Page 1 of Betting on a Duke
Chapter One
1810
“Idare youto come in,” teased Samuel Radcliff as he splashed lake water with his arms toward where Clarice Dawson stood on the shoreline, gawking at him. His mischievous behavior caused her to jump back to avoid the flying water.
“Stop! You’re getting my dress wet,” she huffed at the same time she giggled. Some of the tension eased from her body as she wondered what her father, the Earl of Portsmouth, and Samuel’s father, the Duke of Stanton, were discussing behind the duke’s closed study door. Could she hope it was what she wished for? Was a marriage contract between her and Samuel being negotiated and signed at this very moment? Nothing in her entire life would bring her greater joy.
When she decided to take a walk down to the lake on the duke’s country estate, hoping to dip her feet in the cool water, she hadn’t expected to find Samuel there. Last she saw him, he had been heading to the stables. Clarice had wanted to sneak off and have some time away from the constant chatter between their mothers. They were already discussing the wedding plans between her and Samuel. It wasn’t that she was uninterested in those arrangements, but shouldn’t the betrothal happen first? Until it did, she didn’t feel comfortable getting her hopes and dreams up.
So here she stood lakeside, shocked to see Samuel nearly naked and dripping wet, to the point that she wished to lick the droplets ofwater off his skin. Where had that thought come from? Did people do such a thing? Her mind was in such a muddle today.
Samuel, young and handsome and the second son to the duke, had been her best friend for as long as her memory served. He was three years older than her own eighteen years, and still attending university. As he strolled toward the shore, his bare chest and shoulder muscles rippling beneath the sun as the water glistened across his skin had her insides melting, and she struggled to keep her mouth closed. She’d always known Samuel was handsome and had a healthy physique—riding and training his horses helped with that—but she wasn’t prepared for seeing him naked from the waist up. Tingles encompassed her entire being. He held out his hand, and her eyes widened as they were drawn to the line of dark hair that disappeared down inside his waterlogged breeches, clinging obscenely to his thighs and what lay between them. What would he look like without his breeches?
When she didn’t take his hand, he chuckled, pulling her out of her indecent, wayward thoughts. “Stop staring at me.” He flexed his arms and laughed again. “If you can stare at me, I get to stare at you. Strip and join me.”
A gasp escaped her lips. Was it from shock or excitement at the idea of frolicking in the water with Samuel? “We are hardly children anymore. If we are caught, I will be ruined.”
“Who is there to catch us? This is my father’s property, and no one would dare trespass. Besides, aren’t our fathers discussing our marriage contract at this very moment? We are practically married already.” He stood before her, stealing her breath and causing her heart to race with his words and handsome features. As his fingers gripped the hem of her day dress, she shivered in the most delicious way. He easily slipped it over her head without unbuttoning it. He made quick work of her corset until she stood in nothing but her linen chemise. He was a total gentleman and kept his eyes on her face as he took her hand and tugged her into the lake.
A loud gasp exploded from her throat. “It’s freezing.”
“You’ll get used to it, I promise,” he said with a twinkle in his dark-gray eyes and a lopsided roguish grin that always stole her heart.
“That’s easy to say—you’ve already been in.”
“Do you trust me?”
His arms were out, and she knew he wanted her to go into them while he floated on his back like they had innocently as children. It was how she’d learned to swim. Today, at their age, it was a terrible idea. “Yes. I trust you.”
His eyes blinked, turning nearly black and he grew serious. “You shouldn’t.”
“Why not? I’ve always trusted you.”
“Because now that you’re eighteen, everything has changed.”
“I know it has.” She shivered.
“Will you hurry up and wrap your arms around my waist and relax so we float instead of drowning?”
Obliging him, she found herself safely wrapped in his arms, lying on top of his firm body, and she ignored the immediate awakening of hers. She dreamt of moments like these with him and couldn’t wait until they truly belonged to each other, so there was nothing improper happening. A sudden sadness washed over her, and she didn’t understand why.
“Relax.”
“I’m trying,” she grumbled.
“Try harder.”
After a while, her body relaxed as the sun beat down on them, soothing her all the way to her bones. “Do you really believe our fathers are discussing our marriage contract?”
Before she knew it, she was underwater and glad to be able to touch the bottom of the lake. She stood up, shocked to find the water only at her waist. She spat out the gulp of water she took in as gracefully as she could and without snorting. “What happened?”
His eyes stared into hers, and she felt the intensity all the way to her soul. “Sorry. I lost my concentration.” She heard him swallow as his eyes roamed her body. “Christ,” he ran his hand through his unruly, wet hair. “You are more beautiful than my dreams led me to believe.”
She looked down at herself and was shocked to find her thin chemise transparent and stuck to her breasts and stomach. Her nipples were hard and jutting out. It took everything she had not to cover herself up with her arms. She had nothing to hide from Samuel.
“Clarice,” he said, his voice raspy, his hand shaking as he reached out and cupped her breast, running his thumb across the nipple, causing it to harden further. “I’ve wanted to touch you for so long. I’ve dreamed of this forever. I forced myself to wait, knowing that when you turned eighteen we would be married.”
She sucked her bottom lip inside her mouth as his hand and thumb continued to play with her breast. Other than his hand, they remained apart. Even as her body shivered, heat bloomed between her thighs. There was no denying the explosion inside her heart at knowing they would be married soon. Her father would never turn down a marriage proposal from Samuel. He was the second son of a duke, the son her father never had and always praised. Samuel pulled her into his arms, holding her close so they touched everywhere possible. He murmured into her ear, “Clarice, I have loved you all my life. Will you marry me?”
