An Invitation to Seduction Read Online Free PDF

him. She’d worked her entire life to be good, to be above reproach, to be the perfect lady, and here she was casting it all aside because of a man who drew her to him with little more than his existence.
    She returned his kiss, anxious to know the feel of his lips, the varying textures of his mouth, her tongue darting again and again, frightened by her boldness, disappointed in her cowardice.
    With his deep, feral groan, the nature of the kiss changed: It deepened, demanding that doubts be cast aside, and that desire triumph. She lost herself in the searing kiss that seemed to encompass more than simply her mouth. It was as though her entire body participated, savoring each thrust of his tongue, feeling a tension build that cried out for release.
    Her body felt as though it needed to be anchored to something, to him. Her hands were grappling, striving to find something substantial with which she could secure herself, while his hands stroked her back, her shoulders, her sides, her rounded backside.
    She broke free of the kiss, suddenly realizing that she was straddling him like a wanton woman, her nerve endings humming, her skin sensitive to each whisper of thewind. Her breaths coming in short panting gasps, she was intensely aware of the hardness of his body, of the press of his hips against the hollow of hers.
    “Oh, dear God,” she whispered. She scrambled off him, ashamed and mortified. How close she’d come to devouring him, how close she’d come to giving in to the carnal creature living inside her.
    She huddled away from him, her shoulders hunched, her chest aching, fighting for control. She heard his harsh breathing echoing around her. He laid a hand on her shoulder, and she jerked away. “Don’t. Please.”
    “There is something between us,” he said quietly, his voice a deep and resonating timbre that touched the chords deep within her heart.
    She shook her head forcefully. “There can be nothing between us.”
    “At least tell me your name.”
    Even as she rose to her feet to escape him, she heard her answer wafting on the breeze. “Kitty.”
    “Where can I find you?”
    “You can’t. I’m leaving for London today, for the Season.”
    “I’ll go to London then. I want to see you.”
    She looked back at him, to memorize quickly the sight of him on the rocks, to sever the bond between them that should have never existed. “You can’t see me. I’m soon to be married.”
    Then she scrambled over the rocks, tears blurring her vision. She did not want to be with this man who called out to the wildness in her. She wanted Nicky. Safe, dependable Nicky.
    Her haven from the storm of desire and lust. With him, she would be happy. With him, she could be the lady she’d worked so diligently to become.
     
    Richard swam until the sun had cleared the horizon, until he saw its blinding rays glinting off the water—long, strong, sure strokes that carried him out to sea and returned him to shore. Again and again until his limbs grew heavy, until he collapsed on the ribbon of sand where she’d stood.
    He was breathing as quickly and as heavily as he’d been while kissing her. Had he ever tasted anyone as sweet? He thought not. If he had, he had no memory of her or her taste.
    His lady of the sea had erased all others from his mind, until she alone remained, taunting him with what she’d given him, teasing him with what she’d withheld.
    With his cheek pressed against the sand, he reached out a tired arm and touched the edge of one of the footprints she’d left behind, evidence that she was indeed flesh and not mere fantasy.
    I’m soon to be married.
    The words seemed to be carried on the wind. He circled the outline of her footprint. He wanted her. He was not a man who denied himself the things he wanted.
    He would have her. One way or another. He would go to London. He would find her. And he would do whatever it took to possess her.

Chapter 3
    G azing through her bedroom window into the splendid garden