Page 15 of His Scandalous Viscountess
Wolf let his brows rise as he focused on her. “Oh, I would dare a great many things, though causing you harm is not one of them.”
He then knocked on the roof of the carriage. When the small door near the driver opened, he provided direction on where to go.
The three of them returned to silence. When the vehicle eventually drew to a halt, Linc opened the door to hop out.
Wolf laid a hand on his arm. “Thank you for accompanying me tonight.”
“No trouble at all. I’m happy to help.” Linc nodded then looked at Jules. “Until our next meeting, Lady Wallthorpe.”
“Always a pleasure, my lord.”
She dipped her head regally and then turned back to staring out the window to her right.
With Linc delivered to his destination, the small door opened again.
“Where to, my lord?”
“Just drive,” Wolf instructed.
He wasn’t quite sure what to do with her yet.
The carriage pulled away from the curb, and they jostled along in silence once more.
After a few minutes, Jules finally looked at him. “We can’t drive around all night. Will you please take me home?”
“Sobered up already?” Wolf asked, gritting out the words.
He was angry at her for being so reckless, and furious with himself for not taking control of this situation sooner. He knew when he’d left her in the Swintons’ study that no good would come of her handling Wallthorpe on her own.
“Don’t be obtuse. I was never drunk to start with.”
Though he couldn’t see her features in the shadows of the carriage, he could hear the contempt in her voice. “And how would I know such a thing? I only arrived in time to see you lose the last of your money at cards, before you stood up and announced to all and sundry that you owe Lucifer a debt of thirty thousand pounds!”
“Yes, well, it is too bad you didn’t stop to consider what you know of my character. But then, people have been underestimating what I am capable of all my life. My parents, my dead husband, his idiot son, and now you.” She sounded weary from carrying that burden for so many years. “Only a desert sheik saw me for the woman I truly am.”
Wolf flinched. “I see glimmers of the girl I knew and the young woman I loved, but they’re buried beneath this woman I’ve never met. This worldly, scandalous woman, who won’t give me a chance to know her. You’ve behaved in a way that’s paved the road to my assumptions. If none of that is true, then please tell me what is. More importantly, let me help you.”
“I do not owe Mr. Lucifer a single farthing. Any money I lost tonight was mine to lose. You are well aware of my desire to stir up scandal in order to deter my stepson, and being drunk and discussing obscene amounts of money were merely part of that effort. For heaven’s sake, stop thinking with your wee head, and start engaging that rather larger one sitting atop your shoulders.”
Wolf sat there blinking for a moment, taking in her rapid monologue. It was a strikingly intelligent way to deal with Wallthorpe, but only if it worked. From what he’d seen, the man was unflinching in his determination to wed her.
Surprising him, Jules then turned on the carriage bench and leaned close to him. “Do you truly wish to help me?”
Wolf nodded, wary of what she might say next. But instead of speaking, she cupped his face, staring into his eyes for an interminable moment before she kissed him. Her lips captured his, her tongue driving past all his barriers and all his worries, until he wrapped his tongue around hers. Eyes closed, he surrendered to the sensuous feel of her licking and tasting him, until his cock grew hard and his anger melted into a molten hot desire that sizzled through his veins.
The one thing he knew about Jules, old or new, was that he always found himself drawn to her like a lodestone. She fired his blood and made him ache with wanting her, needing her. And in ten years, nothing had changed.
They finally broke apart, both of them breathing heavily as they clung to each other.
Wolf managed to gather his wits first. “This is familiar, this driving need to taste you and touch you. It’s always been there. Marry me, and let me help you. Give us a chance to explore this connection we share.”
She moved her head from side to side slightly, even as their foreheads pressed together. “I’ll not deny it, this connection between us. But it is a distraction at the moment. Perhaps later, after I’ve dispatched Wallthorpe, we can take the time to become reacquainted. For now, though, I have my hands full fending off my dead husband’s whelp, and marrying you or anyone else for any reason is simply out of the question.” She drew a deep breath and let it out as she leaned back from him, though her hands still cradled his face. “Please, Wolf. Take me home.”
~
Julia slept late. Whether it was from emotional or physical exhaustion didn’t much matter. The result was the same. By the time she woke, dressed for the day, and made her way downstairs, she could hear voices in the front parlor. Ros was one person, and she quickly recognized the other two. Unfortunately, by the time she realized it was her parents, it was too late to retreat upstairs and hide.
They hadn’t been horrible parents growing up. Of course, her mother would get upset when Julia and Ros came home with mud and grass all over their pinafores, and they were often scolded for fidgeting at the table, but they were allowed to be children. They were also permitted to run and play, read books and learn, and until Wolf went off to school, they were allowed at least one friend in the neighborhood.
