Excerpt of Wicked Temptations by Patricia Watters

During the social following the church service later that day, Adam managed to catch Priscilla alone, and after escorting her around behind the church to the private spot where they had picnicked, he said in a remorseful voice, "Are you really alright?"

Priscilla looked at him, her expression a combination of bafflement and irritation, and said, "I don't know what you mean by really alright, but yes, Adam, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Adam understood Priscilla's testy demeanor. Guilt for his lack of control in the buggy hung over him like a shroud. She didn't need the first man in her life pawing all over her like she were a common trollop, which was exactly what he'd done. Fondling her breasts, getting under her skirts, even releasing himself to take her virtue. Damn near did but for one last thrust. She deserved better. She should be treated like the virtuous woman she was. "In the buggy last night, things got out of hand," he said. "I never intended to get so carried away. I took advantage of you during a weak moment, and it was inexcusable of me. I'm very sorry, Priscilla, and I hope you'll forgive me. You are a lady in every sense of the word, and I behaved like a rake."

Priscilla's lips flattened into what Adam could only describe as vexation, which baffled him. He'd hoped his apology would put her in his good graces. "I see you're still angry with me," he said, "and with good reason."

Priscilla sucked in a breath through flared nostrils, and said, "No, I'm not angry with you, Adam. I'm frustrated. You behaved exactly the way I hoped you would. I'm only sorry that the buggy bogged down." She looked steadily at him, lips parted, eyes holding a glint of unfulfilled passion.

Resisting the urge to kiss her senseless, he said, "You can't mean that."

The glint in her eyes sharpened. "Oh, but I do. I'm tired of being viewed as the plain, unattractive spinster lady who has never been touched by a man because no man found me attractive enough to do so. You almost did. But then you decided at the last minute to leave me yet untouched. This morning, I would liked to have awakened with a blush on my face. Instead, I awakened feeling frustrated, like a child in a candy shop who must forever look at the candy without ever tasting it."

Adam stared at her, dumbfounded. When he finally found his voice, he said, "There is nothing more that I want at the moment than to open every jar in the candy shop and let you feast on it, as long as I can feast along with you. The only reason you're still a maiden lady is because I believe you deserve more."

"I don't care what you believe, Adam. I want to be touched by you, and I want to be touched all over. And I want you to kiss me everywhere. I don't care if it is in a buggy, or on a mattress pad upstairs in The Town Tattler building, or here on the church grounds with God as our witness to the impropriety of it. I want you to be the man to put an eternal blush on my very pale face. I don't even care if it makes my freckles stand out more."

Adam had never met a woman as completely outspoken about her intimate desires as Priscilla, and he found it refreshing and arousing, the tightening in his breeches reminding him that he would very much like to put that blush on her face, right now, on the church grounds, with God as their witness. That not being an option, he lifted his hand to her face and moved toward her to give her a kiss. But before he could stop her, she threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss so soundly on his lips that he had to brace his legs to keep from falling backwards. When he recovered his balance, he broke the kiss, and said, "Sweet lady, your enthusiasm will be the death of me."

"And me," Priscilla said, in an eager voice. "You bring out a beast that dwells inside me that I had not known existed before you awakened it."

Adam loved the way she met things head-on, no beating around the bush. But there was one issue that troubled him deeply. The matter of her virginity. She was ready to give it to him, and he was certain she'd come to regret it because he didn't see marriage in his future. Once out of the marriage contract with Mary Kate Burns, he'd decided he needed a nanny for the children, not a mother. And definitely not a wife. His one experience with that honorable estate was enough to sour him on it permanently. Nor could he see Priscilla filling the role of wife and mother, when clearly The Town Tattler was her focus.

He took her by the shoulders, looked into her eyes, and said, "About my taking your virtue, it's not something you should—"

"Don't preach to me about my virtue, Adam. I'm in no frame of mind to hear yet another sermon today. If you don't wish to finish the job we started in the buggy I'll understand and say no more about it. But if you are so inclined, but feel reluctant to do what some might consider a dastardly deed by taking an unmarried woman's virginity, then I want to assure you that if you do, I'll treasure the memory of it for the rest of my life. I only hope that if it's to be my first and last experience, you'll make it worth my while. And I'll try to do the same for you, inexperienced as I am. But I have a rather vivid imagination, and I can think of several things I'd do that I believe you'd thoroughly enjoy."