Dancing with the Duke Read Online Free PDF

returned to the ballroom. Slowly, his steps
measured, he approached Charlotte.
    “We need to talk,” he said through clenched
teeth.
    She stood her ground. “You may proceed.”
    Alex shook his head. He reached for her hand,
and ignoring the spark of awareness that flashed through him at the
contact, drew her down the steps and into the garden. He didn’t
stop until they were behind a shrub, out of sight from anyone who
might walk out onto the balcony. He released her hand and turned to
face her.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.
Somehow, he managed to keep from shouting.
    “I think I am being dragged away from the
ball by a madman.”
    “Don’t try to be amusing now. This is
serious. What if Haversham had decided to take liberties? Your
reputation might have been compromised and you’d be forced to marry
him. Or is that what you’d hoped for?”
    She tilted her head in that infuriating
manner that told him she was wondering at his behavior.
    “We were only a few feet from the garden
door. The open door. No one would have believed anything untoward
was happening.”
    Her calm response came close to making him
lose the fragile control he held over his temper. Why could she not
concede that it simply wasn’t wise for a young woman to allow a man
to take her away from a ball?
    “You could have no way of knowing what he
intended when you left with him. It would have been very easy for
him to take you somewhere more secluded.”
    “Like you did?” she asked, her amusement
clear.
    Her voice was low, and Alex became acutely
aware of the fact that they were now, the two of them, very much
alone. Music drifted through the open balcony door, but the ball
and all the people inside Lady Weston’s house could have been a
thousand miles away.
    Weariness crossed her face, and Alex felt an
odd pang somewhere around the vicinity of his heart.
    “This situation cannot continue. I fear you
were merely being polite yesterday when you said my presence in
your house wasn’t unwelcome. I cannot help but think you want me
gone.”
    *
    Charlotte stood closer to him than she’d
realized. From this distance, she could see that his blue eyes had
flecks of silver in them. She was unable to tear her gaze away from
his as she waited for his confirmation of her worst fears.
    “No,” he said when he finally spoke. “I do
not wish you gone.”
    Being this close to Alex, she was finding it
hard to breath. “What do you want?” she whispered.
    His answer this time was immediate,
surprising her. He raised a hand to her cheek, and his thumb
brushed along the spray of freckles she hadn’t powdered.
    “You. I want you.”
    Without conscious thought, she swayed even
closer to him. He wrapped his fingers around her upper arms and
dragged her against him. Sensations she had never felt before swept
over her, culminating in intense pleasure when he brought his mouth
down over hers.
    The contact was soft at first as he brushed
his lips against hers. She sighed and reached up to twine her hands
around his neck. Her movement seemed to encourage him, for the
pressure increased. He brushed his tongue against her lips and she
opened them in surprise. The first movement of his tongue into her
mouth surprised her, but that surprise was soon replaced by
pleasure. With caution she touched her own tongue to his and he
groaned. His hands moved to her back, then down to her hips, and he
pressed her fully against him as he deepened their kiss. She may
have been inexperienced, but having been raised in the country, she
knew exactly what she was feeling pressed against her, just above
her womb.
    She couldn’t believe this was happening. Alex
was actually kissing her.
    All too soon, though, he pulled away and
looked down at her. His eyes had darkened, and the heated
expression in them sent another shiver of excitement through
her.
    “We need to stop,” he said, his breathing as
ragged as her own. But he didn’t release her.
    She shook her