was, still cupping her breast. Dropping it away as if he’d been burned, he took an unsteady step back and cleared his throat. Amelia’s eyelids fluttered down and she moved back, too. Her fingers came up to touch her mouth, but she quickly reached back to smooth her hair instead.
    Nate brushed his own hair off his face, flattening it where her fingers had plundered... Good God. He’d kissed her. Kissed Amelia. And not some shy brush of the lips to test the waters. That had been a full-fledged assault. He’d touched her. If the noise from inside hadn’t startled them, he might have gone much further. No, he knew he would have. Even now he was cursing the interruption that had kept him from pulling down the bodice of her dress the way he’d wanted to.
    He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. What had he done? He’d compromised her. Men had ended up at the altar for trespassing less. When he opened his eyes, Amelia was turned to the side, head bowed, eyes on the wrist of her glove as she struggled to refasten a tiny pearl button that had come loose.
    “Amelia...” What could he say or do to make this right? Would she weep? Would she run to her father and reveal what he’d done? After all his careful planning, his entire future might be decided by one rash moment when lust had overruled common sense.
    “Hmm?”
    “I’m very sorry. I don’t know what came over me. My behavior was inexcusable.”
    Amelia turned back to him, rolling her eyes. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Natty. Don’t be so dramatic.”
    “But what I did—”
    “I did it, too.”
    “What?”
    “I kissed you back. Or did you miss that part?”
    “Regardless, I should say something—”
    He took a step toward her but she held up her hand to stop him. “Oh, no you won’t. We’re going to forget all about it.”
    Her words should have relaxed the unbearable tension in his shoulders, but oddly, it didn’t. “Forget it? But Amelia, your reputation—”
    “It’s perfectly intact. Well, it’s as good as it ever was, which wasn’t all that good. Still, no damage done. Be sensible, Natty. No one saw us. The only two people who know about it are you and me, and I’m not going to tell.” She arched an eyebrow at him.
    “No. No, of course not. I’ll be perfectly discreet.”
    “See? Nothing to worry about.” She cast a glance at the doors leading back to the ballroom. “Papa’s sure to have missed me by now and he’ll have my hide if I snub Mr. Cheadle. I have get back to work on Radwill.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    She looked back at him. “My marriage. I’ve got to marry a title, so I’d better get to it, hadn’t I?”
    Sweeping up her train in one hand, she turned and disappeared back into the crush of guests inside. Everything she’d said made perfect sense. She was following the most logical course of action for both of them. But Nate watched her go feeling absolutely