Read School For Heiresses 2- Only a Duke Will Do for Free Online Page B

forgot the lessons I learned from it.”
    A Chinese lamp hanging from the oak’s low limb sent light dappling his golden hair, glinting in his brilliant eyes. Suddenly she realized that although they could still hear the sounds of the fete, they were essentially alone, cut off from the crowd by a stand of birch trees.
    He stepped nearer. “I have not forgotten the past, either. But apparently my memories differ substantially from yours.”
    The sudden feral hunger in his eyes spoke to the dark wildness that she’d suppressed inside her these many long years. Her breath hitched in her throat. “What do you mean?”
    “I remember long waltzes and longer conversations. I remember a time when you did trust me.”
    “Before I discovered how false your attentions were, you mean.”
    “They were not all false,” he said softly. “And you know it.” He reached up to seize her chin in a firm grip.
    As he bent his head, a frisson of anticipation swept her. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked, though she very much feared she knew.
    “Finding out if you taste as good as I remember.” Then he covered her mouth with his. Heaven help her. He certainly tasted as good as she remembered. Memory catapulted her back to the first time he’d kissed her, with a magical tenderness that had captured her heart. But this wasn’t then, and this kiss wasn’t that one.
    Firm, hot, lush…it was as exotic and thrilling as the India he’d commanded. The way his mouth commanded hers now, demanding a response.
    And like some half-wit schoolgirl, she gave it, letting that secret, feminine part of her thrill to the fact that he could still desire her after what she’d done to him.
    To him! How about what he’d done to her? She wrenched her lips free. “That’s enough, Your Grace,”
    she said, struggling to sound cool and unruffled.
    “Not enough for me,” he murmured as he bent his mouth to hers again. She wriggled away. “We’re done now, sir.”
    Severely shaken, she turned to hurry down the path, eager to escape before she revealed how much he affected her.
    His rumble of a voice came out of the darkness behind her. “Very wise of you, Louisa. You wouldn’t want me to find out that you have not put the past behind you after all. I might take advantage.”
    A pox on him for reading her mind! She should ignore the taunt and walk away, but his arrogance was so annoying—
    “You’re wrong.” She whirled on him. “I assure you I have outgrown you utterly.”
    With a maddening lift of his eyebrow, he strolled up to her. “Then why are you rushing to get away?”
    “I don’t want anyone to see us alone together and start up the gossip again.”
    “No one is here, and no one is coming.” He cast her a mocking smile. “Admit it, you are merely afraid to let me kiss you.”
    “Clearly I am not afraid, for I—”
    “—barely gave me time to brush my lips over yours. That was not a real kiss.” He shrugged. “But I understand—you dare not give me a real kiss or you might discover you still have feelings for me.” His gaze drifted to her mouth. “Unless you simply don’t know what a real kiss, an intimate kiss, is like.”
    An intimate kiss?
    She’d once foolishly let some naughty fellow at court give her an “intimate kiss.” It was disgusting, and she’d hated it.
    A slow smile touched her lips. How better to cure herself of any lingering attraction to Simon than to let him give her one of those messy and embarrassing “intimate” kisses?
    “Oh, very well.” She stepped nearer and lifted her face to his. “I suppose you won’t rest until you have your ‘real’ kiss. So let’s get to it, shall we?”
    For a second he stared at her, clearly not sure what to make of her sudden capitulation. Then his eyes narrowed and he took her mouth again, this time delving inside it with his bold, searching tongue. Oh no, she’d made a rather significant miscalculation. Apparently one’s enjoyment of an