Page 24 of Winter's Woman
Without him.
“Yes,” she suggested brightly. “I do want to learn.”
Something flashed in his eyes. Changed his expression. “I haven’t the patience to play your teacher today.”
An unfamiliar urge rose within her, a tightening in her belly, a heat flaring where it should not. The longing was fierce and insistent, foolish and wild, brazen and reckless. But it would not be quelled, no matter how hard she attempted to ignore it.
Mayhap it was that he was so handsome, so tall and strong and different from the gentlemen she knew. Or that he was there, within her reach. She felt connected to him in a way she could not explain. She felt safe with him, it was true. But she also felt…curious. Was itRomeo and Julietthat had her heart leaping and the rest of her feeling fluttery? Or was it Mr. Devil Winter?
Evie met his gaze, holding it. “What if I do not wish to learn how to whittle today? What if there is another sort of lesson I want instead?”
He stilled. The air hung heavy, rife with a poignant note. “What other lesson, milady?”
There was a dangerous note in his voice. His jaw tensed. The blue of his eyes deepened. His stare dipped to her mouth. The hunger between them was palpable, stealing her breath.
What was she saying? What was she doing?
She needed to cease this madness at once. She was treading on dangerous ground. Dreadfully unstable, rotten floorboards that could give out at any moment, sending her hurtling to the floor below.
She did not care. In the past few days, everything had changed. Every facet of her life had altered. The desire to feel this man’s lips on hers surpassed every other need or thought.
She held his gaze. “Kissing.”
Devil Winter said nothing. For a moment, she wondered if she had spoken that lone, forbidden word aloud, giving voice to the temptation.
But then, at last, he spoke, his voice deep and strong. “Kissing.”
Her heart was pounding so loudly she feared he could hear it where he stood.
“Yes.” Her voice was a whisper of sound as it left her.
“I cannot give you that sort of lesson, Lady Evangeline.”
Stinging humiliation swept over her, chasing the heat, the awareness. She had made a grievous mistake. What had she been thinking to suggest he teach her how to kiss? She was engaged to Lord Denton.
But she had never felt a modicum of what she felt in Mr. Winter’s presence for her betrothed. There was no comparison. How could she feel the way she did with a man who was not the man she was marrying? Indeed, with a man who was not a gentleman at all?
She swallowed down a knot rising in her throat. “Of course, Mr. Winter. I…do not know what came over me. Forgive me.”
How mortifying.
This time, she was the one who was fleeing. She swept past him.
But before she could make good on her retreat, he growled, “Wait.”
She turned back to him, staving off a rush of tears pricking her eyes. “I have already apologized, Mr. Winter. What more do you—”
The remainder of her words were silenced beneath his lips.
Devil Winter was kissing her.
Chapter Six
Devil had committedmany sins in his life.
Kissing Lady Evangeline Saltisford was but one.
But none had ever been this bloody satisfying.
