For the Love of a Soldier (48 page)

When she felt his tongue run along her lips, she gasped and drew back. She needed to breathe, to pause and gather her thoughts that had scattered like leaves to the winds. “We should stop. We can’t—”

“You’re so right.” He moistened his lips and she nearly shuddered at the hot, smoldering look he gave her. “But Jules, I did warn you about this being dangerous. Now it’s too late.”

His mouth again swooped down and plundered hers, devouring and demanding more and still more. Ripples of pleasure spiraled through her body. He aroused yearnings in her that she hadn’t known she possessed. She had recently wondered if she would ever feel them for Edmund…until now.

He drew back, and Julia blinked up at him, struggling to
clear the sensual haze engulfing her. When clarity returned, she realized she was still intimately pressed against Edmund. His arms around her waist fully supported her, and through her riding habit she could feel his heart pounding against hers.

Flushing, she tugged free of Edmund’s embrace and straightened, grateful that her legs managed to support her weight when she stepped away.

“Well, then.” Her voice was breathless and sounded strange to her ears. Lifting an unsteady hand, she tucked an errant strand of hair back under her bonnet rim.

“Well, then indeed.” He smiled. “I had doubts about coming home, but no more.”

Her breath caught at the sultry look he swept over her. She wished she could say she was glad, too. The new Julia would have done so, but she was feeling more and more her old responsible self and a bit appalled at her brazen behavior. She tugged down her riding jacket, but refused the urge to run her fingers over her swollen lips. “So we are agreed. It is long past time we set a date and stop the run of wagers at White’s.”

She frowned when the smile curving his lips froze and then disappeared. After a moment, he lifted a hand to rub it along his neck in that strange, new adopted mannerism of his. “Ah, about that date. There is one minor complication in regard to that.”

“Oh?” Her hand stilled. “And what is that?”

“As much as I wish it otherwise, I’m not in a position to be making any future dates with you.”

“What are you talking about?” she demanded, a cold chill suffusing her, dousing the simmering embers of their shared passion. “You’re not backing out of the betrothal agreement. You can’t. My father would ruin you.”

“Particularly after that kiss,” he agreed quite amicably and leaned close to her as his eyes flashed with a spark of defiance. “But it was worth it.”

She stepped back and fisted her hands at her sides, a hard ball of suspicion curdling deep in her gut. She should have listened to his earlier stammers—or warnings. She hoped it wasn’t too late to do so.

“However, your father’s desire to murder me would be for
different reasons than you think. I can’t set a date because I am not in a position to do so, which is what I tried to explain earlier.”

She simply stared at him, waiting him out. She was done talking. Done with being young and foolish and reckless. She feared she was about to pay the price for allowing herself to be so for one lovely moment.

“You see, I’m not Edmund.”