A Rogue for Christmas

Chapter 1-2

In Perdita’s experience, being a wealthy heiress was a terrible burden. It put a mark on her. She’d fought off fortune hunters for the last few years, but a man like Milburn was dangerous in other ways. He didn’t care about her money—he cared about breaking her spirit and possibly even killing her if she didn’t give him what he desired. She was sport.

She’d made the mistake of meeting him at a dinner party last fall, and he had immediately shown an interest in her once he’d learned she was none other than Miss Darby, the beloved lady of the ton who all sought to please with their praise and their many invitations.

Perdita had not wished to cultivate such a favored reputation on purpose, but it had happened quite naturally. But to Milburn she became a prize he wished to win—and then suffocate and destroy. Once he had her in his sights, he had been able to contrive a scheme that could destroy her family and blackmail her into accepting his proposal.

“What does this have to do with me? Or did you merely wish to tumble in my sheets to avoid marrying some silly young buck? I don’t care much for ruining innocents, but in your case I might make an exception,” Darlington said, his sharp gaze on her.

Perdita considered reminding him he had in fact attempted to ruin her innocent friend over a wager, but she thought better of it. Quarreling with him now would not aid her in acquiring his help.

“I wish to engage your services.” She still couldn’t say the words. It was too humiliating.

“My services?” He shifted slightly, a frown curving his lips. “What services do you require?” When Darlington said services, it sounded sinful, wicked.

“I wish to hire your cooperation in appearing to be engaged to me, publicly. Not a true engagement, just for a few months, to deter the other gentleman so he will leave me be.” She glanced down, playing with her gloves. She was betting that Milburn would lose interest if he believed he had another challenger for her hand.

His eyes turned wintry, almost chilling as they settled on her fidgeting hands. “So I’m to play your fiancé? What’s to be my reward in scaring the bounder off?” Darlington still leaned against the side of the chair, but Perdita was more aware of him than ever. The small distance between them seemed to shrink every second.

“I will pay you. I have access to some of my dowry. It is invested in a private bank with Lady Rosalind Lennox. My father put the funds in his name, but he allows me to have some control over them.”

Darlington stroked his chin. “I require a more permanent solution than a temporary flow of money. You said you bank with Lady Lennox?” He continued to stare at her with that assessing gaze, and she suddenly feared he might not agree, that he might consider blackmailing her directly for her funds in the bank by exposing her visit to his townhouse. Surely he wouldn’t dare.

When he still gazed at her expectantly, she realized he awaited some response to his question. She nodded.

“Then you are acquainted with Lord Lennox, her husband? He is a selective but successful investor. I wish to be involved in whatever scheme he chooses to invest in next.”

Perdita nodded again. She was well acquainted with Rosalind Lennox, but she only knew of her husband, Ashton Lennox, in passing. Perhaps she could persuade Rosalind to allow Darlington to invest with her husband. She only hoped such a request wouldn’t seem inappropriate to her friend. It was a risk she had to take to avoid marriage to a man like Samuel Milburn.

“I believe I can arrange a meeting. As to whether he allows you to invest…” There was no way she could guarantee that.

Darlington pushed away from the chair and came up to her. The simple action seemed to change everything between them. Before he hadn’t seemed so threatening. But now with his towering frame so close, she felt very much like a tiny rabbit facing a very large wolf. She knew he was tall, but standing inches away from him made her feel small and feminine in a way she never had before. It took a moment for her to catch her breath. She had to tilt her face back to look up at him.

“I suppose that would be good enough. But you know once we have begun this charade, everyone will expect us to marry.” It sounded like he was warning her. They would never marry. If there was one thing she was certain of, she would not marry the Devil of London.

“I am aware of that. After a time I deem prudent, you may cry off our engagement and go on as you please.” She had to be completely sure Samuel Milburn was no longer interested in her, and only then could she risk a public break with Lord Darlington. Otherwise, her family’s reputation would be ruined, and her father might be facing penalties under English law.

His lips twitched in an amused smile. “And you are ready to brave the ton after being jilted by me?” The wolfish smile that stole across his lips was not reassuring. “I doubt any other man would have you once I’ve been your lover.”

“We would not be lovers, only engaged.”

Darlington laughed softly. “Any woman I asked to marry me would certainly be my lover beforehand. I wouldn’t wish to marry a woman unless I was positive I enjoyed my time with her in bed.”

She ignored his scandalous words. “Being jilted by the likes of you, even if some assume we’ve been lovers, is better than having a man like Samuel Milburn find a way to compromise me. I know the sort of man he is, and as unbelievable as it is, he is worse than you.” She threw her shoulders back and glared at him, daring him to argue the point.

“Milburn?” Darlington’s eyes widened. “That’s the man who is chasing your skirts?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

He nodded slowly. “Unfortunately, I do. We’ve run into each other at various clubs.” He paused as though choosing his words carefully, weighing what she ought to hear or not as the case might be. “Most of the ton see him as a delightful gentleman who could do no wrong. Others know him as I do. Some would say he and I have similar tastes in pain—not in receiving it but causing it.”

“A taste for pain?” Perdita shuddered. She’d heard Milburn had thrown his mistress out of a window. Any future with a man like that would seal her fate, but she hadn’t heard the same of Darlington. He wasn’t cruel, though she’d heard he was impossibly wicked. Even a fleeting kiss upon the hand during an introduction had been known to cause such scandals that ladies in the ballroom took flight to escape, like a flock of birds dressed in silk and tulle.

“Yes.” Darlington’s eyes were on her face again. “We require something a little different in our bed play.” He paused again, his eyes dark and fathomless as he stared at her. “But unlike him, my goal is always pleasure. A crying, hurting woman is not arousing to me. But for Milburn, it makes his blood turn to fire.”

Darlington’s bold words on such a subject made her take another step back.

“You like to cause pain in bed?” She hated how her words trembled as they escaped her. Surely whispers of this would have reached her if that were true. “This was a mistake. I should—”

He reached up and cupped her cheek when she tried to pull away, then wound a strong arm around her waist, her cloak bunching above her bottom. She had to face him now and hear whatever it was he wished to say.

“There are two types of pain, love. One is slight, expected, and leads to intense pleasure. The other is selfish and part of a need to be cruel and harsh. I prefer the former, not the latter.”

His words didn’t make any sense. Pain was pain, wasn’t it? She wrinkled her nose and prepared to argue this, but she never had the chance. He lowered his head and captured her mouth with his. Perdita was frozen in shock. The feel of his soft warm lips moving over hers was strange but increasingly delightful.

She’d never been kissed before but had often imagined how it would feel. She mimicked his mouth and gasped as he licked the seam of her lips with his tongue. The velvety feel of his tongue touching her lips was both sinful and decadent. Her knees went weak beneath her heavy skirts. She grasped his shoulders, frantic not to lose hold of him. The heat between their mouths intensified, and a heady dazed feeling began to slink through her limbs and into her lower belly. She could do this for hours…

His lips wandered from hers down to her throat just above where her cloak covered her shoulders. He placed a kiss there and then suddenly nipped her skin with his teeth. The bite sent a jolt through her, and a fierce, shocking pulse beat between her thighs. She whimpered and tried to push away, not because it hurt, but because the rush of sensations had been too much. She’d never—

“That, my love, is pain mixed with pleasure.” Darlington whispered this against the skin of her throat, still holding her fast so she could not escape. Shivers rippled down her spine, and she closed her eyes. This was frightening. He was frightening, but a part of her wanted to understand more of what he was showing her.

From the moment she’d first seen him at her mother’s garden party a few months before, she’d been intrigued by his mysteries. She wouldn’t deny it. Any decent young lady would not have allowed herself to be fascinated by such a notorious rogue, but now more than ever she wondered if perhaps she wasn’t as decent as she ought to be.

Darlington slowly released her waist, but the hand that still held her face seemed to burn her skin. He brushed his thumb over her lips, leaving a tingling sensation that trailed from her mouth down to her toes. She raised her eyes to his, her world tilting on its axis as she stared up at him. There was no going back from that kiss. She’d taken a bite of the forbidden apple, and the juices were sweet upon her lips.

“You’re still trembling,” he observed, his voice was low and gentle, but rather than soothe her, she felt excited by it.

“It is always like that?” she asked, wondering why Mother had never mentioned that lips could meet in such a blaze of fire when she’d discussed the ways men and women could be together.

Darlington touched her lips once more before dropping his hands. “Not always. Too many marriages are built upon the wrong foundations, and passions are rarely taken into account.” He turned away from her and walked over to the fire, placing one hand on the mantle as he gazed into the flames.

“If you want to play this game, Miss Darby, it must be played convincingly. Milburn won’t accept a mere declaration of our engagement. He knows me too well. He’s also not the sort to give up easily.” Darlington’s face was lit by firelight. For a moment, he looked more like Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, than a mere London rogue. Perdita was entranced by the sight of him. He was a lure she couldn’t resist. How many women had come into his room before her and fallen under his spell?

“What did you have in mind?”

“I suppose you recall what befell Alexandra Rockford in my home? A public display. That is what I mean. Milburn will need to see us in a compromising position.” He turned to face her. “And that means more than a simple kiss.”

Perdita bit her bottom lip. A simple kiss? Not to her. That kiss had been her undoing. She was wise enough to know he had changed her life in a few short minutes.

“If it helps me escape Samuel Milburn, then I agree to do whatever is necessary.” She raised her chin, earning a slow smile from him that made her blush.

“What?” she demanded as he continued to smile at her.

“I never would’ve guessed you would agree. Of all ladies, you seem to be the most…”

Perdita narrowed her eyes. “Most what?”