Three Nights with a Scoundrel (Stud Club #3)(29)

“I don’t want things to change. Why can’t we just stay friends forever?”

“Because …” His grip tightened on her shoulders, and excitement rippled through her veins. “Lily, you can’t tell me you don’t know.”

No, she couldn’t. A hidden, deeply feminine part of her understood him perfectly. And yet … “I want you to say it.”

He pulled her to him, bringing her body flush against his. “Because I want you, Lily, the way a man wants a woman. I always have.”

He held her fast, and she stood breathless, slowly becoming aware of his body. Then, slowly, growing aware of her own. She had a thin, willowy build. People always teased that there was scarcely anything to her. But here in his arms, she felt her own substance. Her weight, her heat, her curves.

“There’s always been a tension between us,” he said. “I know you must feel it. Tell me you feel it, too.”

She nodded. Oh, yes. The tension, the attraction, the force of his ardor. She felt all those things. But she could also feel it—a firm ridge, swelling against her belly. The physical manifestation of male desire, and yet she wasn’t made timid by the display. To the contrary, for the first time in months, she felt powerful and strong.

His eyes searched hers, then dropped to linger on her lips. She watched his mouth as he formed the unmistakable syllables of her name. “Lily.”

So prescient of her parents, giving her that name. L-sounds were among the easiest to lip-read. The trouble was, the shape of her name always looked a bit silly to her. Especially with her honorific attached: “Lady Lily.” Two l’s were bad enough, but three were ridiculous. All that tongue-flapping made her want to giggle.

But when Julian spoke her name, it never looked like a joke to her. No, it looked vaguely … naughty. Sensual, not silly. She’d always loved watching her name on his lips.

Always.

The word seeped down into her bones, into her soul, where it simply … fell into place. Like the moment of triumph she felt after scouring a ledger a dozen times and finally finding the six shillings unaccounted for, in the column where she’d mistaken a seven for a one. At last, it all made sense—all the quarreling and worrying and strange tingling that resulted from his touch. This explained why he’d grown so inordinately protective of her, and why the sight of his blood on her fingertips had thrown her into absolute panic. Because he’d always wanted her this way. And deep down—so far deep down she hadn’t even been fully aware of it until this moment—she’d always desired him, too.

Here was the answer. Who were they, without Leo?

They were two people who wanted each other.

And right now, they were two people who were just about to kiss.

Chapter Seven

Lily leaned into his embrace, needing to touch him. Wanting him to know that she craved this, too. She knew she ought to close her eyes for the kiss, but she just couldn’t. So she watched, restless with anticipation, as his mouth lowered to hers. And just as his breath caressed her lips …

He startled. And leapt back.

Left with nothing to lean against, Lily pitched forward. She barely managed to catch the mantel’s edge before tumbling to the floor. She shook herself, confused and gasping and uncertain where to look. Had she merely misread his words, or the entire situation? How much mortification could fit into one evening, anyway?

Finally, unable to do otherwise, she looked to Julian for an explanation.

He said, “My God. You’re pregnant.”

What? Her mind rattled in her skull, shaken by the utter impossibility of that statement. To be sure, she’d just felt the tangible proof of his virility pressed against the general vicinity of her womb … But no man was so potent as that.

Then she realized Julian wasn’t speaking to her.

Lily turned, pressing a hand to her chest. In the corner of the room she spied Claudia, the duke’s young ward, shyly emerging from behind a fold of velvet drapery.

“You’re pregnant,” Julian repeated, moving toward the girl.

Claudia placed a hand on her belly. “So the doctors tell me.”

He turned to Lily. “Did you know about this?”

She shook her head. “They’ve kept it very quiet. I only learned of it this afternoon. Claudia’s condition, I mean. Believe me, I had no idea she was hiding in the draperies.” She turned to the girl. “I thought you were to remain upstairs.”

“I was,” she said, biting her lip. “I was supposed to stay upstairs. I only wanted a look in at the party.”

And at the naval officers, Lily imagined. Claudia was nothing if not curious about handsome young men.

“Then you came in,” she went on, “and so I hid. I meant to simply wait until you left the room, but …” Her cheeks colored. “Eventually, it seemed better to reveal my presence than conceal it.”

Claudia cast a wary look at Julian, causing Lily to wonder if the girl believed herself to be protecting Lily with her interruption. It would have been almost sweet of her, if it weren’t so wholly unnecessary. Not to mention unwanted. She looked to Julian, but he was studiously avoiding her gaze, frowning at the carpet instead. She doubted his frustration was meant for the interlocking rings of cream and gold. No, he was angry with himself. He regretted what had just occurred between them. Or rather, what had almost occurred.