A Woman Made for Pleasure (22 page)

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Authors: Michele Sinclair

Tags: #Fiction, #General

BOOK: A Woman Made for Pleasure
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“I disagree. If there was ever a man we
do not
want alive and fighting us—it is him,” added the cold man.
The deep, foreign voice ended the debate. “We are not going to take the chance. We will agree to meet with him, get what is mine, and then . . .” He took a finger and crossed his neck. Millie leaned in closer, trying to hear what was being said.
The jumpy man’s level of anxiety increased. “But another death? Even as an accident, there have been just too many, too close together.”
The deep voice sneered. “There is room for one more. Find your spine and prepare for Chaselton. He won’t be easy. He will be ready for us, but it will not matter. We will confront him when he is alone.”
“When?”
Millie instinctively leaned in closer. “Not until after we have the markers.”
“It’s true. They exist. We saw one tonight on Lady Aldon.”
Millie’s already motionless frame became even more rigid.
A marker was on her?
She thought of her gown, the pearls in her hair, and then she knew without a doubt what the man had meant. Her pendant. The one Charlie had mentioned only this morning. He had
wanted
her to wear it tonight. But why? Why would Charlie intentionally put in her in danger?
The accented voice hissed, regaining her attention, “We all saw it, you fool, but I need all three markers. Only then can we be assured that no one will be able to stand in the way of our success. We shall convene in a week’s time. If by then our good marquess has not provided the other two markers, we shall find a way to locate them without his assistance. Next Saturday, we shall meet at one in the morning at the back entrance of . . .”
Before Millie could learn the exact location of the meeting, a man’s hand encircled her mouth, muffling any scream that might erupt. He masterfully hauled her off with extreme speed.
Only temporarily shocked, Millie quickly recovered and began fighting her assailant by employing several of the moves she had invented when she was younger. They worked.
Now in a private alcove well away from the clandestine meeting she was spying on, Chase let go and grabbed his shin.
Millie spun around, ready to strike her attacker head-on.
“Bloody hell, woman. Where did you learn how to do that?” Chase snarled, surprised by the pain she had inflicted in such a short time.
Millie leaned closer. “Charlie? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me!” he shot back. “My God, woman! What were you trying to do? Kill me?”
“As a matter of fact, yes! I was being attacked, and I was defending myself. If you were hurt in the process that was your own damn fault.”
Chase’s golden eyes bored into her lavender ones. “Well, I was not even close to being incapacitated by you. And if I truly was an attacker, I would be severely annoyed by now.”
The hint at her inadequacy infuriated her. “If I am so
ineffective
, then why are you hopping around on one foot?”
Chase put his boot back down, determined not to display any more signs of the damage she had done. “You may find this amusing, Mildred, but, I assure you, I do not.” In fact, for the past twenty minutes, his heart had been racing faster than he could ever recall. Fear had overtaken him when he had lost sight of her and it only doubled finding her at the hedge eavesdropping on the very men who would kill her if she were discovered.
Millie began pacing around Chase, exaggerating her ability to walk without pain. “Am I laughing? Has a chuckle escaped my lips? This may surprise you, Charlie, but I do not find being abducted and dragged into a dark corner of a garden remotely humorous.”
Chase took a firm grip on his resolve. “I was not trying to abduct you. Damn it, I was protecting you, Millie!”
“How was I supposed to know that? When you come behind a woman and drag her off to unknown parts, she will defend herself and fight back. I am sorry I hurt you, but you should have expected me to react. You are the one who trained me, after all.”
Chase’s expression hardened as he gazed at her unrepentant face. “I never taught you to do any of those wild moves you just executed. I would have remembered.”
Millie shrugged indifferently. “They are old moves I created a long time ago. Honestly, I didn’t even remember them until you grabbed me. I was actually quite frightened.”
Chase inhaled. “Indeed. Well, that makes two of us. You have no idea how terrified I was seeing you so close to danger. Do you have any idea who you were listening to?”
Shock invaded Millie’s features. She dropped her voice to a low whisper. “Then you know? You know what they were saying? You know about the meeting?”
The question rendered Chase speechless. His amber eyes were hard with fear and fury as he thought about just where and how he had found her. “Of course I know. This is what I
do
, Millie. I am a spy—and I’m damn good at it. So stop being so infuriatingly excitable.”
Millie’s jaw dropped. “If I am excitable, I have a very good reason to be. Those men are after you!”
Chase clutched Millie’s shoulders, forcing her to listen. “They aren’t
after me
, as you put it. They want me for something. There is a difference. One I can control. And I am not the one in danger—you are!” he hissed, pointing at her chest.
“Me?!” Millie exclaimed. Then, she realized what he was pointing at and recalled overhearing how it had some meaning. Her hand flew to the necklace, protecting it for she knew what he was going to say next.
“Your pendant. I need it.”
Millie swallowed. “Why?”
Chase sighed and raked his hand through his hair. “When we leave here, it is important that you spread the word that it is missing. That someone must have stolen it without your knowledge.”
“Why?”
“So those who might have hurt you in an effort to get it will think that I have it and leave you alone—safe.”
Millie clutched the pendant even tighter, her expression a mixture of confusion and tenacity to seek and receive answers. “But why would they think you stole it?”
“Because that is what I will make sure a few select people learn, Millie.”
Millie shook her head and took a step back. Several questions were racing through her head, but she only managed to ask, “How?”
“The same way I have been communicating at these infernal balls—carefully.” Chase could see his acerbic answer held no persuasion and he could feel his limited patience dwindling. “I don’t have time for this, Millie. Those men killed a man just yesterday. Bloody hell, you witnessed it!”
She remembered the gruesome murder, but it paled in comparison to what she had seen afterward at Melinda’s. Millie felt an empty, angry, cold knot tighten within her. “I know what I witnessed.”
Hearing her cold rebuke, Chase’s jaw tightened. “Well, you certainly don’t act like it. You went home, refused to speak to anyone, and then spent all of today getting dressed for the evening in . . . in . . . that, making men think of... things they should not. Then I find you actually a few feet away from the very men I have been tracking and watching. You are bloody lucky I don’t bend you over my knee and teach you a lesson.”
“Do not lecture me, Charlie Wentworth,” Millie said crisply, releasing the pendant to point her finger at his chest. It was an undignified action, but after his last threat, she felt no restraint from doing so. “Do not dare assume anything about what I did or how I felt about yesterday afternoon. And as for my dress, I will have you know I have received many compliments on it this evening. Even Lady Cowper said I was the woman all young ladies envied this Season.”
Chase muttered darkly. His brown eyebrows came together in a straight line. “I’ll bet. Your demeanor is above reproach. But that dress alone will make tonight’s ball
the
event of the year. And for the next several Seasons, men will be flocking to Lady Sefton’s in hopes of meeting other ladies who dare to wear such a gown.”
His words stung, and Millie felt the urge to flee. “I’m going,” she said in a broken, irascible whisper.
“Not with that pendant, you’re not,” he countered bracingly.
Millie thought to leave anyway, but she knew Chase well enough to realize he would track her down and drag her back.
Their eyes clashed in brief, savage conflict before Chase tugged her roughly to him. Her body was stiff and unyielding, but he felt her tremble.
Millie did not want to kiss Chase. During their prior embraces, she could allow herself to believe he really cared for her, wanted her, and only her. But now she knew the truth.
As she opened her mouth to protest, he smothered her words with his lips, moving them forcefully against hers. He used his tongue to still hers, kissing her hard and deliberately, letting her feel the frustration and temper she had aroused in him.
Millie tried to resist, but it occurred to her that this might be the last time she was ever going to be in his arms. A muffled cry erupted as Millie threw her arms around his neck, kissing him feverishly.
“My God, Millie, don’t ever scare me like that again,” Chase implored, his voice raspy with constrained emotion.
“Just kiss me, Chase. Make me believe you will never let me go,” Millie murmured against his lips, the pleading in her voice unmistakable.
“I never will, love. I never will.”
Though she knew the truth, Millie savored his words. Something deep inside her responded to the primal need of his touch. All she wanted was more. She tightened her arms around his neck and urged his mouth down to hers.
Chase groaned with irrepressible need. She was furious with him and still she responded with a passion that would drive the most composed man to the edge. “Millie, oh, Millie, I need you so much. You have no idea.”
Hearing him whisper her name chilled her bones. She would never love a man again, like she loved Charles Wentworth.
Chase’s growing desire for her was almost all-consuming. He had to stop now, but instead of listening to the inner voice in his head, he lifted her in his arms and walked over to a garden bench hidden in the shadows. Tonight he was going to show Millie another way to express her passionate side. For never in his life had it been more important than it was right now for Millie to become his.
Chase inhaled her scent, reveling in the mixture of perfume and feminine arousal. “You are so beautiful,” he muttered, awed by the softness of her skin. Groaning, Chase bent his head and took her earlobe between his teeth. One hand tightened tenderly on the nape of her neck as the other skimmed the graceful line of her spine.
Unable to think clearly, Millie finally gave in to the sensations Chase was arousing. Everything was happening so fast. It was as if she were caught in a lightning storm—wild and exciting. Feeling secure and wanted, she again hugged his neck, resting her cheek against his.
Assured that she was not going to fight him, he eased her back and let himself drown in the love reflected in her eyes. So many years ago, he offered sympathy to the one foolish enough to get caught in their violet trap. Now he considered himself a lucky man.
Millie felt him stroke her cheek with his knuckles. There was so much meaning in the featherlight caress. The touch and his possessive gaze caused her body to respond with a feverish intensity she did not know she had. Her blood began to pound in her veins, and without conscious thought, she drew his lips to hers. Millie’s tongue tentatively probed the warmth of his mouth before boldly inviting him to taste her.
Chase needed no further encouragement to deepen the kiss until she completely surrendered. Each time he held her, the crazed passion Millie ignited inside him grew. He wanted her more than he thought was possible to want a woman. He nipped playfully at her lower lip before moving to the nape of her neck and then to her shoulders. As his mouth moved across the softness of her skin, Chase decided her V-shaped décolletage did have at least one redeeming asset.
Millie sighed softly and closed her eyes as he eased a sleeve down her arm to expose her breast. His thumb slowly grazed across her nipple. It hardened to the tender touch. Entranced, she sank her nails into Chase’s perfectly tailored jacket, glorying in the sensual torment he was creating. She didn’t want the feeling to stop. Whatever he was doing to her, it was wonderful. “Bloody hell, I can barely breathe. Chase, I don’t think I can take any more. Good Lord, anything this exciting must be wrong,” she stammered, her voice soft and unsteady.
The notion that this woman who seethed with such vitality could be excited by him was incredibly seductive. Chase had never thought a man like himself could be enslaved by passion or instigate such a fervent need in another. “No, love. You and I together will never be wrong.”
Chase cupped her cheek, his touch so tender she dared not to move, hoping the moment would last forever. Then he lowered his mouth and continued the onslaught his fingers had begun. The longer his lips caressed her, the less will she had. Feeling his warm tongue swirl and lave each bud, she instinctively arched herself against him, moaning softly.

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