"
I once stared down a bull that got free of its rope in a crowded souk. I've
climbed a banyan treeโ barefoot in a monsoonโ to rescue a litter of stranded
kittens, and I helped a lady give birth in a flood-trapped barouche while the
men around me flew into hysteria....I don't like too many bows on my bonnets or
sugar in my tea, and roses bring me out in a rash...So that's me for you. Now
might we proceed? I'm in rather a hurry if you don't mind. I've got a pair of
abandoned breeches to rescue from a stray bathing machine." ~ Miss Rebecca
Boudicca Sherringham introduces herself to Colonel Luke Wainwright.
In
SINFULLY EVER AFTER
Rebecca Sherringham has lived a busy life traveling with her fatherโ a major
in the Armyโ and rescuing both him, and her rakish brother Nathaniel, from
various scrapes. By the grand age of twenty two, she's had quite enough
adventure. Now her father is retired, she's delighted to settle with him in the
quiet village of Hawcombe Prior, where she can finally make lasting friendships
and take a well-earned rest from all the excitement.
But despite her desire for a tranquil life, she's still very much in charge and
does not easily relinquish control. As she says to her friend Justina, "
When
there is drama in real life , at least one person has to remain sensible, and in
my family that person is me."
It is a role she's grown up playing out of necessity, since her mother died
years ago, and it hasn't left much time for her to enjoy more "ladylike"
pastimes. She considers herself the least likely romantic heroine that ever
lived and refuses to encourage suitors. As for a real life hero, she tells her
friend, "
I'd prefer him to live in the pages. Then I might shut the book
whenever I'm tired of him, and if he does something intensely stupid, I can even
throw him at a wall."
And then along comes Colonel "Lucky" Lucius Wainwright, a man who is supposed to
be dead, is rumored to have kept a harem at one point in his unruly life, and
appears to have fathered at least one illegitimate child. Unlike Rebecca he
apparently enjoys an utterly carefree existence. In her scornful view, Lucky
Luke is a man who avoids his responsibilities and therefore could never be
trusted or believed. She's all too familiar with the type.
Unfortunately, thanks to one of her brother's gambling debts and her own need to
manage the family's troubles, she owes scandalous Lucky Luke a kiss. She's
always taken charge and picked up the pieces. The paying of this debt will be no
different.
Surely she can retain her supreme self-control in this adventure. It's only a kiss.
But Rebecca is about to find out that she doesn't know everything about men
after all and there is one thing she can't control. Her heart.
* * * *
"Kiss me then," she demanded.
"Where?"
"Where? On the lips of course, where else?"
Slowlyโvery slowlyโ he smiled.
She released his shirt sleeves. "I cannot think where elseโ"
He raised his free hand to the tiny seed pearl buttons that closed the lace
above her bodice. Very carefully his large fingers worked each one free, his
dark gaze following their progress. He swept the delicate lace aside to expose
skin at the base of her throat.
"You should never have agreed to pay your brother's debt this way, Miss
Sherringham. I'm the last man you should ever permit to kiss you."
She gasped, annoyed that he still delayed. Even further irritated by his
attempts to teach her about men. "If I didn't already have functioning eyes and
ears in my head, I might need the caution. But even if was the stupidest girl in
the world, isn't it rather late to be telling me this now? The debt, sir, was
agreed upon."
He ignored that and continued with his warning. And the teasingly slow
unbuttoning of her lace. "I'm too old, Miss Sherringham, too damaged, too
selfish and set in my ways. Too dangerous for you."
She scoffed, "What makes you so dangerous?" It wasn't as if he could catch her
if she ran away and made him chase her around the table, was it? Not that she
felt inclined to run anywhere. It was really quite sweet and comical that he
thought he had to warn her.
"I'm a sinner with no heart," his fingertips trailed gently over the base of her
throat and down across the upper curve of her breast. "No conscience. No soft
words and tender feelings. I'd never court you with posies and love letters. I
don't dance and I don't know the first thing about poetry."
"Sakes! You don't say!"
"I'm not the faithful kind to sit at your feet and pine."
"Of all this I am well aware," she exclaimed, tension and anticipation making
her sound cross. "Just because I once saw you cuddling a pup inside your coat
doesn't mean I'm fooled into thinking you Prince Charming."
He growled, "For the last time wench, I wasn't cuddling or coddlingโ"
"This is only one kiss. I'm not expecting courtship from you, sir."
Luke's gaze followed his fingers across her bosom, tracing a light, ticklish
pattern over the goose-bumps he'd conjured with his touch and his whispers. "So
you want nothing more from me? You have no romantic expectations?"
"I am no naive fool! I agreed to pay a debt for my brother and I don't go back
on my word."
"Good." His eyelids lowered as he popped the final button free with his rough
finger.
Becky tried to swallow, but found her throat too dry.
"Because the last thing I need," he added, "is a woman hanging on me. I'm not a
man to be trapped, Miss Sherringham. I'm happy alone on my island. Let me be
clear. I'm not a marrying man."
It was almost as if he said all this to reassure himself, she mused. "What makes
you think I'm a marrying woman?"
"All girls are, of course. You can't help it. 'Tis the way you are made."
"I'm not a girl. I'm two and twenty. You don't have to worry that I want
anything more from a man like you."
"Just to be sure of where we both stand, Miss Sherringham." Lucky Luke bent his
head and she felt his warm breath on the bared skin of her breast. "One kiss and
no more."
She closed her eyes, barely listening, drawing a deep breath of wonderment as
his warm lips made contact with her flesh at last.
* * * *
You can read more about the strange courtship of Rebecca the Bold and scandalous
Lucky Luke in
SINFULLY EVER
AFTER. Thank you for reading!
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