Desire Wears Diamonds (22 page)

This was no echo of their first embrace but
a moment unto itself as if he had never kissed her before and as if
this were the thousandth time he had held her.

Her arms reached up to encircle his neck,
leveraging herself against him to demonstrate that she did indeed
fit perfectly into his arms, the disadvantage of her stature
evaporating as her body pressed to his. He cradled her against this
chest, then knelt down on one knee, unwilling to trust his balance
as the world tipped one direction and then another; spinning at
every touch. She tucked against him balanced on his thigh, the
difference in their heights diminished and irrelevant, the sweet
fire of her tongue against his in an erotic dance.

Grace sighed at the delights of kissing Mr.
Rutherford, his mouth warm velvet against hers. It was intoxicating
and she opened her mouth to taste more, inviting the touch of his
tongue and boldly running the tip of her own tongue along his full
lower lip. He moaned at its touch and deepened his kiss, his
reaction a white hot passion that made her lose track of where her
body ended and where his began.

She slid her fingers upward to touch his
throat and then downward to trace the pulse of his heart. Her hand
sought the bare skin at his chest, eager to press her fingertips.
She had one fleeting thought that her boldness would disgust him
but his responses quelled the notion instantly. This was a power
Grace had never known. His touch commanded her but it was clear
that she was the ruler of him in turn.

Michael came up for air only to renew a
passionate assault on the delicate landscape that was Grace. It was
like breathing lilacs and tasting spring. He trailed his mouth
across her jaw to discover the shell of her ear. When she shivered
and arched against him when he grazed the curve of its outer rim,
he took it as an invitation and at the present moment, he was in no
mood to refuse.

She sighed consent and wriggled with
excitement at the attention of his lips and the gentle nips of his
teeth to pull on her earlobes. She tipped her head to bare more of
her neck and shoulders, beautiful feast of touch and taste that did
nothing to diminish his hunger for her. Michael followed the lines
of her throat to uncover every point that made Grace react and
practically sing in his arms.

The lessons came quickly and Michael
absorbed that every flash of pleasure she experienced was directly
tied to his own body’s demands, arcs of heat and a raw animalistic
hunger for satisfaction unfurled inside him, as every touch built
to hint at the release he knew was possible.

Her lips drew him back and his fingers
splayed to cradle her head, to take all that she offered and
possess this fiery gift of Grace’s kisses. Her hair was silk in his
hands and even as a part of him dryly noted that hairpins were
falling and would be impossible to retrieve from the wet grass in a
dark garden… Michael was wrestling with the very real danger that
more than hairpins were about to fall.

“Grace,” he lifted his head. “This. This
cannot be the place or time for… I’m so weak when it comes to you,
woman…“ he let out a slow shuddering breath, “But even I...should
know better. I care too much about you, Grace, to insult you within
sight of a crowded ball and—“

“Unhand my sister!”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Damn it!

“You heard me! Unhand my sister, you vile
excuse of a man!” Sterling shouted.

Michael lifted his head and surveyed the
theatrical nightmare in all its full glory. He’d never heard
footsteps on the gravel path approaching them, and it took one
glance to ascertain that Sterling was standing on the opposite side
of the lavender off the walkway and had strode on the wet grass to
make a quieter approach.

Not that this detail made any difference now
that Sterling’s twisted displeasure and scathing judgment was
conveniently illuminated by the hand lantern that Sterling so
gallantly was holding aloft to make sure that his sister’s state of
dishevelment was impossible to hide.

He shifted to gently set her off of his
knee, struggling to make sure he adjusted his evening coat before
he stood up but the instant Grace gained her feet she moved toward
Sterling, desperate to reach brother and make her case.

“It was an innocent kiss!” Grace cried out.
“I…Mr. Rutherford…is very honorable and…he did nothing wrong! It
was my fault! He wanted to…go back…but I…”

Michael winced. With her golden hair
tumbling down her back and missing hairpins, lips swollen from his
kisses and cheeks flushed—Michael was fairly certain that there
wasn’t a phrase of denial in existence to overcome the image of
ruin she presented.

“Shut up, Grace!” Sterling barked.

“Don’t speak to her like that again,
Sterling,” Michael warned him, a strange calm overtaking him. It
was the Jackal’s orchestrated performance but Michael knew his
role.

“I’ll speak to my slut of a sister however I
wish! What kind of “innocent kiss” requires the darkest corner of
the garden?” Sterling growled. “You were on the ground like
animals!”

“Hardly,” Michael muttered under his breath
and did his best to gently pull Grace back against him,
instinctively wanting to shield and protect her. “And lower your
voice. I don’t see the need to bring out the entire party for this,
do you?”

Sterling glanced back at the house and
Michael groaned at the realization that his words were apparently
prophetic as the verandah was already lined with spectators ogling
their gathering near the garden’s farthest wall.

Shit!

Michael took a deep breath and tried another
tact. “Sterling,” he began, his voice low enough not to carry,
“this is a private matter and I don’t see how it aids anyone to
ensure your sister’s humiliation. I would not hurt her for the
world and—“

“Come to my house tomorrow morning and we
will settle this as gentlemen. Unless you are dishonorable cad and
refuse to come to terms!” Sterling deliberately spoke with the
projection and elocution of a stage actor and Michael came within
two heartbeats of striking him for it.

“Terms?” Michael had the sinking feeling
he’d stepped into a trap.

“You can’t do this, Sterling!” Grace stepped
away from Michael, recovering her voice. “It was my fault! He would
have walked me back and—“

“That’s enough, Grace.” Sterling held up a
hand to silence her and then grabbed her elbow to prepare to go.
“Tomorrow, Rutherford.”

“I won’t marry him! You can’t force me to
marry someone because—“

Michael winced at the open declaration of
her revulsion at marrying him but it was Sterling’s bark that cut
her off that sent him over the edge.

“Shut
up
, Grace!”

Michael gripped Sterling’s coat front and
lifted him off the ground so quickly that Sterling dropped the
lantern at his feet, extinguishing the light and disappointing the
crowd who’d been relishing the show. “I warned you not to speak to
her like that again, Porter.”

“No! Please!” Grace pleaded behind him then
reached up to try to pull her brother back to earth. “It’s not
worth it and I’m—I beg you, Mr. Rutherford! Sterling’s upset! I’m
sure he didn’t mean to be snide and horrible. It’s sadly
his…natural state…”

Michael smiled at the humor of her words and
slowly set his nemesis back onto his feet. “I agree.” He made a
show of smoothing out the front of Sterling’s jacket. “You’re a
lucky man, Porter.”

Sterling’s fury was palpable as he
straightened his clothes and rewarded his sister with a searing
look of animosity. “You’ll never do that again, Rutherford.”

Sterling outstretched one hand toward his
sister. “Come, Grace. It’s time to go home.”

“Sterling, I—“

“Grace, come.” Sterling’s voice was taut
with anger and echoed off the stone walls. “Or we can escalate this
into a brawl and despite Mr. Rutherford’s belief that he can bully
his way out of this, I will have him subdued and arrested; and you
will be carried out of here kicking and screaming. I’d prefer a
quieter exit but at this moment, Grace Porter, I leave the choice
in your hands.”

Tears finally came and Grace meekly
surrendered to take her brother’s hand. She glanced back, a
desperate look that gave way to her silently mouthing the words,
‘
I’m sorry.’

Michael grimly folded his arms and watched
as Grace was led out in disgrace.

It was the second time he was forced to let
her go.

God, what a tangle! How will I ever explain
it to the others without looking like a complete ass? Ashe will be
like a terrier with a bone when he gets wind of this mess. Not only
did I lose sight of Sterling in the first few minutes—I’m fairly
sure mauling Grace in the garden wasn’t the best way to go
unnoticed by Porter’s cronies.

He waited until he was sure Porter had had
ample time to make his escape and see Grace safely out and then
squared his shoulders to face the gauntlet ahead. He strode out of
the garden, up the steps of the verandah and past dozens of
strangers whose eyes watched him with raw curiosity and blatant
disapproval. Some of the men hissed at him in his wake and Michael
fought not to roll his eyes.

He had trouble reconciling the impulsive and
sweet fire of Grace in his arms and the condemnation that swirled
around him as he progressed through the salon. Guests parted in
front of him as if the very brush of his coat against them would
contaminate and stain.

He wasn’t nearly as embarrassed as he was
angry; angry at himself for blindly putting Grace into such a
horrible position, angry for forfeiting reason when the Jaded were
counting on him most—and impossibly forgetting every vow he’d made
to those men.

Grace.

I made her cry.

What kind of man does that?

Michael walked out of Bascombe’s, his head
held high.

Tomorrow would be soon enough to get a
better grip on a deadly tiger’s tail.

And forever yield the heaven of Grace’s
company to Providence. As far as Michael could see, Sterling may
have done him a favor. She had every reason she needed to forbid
him from entering into her company. The relationship between them
was painfully and abruptly severed and now he could focus on his
original mission without the complexities of Grace’s direct
involvement.

Sterling would pronounce him a villain and
Grace would have to accept it.

And when her brother failed to come home
from the East India one evening in the very near future, Michael
would arrange for a fortune to fall into her grieving hands to
allay the last breath of scandal she might endure.

I can do that much for her.

Even a demon can do that much.



Grace fought to stop crying, fury and shame
warring to break her spirit. “That was unnecessary, Sterling!”

He sat across from her in the carriage and
for a moment, she didn’t really recognize him. His lack of sympathy
stung but the strange excitement in his eyes chilled her to the
bone. “That was incredible! I couldn’t have planned that better, if
I say so myself! Not that I would have been so ham-fisted and
blatant to instruct you to draw him out into a dark garden in the
middle of a large ball and let him have his wicked way with you on
the ground…” Sterling ran a hand through his hair and leaned back
as if the weight of the world had left his shoulders. “Not as
elegant as I’d hoped but there is more than one way to skin a
cat!”

“Are you mad?” she whispered. “Can you hear
yourself?”

“I knew he was taken with you. I knew it!
How stupid of me to think it would take a bit of time for you to
bring the man to a useful simmer!”

Grace gasped in shock. “What? I’m not
boiling anyone alive, Sterling, and if you’re insinuating
otherwise, I hate to correct you but I did not seduce Mr.
Rutherford!”

Sterling shrugged. “Of course you didn’t! I
doubt you would have the talent for it, which is why it is sheer
luck that he fell on you anyway.”

“He didn’t—“ Grace bit her tongue, amazed at
the twists and turns of the conversation. She used the palm of her
hand to wipe off her cheeks, determined to gain control of her
emotions. “Sterling, please heed what I am about to tell you.
I.
don’t. care
.” She emphasized each word as if his comprehension
were impaired. “I don’t care that those people think I’m…”

“Fast? A slut? A rampant little whore?”
Sterling provided with an unkind smile.

Grace took a deep breath before continuing.
“Nothing irreparable happened in that garden that needed anything
so ridiculously drastic as a threat of terms to Mr. Rutherford. It
was a kiss and nothing more! I will never agree to marry Mr.
Rutherford under these circumstances or any other of your
imagination or manufacture!”

“You will do as I say.”

She shook her head. “No, Sterling, I won’t.
Whatever madness has seized you has nothing to do with—“

He slapped her hard enough to throw her
across the seat against the carriage’s window frame and for a
blazing moment, Grace forgot how to breathe as bright white pain
ricocheted through her body. Her cheekbone throbbed with the force
of a hammer’s blow and shock alone kept her from crying out. The
assault on her senses paled next to the crushing blow against her
psyche.

Never. He never before…

“Your erratic manners cause me endless
trouble, sister, and you’ll rein yourself in or end up in bedlam,”
he said as calmly as if they’d been discussing the mild spring
evening’s weather. “I never asked your opinion on the matter and
since I am your legal guardian and caretaker, you’ll submit to my
wishes or I’ll finish beating you when we get home until you see
reason.”

Tears filled her eyes and spilled silently
down her cheeks unheeded.