Page 20 of Reforming the Rakish Marquess

She attempted to listen to her friends’ conversation, thinking about what excuse she would give for her departure. Once there was a break in the conversation, she spoke. “I believe I shall return home for the evening. I feel a megrim coming on.”

“Are you all right, dearest?” Hannah asked. “Do you need me to come with you?”

“I’ll be fine. Stay here and enjoy your evening. I’m going straight to bed.” At least that part wasn’t a lie. She would most likely be in her bed.

She bussed her friend’s cheeks and caught Jude’s eye over Hannah’s shoulder. He grinned and continued in his conversation with Hudson.

Juliana thanked her hostess and called for her carriage. Once she returned home, she hurried upstairs to ready herself for Jude. She rang for Bonnie to help her dress for bed, since her maid would find it odd if she didn’t do so.

Removing her ballgown, she slipped into a night rail that tied at the shoulders, with sheer fabric that left little to the imagination. It was a garment she had never worn before. Her mother had several made up for her trousseau right before she was married, but she didn’t have a use for such items during her marriage and typically donned more serviceable night wear. For what she had planned, however, it couldn’t hurt to appear even more desirable for the occasion.

She wrapped an emerald-green dressing robe around herself and tied a bow with the sash to keep herself covered. Her robe swept the floor as she approached her vanity for Bonnie to tend to her hair. The pins were removed, and her long, wavy hair fixed into a loose plait, which hung over her shoulder.

“Thank you, Bonnie. That shall be all for tonight. I am going to read for a while and then go to sleep.”

Bonnie nodded. “Good night, my lady.”

She closed the door behind her, and Juliana glanced at the clock. She would wait another several minutes for the house to settle for the evening, and then she would sneak to the terrace.

Those minutes were the longest of her life as she sat on the settee, twisting her hands and glancing between the fire and the clock.

When she believed she had waited long enough, she crept to her door and quietly opened it. Glancing down the hall to make sure no one was around, she hurried to the staircase and down the stairs. When she reached the door to the terrace, she opened it and stepped outside. The light reflected from the moon bathed her and she drew in a deep breath of the cool night air.

The sensation only increased the heat and excitement building within her. Her eyes scanned the area around the terrace, looking for her late-night visitor.

A rustle of nearby bushes startled her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” The low, gravelly voice said as she saw the shadow of Jude’s form climbing the steps from the garden.

“Follow me,” she said, clasping his hand.

He did as she said, and no more words were shared between them as they attempted to sneak back to her chamber without any of her servants seeing them. They hurried up the staircase and down the hall until they swept inside of her room. She pulled him to follow her and then locked the door behind them.

“We made it,” she said, catching her breath.

“Indeed,” he said. “That was fun. And now I know where to find you.” He looked around her chamber and glanced towards the bed before looking back at her. “What did you have in mind for this evening?”

“I want you to show me more,” she said. “I need more.”

He contemplated her, narrowing his eyes. “What do you mean by more? I don’t think I should take your virginity just yet. I wish to leave you with the option to choose love if that is what you desire, and I can’t give you that.”

Lust and desire for the man in front of her was all she could comprehend at the moment. “I want to see you and touch you. I have never seen a naked man before.”

He flashed her a wide grin, like a child who had been given a new toy. “Well, that, my dear, I would be happy to oblige.”

Jude sat on the edge of the bed and removed his boots and socks. Her eyes darted to his bare feet, and he came back to a standing position.

He clasped his hands behind his back, raising his chin with all of his aristocratic confidence on full display. “Now that those are out of the way, I am happy to remove anything else you wish. All you have to do is tell me what you wish for me to discard.”

She responded immediately. “Discard everything that covers your torso.”

The combination of the dim lighting and the crackling fire made him appear even more handsome, with his perfectly cut jaw and piercing eyes.

He tugged at his cravat and tossed it to the floor. He unbuttoned his coat, his eyes not leaving hers with each button, before he shrugged it off his shoulders and laid it across the back of a nearby chair. Then he unbuttoned his waistcoat and placed it on top of his coat. All he had left covering the top part of his body was the pressed white shirt that had laid beneath his finery. He continued to hold her gaze as he slowly unbuttoned each of the little buttons on his shirt. Each movement heated her core and drove her to distraction, waiting with agony until he would remove the shirt from his body.

A sly chuckle escaped his lips. “Are you certain you still wish for me to remove this?”

Losing patience, she stepped closer and slipped her hands underneath the fabric, running her hands across his hard chest with a smattering of dark hair to push the shirt down over his arms and shoulders so that it fell to the floor.