The Inconvenient Duchess

privacy, Miranda? Or seeking me?’
    ‘St John.’ She whirled to see him standing in the shadows next to an ornamental shrub.
    ‘Of course. You did not think I would be gone for long, my dear, with so much unfinished between us.’
    ‘There is nothing unfinished. I thought, when I slammed the door in your face, that I made my opinion plain.’
    ‘Not plain enough by half. In my experience, a slammed door is an invitation to try harder the next time. If we were truly done, you would have told Marcus. And he would have called me out as he’s been longing to for years.’
    He stepped closer and she stepped back, running up against the terrace balustrade.
    ‘But you didn’t tell him anything, did you, Miranda? Why not? Are you ashamed of the way you acted? Because of the way you encouraged my advances while your husband was away?’
    ‘I did not encourage you.’
    ‘You did not discourage me, as you should have if you meant to be faithful to my brother. Perhaps I am just saving him the trouble of discovering later what a faithless wench he married.’
    He leaned into her, and she scrambled away from him, pressing her back against the balustrade. ‘You are afraid, now that your husband is close, of what might still happen between us?’
    ‘Nothing will happen between us.’ She tried to pull away, but he trapped her between his arm and the planter beside her.
    ‘Too late, my dear. There is already something between us. You felt it. Don’t deny it.’
    ‘I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I was interested.’
    ‘Gave me the impression?’ He leaned closer and his soft laugh stirred the hair near her ear. ‘Your eyes darkened when I got close. And your breath quickened. You tugged at my lip with your teeth as I kissed you.’
    ‘Stop it.’ She pushed hard against him, shoving past him to go back to the dance floor.
    He caught her wrist as she passed and held her firm.
    ‘Let me go,’ she whispered. ‘People will see.’
    ‘And why would I care?’
    She noticed with shock the wolfish, predatory look he had about him.
    ‘Your reputation would suffer. Mine would increase. Ask your husband. It is no less than the sort of behaviour that everyone expects of me.’
    ‘What do you want?’ She glared at him. ‘What must I do to make you let me go?’
    ‘Let you go?’ He puzzled over the phrase. ‘I have no intention of letting you go, now that I have you where I want. Perhaps, someday when I am tired of you, when the game becomes boring, but I’m sure there are many things we can find to do before that day.’
    ‘Let me go this instant, or I’ll—’
    ‘Tell your husband? Let’s tell him together and see whom he listens to. I’ll tell him all about the two weeks we spent together. I won’t even have to lie. I know my brother better than you, darling. I assure you, the truth will be quite damning enough.’
    ‘Then what must I do—’ she gritted her teeth ‘—for your silence?’
    ‘Simply be a generous sister.’ He leaned forward again and licked the shell of her ear.
    ‘You disgust me.’
    ‘With the lights on, perhaps. But in the dark, you will find me charming. And with my brother busy, putting the estate in order, we will have plenty of time to know each other better.’
    She shuddered. ‘He’ll kill you.’
    ‘Only if he catches us. He’ll kill you as well. A very jealous man, my brother is.’
    ‘But suppose…?’
    ‘That you bear my brother a litter of blond-haired bastards?’ He laughed. ‘For that is my brother’s worst nightmare, you know. Kind of an obsession, really.’ He reached around and dug a fist into her belly, searching for telltale hardness. ‘Not increasing yet, are you? Then, for now, we’ll have to be careful. My brother can have the womb and good luck to him. It’s all he’s really interested in. But I demand right to everything else.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Really? Are you sure? It’s not an unpleasant thing I’m suggesting. Quite pleasurable, really. But you know that already, don’t you?’
    She stiffened. ‘Whatever are you talking about?’
    ‘Only that I know where you came from, my dear. A skilled pupil of Lady Cecily Dawson, aren’t you? How much did she teach you, I wonder, before sending you off to my brother to play at being a duchess?’
    ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
    ‘Of course not, Miranda. You will no doubt claim that you had no idea that your guardian was a notorious courtesan. My mother told me everything,