Ruin Me Please (11 page)

Damnation,
Ashford
’
s sister? 
He pressed her hand briefly before releasing it
and ste
p
ping back from the temptation to toss her over his shoulder and make off with her
. 
Returning to
Allingham Park
and locking her away from the rest of the world.
 

He attempted
to tamp down any lascivious ideas he might have had for her.  It would never do to seduce his best
friend
’
s
shockingly delectable sister
, especially since he was a guest
.

“Please, there
’
s no need to stand on ceremony with me
,
”
h
e interjected.  “Call me D
e
clan, Hawksley or Hawk
.
”
H
e smiled
wryly
.
  His eyes flashed with some hidden emotion.
“I’m still getting used to the title you see, but I will answer to
any or
all.”
He laughed huskily.  “And I’ve been called worse.”

“Hawksley it is then.” Poppy grinned, revealing a delicious dimple in her left cheek. 
She stood silent for a minute, then repeated,
“
Hawksley
.
”
S
he liked
the sound
.
“
Such a formidable name.
I imagine it to be a perfect name given to a
knight. 
I bet men
must
have
be
en
frigh
t
ened of you
r ancestors
just by the
name alone
.  The Duke of Hawksley, it rolls powerfully off your tongue
,
does it
not
.  W
hy I…
” Poppy cut off her sentence abruptly when she r
e
alized she was
rambling like a bedlamite
.  S
uddenly
surrounded by
quiet
,
she pursed her lips and blushed
pre
t
tily. 

What a
perfect ninny she must sound, she had never allowed a man’s beauty to addle her wits and she was
no
t about to start now.
If this is how she acted in London, n
o wonder she had not found a husband.  She scolded herself.  She could not quiet herself long enough for
a man
to court her prop
erly
.  She groaned
softly,
glanc
ing
up
through her thick lashes
. 

Declan slanted a glance
in her direction
, h
is lips quirked.  S
quatting down he ge
ntly ru
f
fled the fur on Georgie’
s back
, but did not say a word
. 

Intrigued by this stranger
and d
oubly impressed with his height and build.  A bona fide giant stood before her.  Poppy always thought Parker was a giant but he must be a dwarf co
m
pared to Hawksley.
  She felt almost childlike
.
 
He
was an extremely attractive man,
big
, powe
r
ful
and danger
ous to look at
. 
His cheekbones
h
igh
,
his nose straight except for the slight bump that i
n
dicated it had been broken at least once in
the
past
and well-formed lips. 
A
d
ark giant
with
sun-bronzed skin
topped by short-cropped
hair as
black as sin
worn naturally tousled as if he couldn
’
t be both
ered with it.

His dress was that of a dashing country gentleman, s
nug b
uckskins covered
his lean hips and
well-muscled
thighs
. 
Top boots
with a fine coating of dust from his travels
covered his feet
and his b
road shoul
ders
encased in a
bottle
green riding coat that perfectly mimicked the color of his eyes. 
He looked
every inch a man of aristocratic blood
, but with the well-honed muscles of a man used to phys
i
cal labor
. 
Callused hands and muscles, i
ntriguing.

Overall,
he was a
rather impressive example of manhood. 
He was h
ard, strong and u
n
deniably
male.  He was simply perfect
.
 

Poppy
couldn’t wait
until Piper c
lapped eyes on him
, she would have a stroke.  If she had designed the perfect man, here he was standing in front of
her, n
ot a receding hai
r
line or weak chin in sight.  He was mouthwatering
, her tongue swept out to wet
her
suddenly dry
lips. 

She stil
led when he spoke,
t
he deep rumble of his voice warmed her all the way to her toes. Speaking of which,
she attempted
t
o curl her toes under her skirt as she surreptitiously looked around for her shoes
. 
Where
can my slippers have gone
?
 
Great, s
o
much for
ma
k
ing
a good impression
, s
he clapped her hand over her mouth when she realized
she
once more
groaned aloud
.

He
chuckled,
look
ing
up from his lowered position
his eyes crinkled up
at the corners
.  “
This is a lovely garden.
”  He glanced appreciatively over her
starting at the tiny pink to
es that peeked out from beneath
the hem of her sprigged muslin
to the
thick golden curls that framed the face of an
angel
.  He smiled widely. 
When he
stepped through the
archway,
he must have walked straight into heaven.  She was a real life angel with the loveliest blue eyes he had
ever
seen. 

Surely,
God had
sent
her
to banish the demons from his soul. 
Golden l
ight surroun
ded her as if she wore a halo and suddenly the
anguish that had bellowed inside his heart for the past year quieted, if only for a moment.  The demons clawing and scraping to escape the prison of his soul seemed to grow tired
and stilled
. 

He stood up and pointed to the right laughter lacing his voice with delicious warmth,
“
I believe what you are searching for is
hidden
under that bench”

“How kind of you to point out
,” Poppy
replied
, unable to mask the hint of sarcasm that laced her voice
.  She grinned as
devilment danc
ed
in her eyes.  Spinning around she groped u
n
der the bench
with her toes
and slid her feet into her slippers. 

Declan took advantage
of her turned back
unable to contain
his wolfish smile
, taking
a moment to admire her gently rounded backside. 
He could no
t remember when he had been so enticed. 
Her gorgeous derriere brought to mind all sorts of naughty pictures in his mind. 
Oh, I am definitely a devil.  He laughed loudly.  “I do apologize.  I did not mean to offend.”  H
is regard
thoughtful
when she turned around
her fingers playing nervously
with a fold in her jonquil striped
morning
gown. 

There was no doubt
that he desired her.  He cou
ld almost taste her sweetness, but o
ne of his
best
friend
’s
sisters, d
amn.
  He definite
ly had the worst sort of luck, and j
ust for an i
n
stant, their gazes met and held
and he wondered if his luck was about to change?

Her cheeks flushed with unknown anticipation.  Her pulse leapt with
intensity
so strong, so powerful
,
and so foreign. 
Confused and overwhelmed with these new emotions,
a suffoca
t
ing
panic began to well up inside of her making it difficult to breathe.

Declan knew that
Ash would skin him alive if he had even a hint of the thoughts that were going through his mind.  Instead of
abating,
his arousal strengthened
and instead of buil
d
ing up his defenses, he felt like knocking them down
. 
Arousal
built up inside him. 
His heart slammed into his chest.  This would never do. 
He should have stopped in the village b
e
fore he arrived.  There is no way that he could slake his lust with his best
friend
’s
innocent si
s
ter.  How unfortunate, for she would definitely be a treat that he could savor. 
He pulled his
gaze away from
her
and attempted
to distract himself with his surrounding
s
in order to take
a m
o
ment to gain control of his lawless urges. 
The first thing he noticed was the lack of ex
otic flo
w
ers in her garden
.  It held
only a riotous confu
sion of color and
a hodgepodge of
wildflowers, n
ot a rose in sight. 

“Have you only just arrived
,
Hawksley?”  Poppy asked in an attempt to break the aw
k
ward silence, her
vo
i
ce
husky with nerves
.  “I hope your trip was uneven
t
ful.” 

“Yes
,
it was
a
v
ery pleasant
trip
indeed
, beautiful
country
side surrounds
Rosebriar.
”
H
e cleared
his throat.  “I just arrived a few moments ago
.
  I
left my
Arabian
,
Lucifer
, at the front to be stabled,
”
he
informed.  “My coach and valet sh
ould arrive sometime
this afte
r
noon.”

“Lucifer
?
”  Poppy
inquired
, her brow furrowed when she looked
into his eyes.
  “He sounds like a fearsome beast.” 
She once
again los
t
her train of thought
as she watched a gli
m
mer of amusement light up his eyes.
 

He cleared his throat, biting
bac
k a grin.  “B
east
,
most definitely.  F
earsome
,
no.  He is a pussycat.
” 
Their encounter amused him.
  A feeling of excitement coursed through his body.
  They both seemed genuinely flummoxed by their mee
t
ing.