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it if you would leave my family out of this!’
    ‘Oh-ho,’ Roxburghe grinned up at her appreciatively, ‘The little cousin has a temper! It becomes you. I swear, you’re looking prettier to me by the minute.’ Setting his glass down carefully, he rose to his feet. Despite the fact that he’d clearly had a great deal to drink, his body didn’t show it, movements graceful and precise. ‘Don’t waste all that passion on defending a pair of minxes that are no better than they should be girl. Save it for the bedroom.’ And before Sophie could gather her wits, he’d closed the distance between them and she was in his arms.

 
    Chapter Three
     
     
     
    His body was hard and warm against her own and his mouth was a revelation.
    Sophie had never been kissed by a man before.
    She had certainly never been kissed by a man like Roxburghe before. The moment his mouth found her own, a shock of delicious pleasure slammed through her, turning her upside down.
    He started slowly, lips feather soft against her own, teasing them into life. Sophie was so surprised by the unexpected up rush of pleasure that the feel of his mouth on her own generated that she remained pliant, stunned into acquiescence as heat suffused her body in a breathtaking rush. When the pressure of his mouth became more demanding she opened to him instinctively, as if her mouth knew something that her mind did not, eagerly responding to his demands. He tasted of wine and warmth and mystery and she longed for more, for the satiation of something she had not, until this moment, known that she craved.
    The delicate assault to her senses continued, his tongue seeking ingress, warm and insistent as it stroked against her own. Such an intrusion should have been shocking but she welcome it, just as she welcomed the hard pressure of his body as it pressed against her, her own softness yielding to its opposite number, melding to him.
    The kiss was a revelation, igniting feelings in Sophie she had never dreamed existed and she allowed herself be overwhelmed, lighting up in a fever of need. She was so immersed in the delicious surprise of his mouth taking possession of her own that it took some moments before she registered what the hardness pressed against her hip was and the realization of what, exactly, it was caused a jolt of excited alarm to shiver through her. When one hand moved to cup a breast through the thin wool of her gown, fingers probing until they found a sensitized nipped, she moaned, the sound lost as he continued to explore her mouth with ruthless thoroughness.
    The moment seemed to go on forever; Sophie held fast, a willing captive to a world of exquisite sensation she’d never dreamed existed. It was only the sound of footsteps and the creak of floorboards in the hallway beyond that brought her back to reality. The reality was that she was allowing a man – a perfect stranger! – to make free with her lips.
    Swimming up from a sea of unfamiliar desire, she struggled against the delicious heat his hands and his mouth had stirred within her. Raising her own hands, she pushed against his chest, hard, taking Roxburghe by surprise. She stumbled back a few paces, as unsteady as if it were she who was drunk. Sophie’s legs, like the rest of her, felt as if they might give way at any moment. The warm imprint of his fingers on her breast remained, as did the feel of his mouth against her own. Like a brand, his touch had left a stain on her skin and she resisted the urge to wipe her own hand over her throbbing lips to erase the taste of him.
    Roxburghe stared at her, dark eyes slumberous and heavy with desire he did not attempt to conceal. ‘My God!’ he breathed, shaking his head, ‘Cousin Sophie, you have unexpected depths! Come here so that I may explore them further…’
    Sophie took a deep breath and tried to think, holding up a hand to ward him off. ‘Wait! Stop, please. This isn’t right. I… I don’t know what just happened…’
    ‘I do. You