Hunt backed up and walked around her. “If you will excuse me.”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “No.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and attempted to pull him in for a kiss, but he resisted.
The library door opened, and Diana stepped in. “What the devil is going on in here?”
Lady Eunice growled and turned to Diana. “Lord Huntington and I are having a private conversation. You may leave now.”
“No, we’re not,” Hunt said, taking a deep breath of relief. Who knew Diana would be the one to rescue him this time? He finally pried Lady Eunice’s arms from around his neck. “I got a note supposedly from you asking me to meet you here.”
Diana walked up to Lady Eunice and took her arm. “May I escort you back to the ballroom, dear? I am sure your guests are missing you.”
“No.” She attempted to pull her arm free.
“Um, actually, Eunice that was not a question or a request.” With a solid grip on her arm, Diana marched the girl firmly toward the door, opened it and pushed her through.
Diana leaned against the closed door and grinned
. “Almost got caught, didn’t you?”
Hunt walked toward her, and she joined him halfway. He wrapped her in his arms, delight from the near disaster flooding his body. “I can’t thank you enough. How did you even know we were here?”
“Eunice invited me to join her in the ladies retiring room. After about ten minutes I noticed she was gone and hadn’t said anything to me. At first I didn’t think too much about it, but after a while her absence began to concern me.
“When I didn’t see you or her in either the ballroom or the card room, I decided my suspicions were valid and since most ‘compromises’ take place in libraries, I made that my first stop.”
Hunt stared down at her. Flushed skin, bright eyes, plump lips ready for kissing. Slowly he bent his head and took her mouth in scorching possession. He’d dreamt of this moment, as well as other more erotic encounters for weeks. Her body pressed against his felt perfect. She fit in all the right places.
He cupped her head and turned it so he could take the kiss deeper, prodding her lips with his tongue. She opened, and he explored her warm, moist mouth. His tongue slid over her teeth and tongue, tasting, sucking. He must be crazy since this would only lead to places he didn’t want to go.
Of course he did want to be in those interesting and scandalous places, but this was Diana. Lady Trouble.
His hand seemed to slide up her body of its own volition. He cupped her breast, massaging gently and then slid his finger into the bodice to skim over her already turgid nipple.
They sprang apart as the library door opened.
“What is the meaning of this?” Lady Grafton’s loud voice faded, and she gasped when she saw Diana.
Lord Grafton stood alongside her looking confused. “I thought—”
“Never mind, Jasper,” Lady Grafton snapped.
Within seconds, it seemed, three other people joined Lord and Lady Grafton at the door. More gasps and comments followed.
Hunt pulled Diana back to his chest and rested his chin on her head. “Ah, so now it begins.”
12
Hunt stared at Lord Grafton who had apparently recovered from the shock of finding their selected victim with Diana in the library instead of their daughter. He now apparently decided to portray the insulted host who had to handle the apparent scandal.
“Lady Diana, who is responsible for you with your father residing out in South Yorkshire?” Lord Grafton barely got the words out with his wife glaring at him as if the debacle was his fault.
Lady Grafton turned her glare to Diana. Obviously she, her husband and Lady Eunice had all been involved in an attempt to trap him into wedlock. Although they’d failed, Hunt mused, he was still staring at the parson’s noose.
With Diana.
Lady Trouble.
The woman he’d lusted after for weeks.