Redemption (2 page)

While a
part of her wanted to slap his face for taking such scandalous
liberties; something soft and gentle began to unfurl deep within
her. The delicious sensations those tender kisses brought forth
deep inside her made her fingers clench tightly on the soft
material of his jacket in a silent plea for more. The warmth of his
breath against her flesh made her shiver, but it wasn’t through
fear. He was persistent but not forceful; passionate and tender. It
was wonderful to feel so precious and cared for.

But this man doesn’t care for you,
a
stern voice reminded her.
He thinks you
are someone else.

That
thought was like a bucket of iced water on her. She tried once more
to find the strength to put some distance between them, and this
time practically tore her mouth away from his. Her soft cry echoed
around the empty walls.

“Please
stop,” she whispered pushing hard on his chest. With her free hand
she tentatively touched the bruised flesh of her lips with
trembling fingers. She tried to take a step away from temptation
only to find herself pressed against the cool surface of the stone
wall. Perturbed when he merely followed her, she tried to push at
his shoulders, but it was a half-hearted effort at best and one
which he ignored completely.

“Don’t
ask me to stop,” he pleaded.

Heavens he is tall
she mused as she
eyed the dark shadow of his hair several inches above her. Even
with her head tipped right back the top of her head didn’t even
come close to touching his chin. While she studied him and tried to
pick out the discerning features of his face she thought about the
men she had seen at the ball tonight. The only man she had met who
was this tall was indeed, Ben McArthur.

“This
can’t happen,” she whispered, then fell silent beneath the long
finger he placed over her lips. She wasn’t sure whether she meant
that the kiss couldn’t happen, or her seducer couldn’t possibly be
Benjamin McArthur. Either way, she struggled to retain her thoughts
with him so near.

“You are
so delightful. I have been waiting to meet you again.”

“I
-”

His lips
swallowed anything else she intended to say. Her hands settled on
his chest, ready to push him away, but his large, warm palms
settled over them, holding them steady. While his lips plundered,
he drew her hands up and over his shoulders. The slow glide of his
hands down the bare flesh of her arms brought forth a moan that
came from her soul. Almost defeated, she used the last vestige of
sensibility to try to decide what to do. This was a case of
mistaken identity. He mistook her for his lover; his intended
bride; someone used to his loving caress. It was foolish to allow
matters to go any further. He would be angry when he discovered she
was not whom he believed her to be.

If that
wasn’t bad enough, if anyone happened to stumble across them she
would be ruined.

Oh, if only this kiss wasn’t so
mesmerising
.

Before
she could break free his lips left hers and blazed a trail of
teasing nips down her neck. They came to rest in the hollow of her
neck that elicited a low moan from her that came from her
soul.

“My
darling,” he growled before he retraced his marauding path straight
back to her lips.

Her gasp
was swallowed. Passion flared to life between them. Everything
within her tingled with wanton sensation as he swept her into his
arms with a groan. This time, his lips plundered hers with such
force she had to tip her head back to accommodate him, but she was
prevented from being unbalanced by the strong arms wrapped tightly
around her waist that held her firmly against his masculine length.
It was impossible to do anything other than copy his
movements.

The
distant thud of a door being slammed shut shattered the silence
surrounding them and made her jump. She realised then just how far
things had gone, and sucked in a deep breath to steady herself.
Immediately, guilt swept through her.

“No, we
can’t do this,” she whispered again when he lifted his head and
allowed her to draw in some much needed air. “It’s not what you
think.”

“Please
don’t stop me,” he pleaded. “You know I won’t ever hurt
you.”

She
closed her eyes, silently praying for forgiveness for deceiving
him. The image of the delicate blonde beauty who people assumed
would soon be his fiancé, Melissa Bradwort, immediately swam into
her mind. If Ben, Lord Holmcroft, realised that the woman in his
arms was Lizzie instead of his fiancé, he would undoubtedly
consider Lizzie to be nothing more than a wanton harlot who had
clandestine assignations with men in gardens. The thought filled
her with horror.

But
could she get out of the folly before he discovered who she really
was, and she humiliated herself completely? Somehow she doubted
it.

When she
tried to make her excuses to leave, he took advantage of her open
mouth to claim her lips before she could murmur even a token
protest. She tried to ease away only for his hands to slide into
her hair. Pins scattered all over the stone floor beneath their
feet, but it was of little consequence. She gasped when he drew her
into an intimate hold that made her shiver. She could feel every
dip and hollow, every swift intake of his breath, every muscle that
moved within him. It called to something deep within her that she
couldn’t ignore any longer. This was what her heart yearned for.
Somewhere deep inside, she suspected that he had just branded her
soul. Was it so wrong to snatch a precious memory for
herself?

What
they were sharing tonight was something no woman could ever forget,
and she strongly suspected it had just changed her, and her life,
completely. If she could draw the affection of a man like Ben she
would be more than happy to settle into a life of matrimonial bliss
and would never ask for anything else from life. But alas, her
rather plain looks were no match for Melissa Bradwort’s stunning
beauty. He was tall, dark and handsome; Melissa was petite, blonde
and beautiful. As far as everyone in society was concerned, Ben and
Melissa were a match made in heaven.

Was it
selfish to enjoy this so much? Especially given he was still, for
the time being at least, a single man? If she could get out of the
folly before her identity was revealed nobody would ever be any
wiser about what they had shared. This could be her precious secret
– a few moments of tenderness stolen for herself. Her identity
would always be a mystery to him, but what did it matter so long as
what they shared didn’t become common knowledge amongst the
gossips?

“God,
you unman me,” he muttered as he desperately pecked random kisses
across her cheek.

Lips
slid along the gentle curve of her jaw to recapture her soft sigh
and, with a groan, his hands began to slide down her back until
they came to rest upon her hips.

Not even
when the cool night air swept across the bare flesh of her thighs
did she make any attempt to remove his intimate hold. She made no
objection when one large palm slid higher and began to explore
deeper at the same time that warm lips captured her sigh. For
several long, wondrous moments, the silence was broken by their low
moans as hands explored and lips plundered. Desire built with
irresistible force until their clothes suddenly became too much of
a barrier for either of them to bear and they began to tug
desperately at their clothing, desperate to find the warm flesh
beneath.

“How
dare you take such liberties with my sister, sir?” A voice suddenly
boomed into the silence.

Lizzie’s
eyes popped wide and her stomach lurched at the sound of her
step-brother’s voice so horrifyingly near. She knew, in that
moment, that her ruination was absolute. She was not just ruined,
but humiliated as well because the man in her arms, the man who had
been doing such wondrous things to her body, was going to find out
he had the wrong woman and there was nothing she could do to
prevent it from happening.

“Stop,”
she whispered when Ben nuzzled into the base of her neck again,
seemingly oblivious to their discovery. She glanced toward the
house barely visible through the folly door, and gasped at the
sight of Julian standing on the grass a few feet away surrounded by
what appeared to be most of the men he had been gambling
with.

“Oh,
God, no,” she moaned. “Please, Ben.”

She
pushed hard at Ben’s shoulders, determined to put some decorous
distance between them, even though she knew it was already far too
late. To her consternation, he seemed reluctant to release her.
Rather than withdraw, he pressed a gentle kiss to her neck and
slowly lowered her leg but made no attempt to step away from her.
Instead, he placed another kiss on her shoulder as he tugged the
top of her dress back into place. It was then that she realised he
was using his body to hide her from the witnesses while she covered
her modesty. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his
chivalry, and had to wonder if he realised just how many people
were watching them.

Heat
flooded into her cheeks while she waited for him to realise her
true identity. There was nothing she could do now except let the
next few minutes play out. There was nowhere to hide and nothing
she could say that would get her out of this horribly humiliating
situation with her pride or reputation intact. Indeed, far the
opposite was true; her social and personal humiliation was about to
be served to her on a platter for half of London to see.

At
first, she refused to look at anyone as she waited for doom to
reach her. Tears gathered on her lashes but she blinked them away
and squared her jaw while she gathered as much courage as she could
to face her step-brother at his most scornful. Her mind raced to
find the best way to get out of the situation, but she couldn’t
think past anything other than what Ben was going to think of
her.

“Please,” she gasped when Ben still made no attempt to step
away.

She was
horrifyingly aware that with each passing moment more and more
people were coming outside to see what was happening. She pushed
hard at his shoulders in a futile attempt to get him to put several
steps between them. Although she kept her eyes averted, she was
painfully aware that he was staring at her.

Was he
waiting for her to look at him? Would she see hatred and accusation
in his eyes too?

“Lizzie,” he growled in a voice that was neither shocked nor
surprised.

She
gasped at the sound of her name on his lips. Something in his
voice, a hint of regret, drew her gaze up to his in spite of her
best attempts to avoid it. To her stunned disbelief, in spite of
the group of onlookers just a few feet away, he stepped forward
and, in a tender gesture of comfort, rested his forehead against
hers.

“Sweet
Jesus, Lizzie” he muttered, still reeling from the ferocity of the
passion that had roared to life between them so swiftly that he had
forgotten everything. It had been the last thing he had expected
when he had started this. The strength of desire unmanned him, and
now prevented him from turning around to face her step-brother
until the worst of the visible effects on his body had eased. He
was glad now that they were outdoors, and not inside somewhere
where light would reveal to everyone just how much of a profound
effect this beautiful young woman had on him. He didn’t need to
look behind him to know that Julian had company. If he was honest,
the quiet hum of voices was just what he wanted to hear. Being
discovered with Lizzie in his arms served his purposes exactly. He
just couldn’t tell her that yet.

He urged
her to look at him and swore silently at what he saw when she did.
She looked as though she was about to burst into tears but he
couldn’t become distracted by her upset just yet. It was time to
put the next phase of his plan into action.

Eventually, the cool air soothed his heated flesh and he
slowly eased away from her. Finally able to face her step-brother,
he mentally prayed that he would get the opportunity to speak with
her before she left for home but right now needed to dispatch her
step-brother and his entourage.

Lizzie
waited and waited for someone to say something, for Ben to move, or
her step-brother to speak. Time passed slowly as the tension
increased tenfold and became almost palpable. Julian was glaring at
them, arrogantly waiting for Ben to explain himself. The derisive
look of disgust on his face was stark in the darkness of the night,
and Lizzie knew she had undoubtedly just made the biggest mistake
of her life. She had handed her total and complete ruination to her
step-brother single-handedly, and he was going to milk the
opportunity to destroy her in every way possible, she just knew it.
When she couldn’t bear the sight of the smug, self-righteous
arrogance on his face any more she turned to face Ben.

To her
surprise, he looked thoughtful rather than angry but, shockingly,
also a little worried. Was that because he finally realised he had
been kissing her and not Melissa? Was he worried Melissa was going
to find out? Embarrassed heat flooded her cheeks and fuelled her
regrets to the point that she couldn’t stand the awkward silence a
moment longer.