The Seduction of Sebastian St. James (House of Renwick #2)(46)

Emma righted her skirts and took Sebastian’s offered hand. Words weren’t needed. Cursing herself for being caught up in the moment, she blushed when Sebastian put his arms around her waist and lifted her to her horse.

If his kiss told her anything, it was that he felt the same way she did. Confused, she wasn’t sure what it meant. Did that mean he wanted to marry her? Or was he merely attracted to her?

Doubt began to creep in, and then Sebastian’s horse joined hers.

“Think you can manage to race back without being caught? We don’t want to cause any scandal, do we?” He grinned, looking only at her lips.

“Course not,” she answered, then urged her horse into another gallop.

He soon followed only stopping at the stables. “We’ll have to sneak back in the manor.”

Emma laughed. “The angel duke knows how to sneak, does he?”

Gripping her by the waist, Sebastian pulled her into his arms and rained kisses down her neck. “I know how to do many things, Emma. Would you like to see?”

Thankful that he couldn’t see her blush, Emma pushed him away. “Cad. Now help me get back in the house before you soil your spotless reputation.”

****

Emma giggled to herself as she readied for the final ball of the house party. It had been two days since the duke’s unwelcome intrusion into her marriage plans. His kiss had caused a stir inside her soul she had long forgotten. Now she found it impossible not to smile. She hadn’t needed to seduce the duke at all. She was drunk from his touch, desperately needing more and more of him until she thought she might die inside.

They hadn’t discussed the first kiss or the second. He had only led her back to the house, tucked her into bed, and threatened her within an inch of her life to never run away from him again.

A promise she was sure she could keep.

She had been ruined.

By him.

For all other men.

He didn’t yet know the truth. The guilt was eating away at her, but he hadn’t spoken his intentions either. She told herself she would explain everything once she knew he would be hers. Until then, she would dream of his kisses.

“Emma?” A knock came at the door. Sebastian entered looking so deliciously handsome she had to hold on to her own hands lest she lunge for him and throw him onto the bed.

Apparently she was a wanton woman after only a few kisses.

She was the wild woman Rawlings said she was, only in an entirely different way than she remembered.

“Beautiful,” Sebastian said, approaching her. He kept his hands behind his back, and a guilty grin crossed his features.

“What’s behind your back?” Breathless, she tried to take a peak, but he gave her a stern look and told her to close her eyes.

She did. Within seconds she felt something cold wrap around her neck. It was heavy and most likely expensive.

“Open them,” he said softly behind her.

Sebastian was standing poised in the doorway, watching intently in the mirror as she touched the beautiful ruby necklace he had placed on her neck.

“But it’s…too expensive. It’s…”

“Of course. Would the future Duchess of Tempest wear anything less than perfect?”

Emma’s heart soared. Was he proposing?

“After all, appearances are everything. We have to make sure everyone believes we are truly in love.”

Words would not come. The room started to spin. Emma leaned on Sebastian for support. “Yes, yes of course. You are correct.”

Sebastian said nothing. He merely scrutinized her as if she was a prize piece of horseflesh. Had their kisses and stolen moments days before meant nothing? Was he just being a rake of the first order? Stealing a kiss at the opportune moment? Emma mentally replayed all the times they had been together, getting sicker by the minute. Sebastian had done nothing except play the part. Yes he had kissed her and acted jealous at times, but he was still a man.

A man whose heart she regrettably realized she did not have.

“Shall we?” Sebastian offered his arm.

Blindingly, Emma reached for it and prayed she would survive the last night at the house party. It finally became clear to her. She was in love with a man who would never love her back. A man who truly was using her for his own purpose. Granted she had agreed to his adventurous little jaunt, but never did it cross her mind that she did not affect him the same way he had her.

****

He had to be sure. He needed to be sure she felt the same way about him. Yes, maybe what he had done was cruel, but he needed to know it wasn’t just temporary insanity. He wanted Emma to lust for him, to desire him as a man. The stolen kisses had nearly undone him, but what he needed more than that was possession of the woman behind them. A wild woman who would never be tamed, who held secrets he longed to discover. He wanted her.

Never claiming to be the slyest of foxes, he did the only thing he could come up with on his own, sans Nicholas. He used the necklace to gauge her feelings, to see if she would become jealous or sad.

And it worked. Brilliantly. Granted, her heart was probably clenching, imagine her surprise when later tonight he proposed to her. This time it would be real. He had sent for the ring earlier that the morning. He had also sent notice to Nicholas and Sara as well as his grandmother. All of whom would be in attendance tonight. The night he would claim Emma forever.