Seduce Me If You Can (The Ashbrook Legacy Book 1)

by Tonya Brooks

  That full, luscious, kissable lip that he ached to taste. Without conscious volition, Nicholas had walked outside to join the object of his thoughts, and found himself leaning against a column, staring down at her prone form. She had changed into her usual attire of shirt, leather breeches and boots, and was sprawled inelegantly atop a padded bench.

  It was a most erotic pose and everything male in Nicholas responded to it. Her head rested on a cushion, the mane of fiery tresses cascading all around her and trailing almost to the floor. That long, voluptuous body was stretched out before him in repose, just begging to be ravished.

  One leg elevated, the leather shod foot resting atop the back of the bench, while the other lay prone. Her supine pose was designed to make a man want to kiss and nibble his way up those long, slender legs, and peel the form fitting breeches off of her in slow, delicious increments.

  With his teeth.

  The entire scene was something straight out of a forbidden fantasy. The setting was perfect for a romantic tryst, a flower laden gazebo hidden from view, the air heavy with the scent of honeysuckle. The perfect woman waiting for her lover to take advantage of the moment. Nicholas knew he would dream of this tonight, and many nights to come. Because dreams were all that he could take advantage of, dammit.

  “A guinea for your thoughts,” he said quietly.

  ~~~~~

  Scarlett looked up at him, blinking as she became aware of her surroundings, and smiled. “A whole guinea?” She laughed, completely forgetting the text that she had been so engrossed in a moment before. “I doubt they're worth that much.”

  He shrugged one shoulder lazily. “You tell me what you're thinking and I'll decide what it’s worth.”

  “Oh, it’s this blasted book. I don't understand it,” she complained and laid the book aside as she sat up. Scarlett would much rather spend her time talking to Nicholas than reading the novel.

  Lips quirked in a smile, he said, “Then you must be studying something extremely complicated like deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. No, that's too simple for a woman of your intelligence. Hmm. You already searched for the origins of the universe when you were... twelve, I believe. Ah, I have it. The only thing guaranteed to completely boggle the mind. You're reading Mrs. Dasher's, Guide To Transform A Foppish Dandy Into The Ideal Husband.”

  Scarlett laughed at his nonsense as he'd intended her to. “No, you wretch,” she denied. “If you must know, I'm reading a novel.”

  ~~~~~

  He shook his head in mock dismay. Since she absorbed knowledge from everything she read, Scarlett considered books as a useful learning tool, which is why she disdained poetry as worthless. He couldn't imagine what she hoped to glean from a fictional novel. “Just a few weeks in Town and you've already been corrupted.”

  “Bother that,” Scarlett snorted. “I was corrupt before, now I'm just confused.”

  “About what, kitten?” He queried as he stepped inside the gazebo and sat down on the bench next to her.

  “Kissing.”

  Nicholas swallowed hard and ran a finger under his cravat to loosen it as it had suddenly grown as tight as a noose around his neck. “Kissing?” He repeated blandly and tore his eyes away from her too kissable lips. Holy hell. The images that one word conjured up were adding fuel to the flames that her erotic pose had already brought to life.

  “The characters in the novel do it a lot,” she explained.

  In an effort to change the subject, he asked, “Just what type of novel are you reading?”

  “A perfectly lurid one written by Lady Mystique,” she grinned mischievously. “I filched it from Randi.”

  “Scarlett, I don't think your brother would approve...”

  “Oh, no, you don't,” she injected with a mutinous expression. “Dev has forbidden all of my bad habits and left me with nothing to do but read. Therefore, I shall read what I bloody well please, d'ya hear?”

  Nicholas didn't even try to hide his amusement. “Perfectly,” he agreed.

  “Good. Now, about kissing,” she said in satisfaction. “I need your tutelage.”

  He swallowed. Hard. That damned cravat and his own desire were choking him to death. “Beg pardon?”

  “I want you to teach me how to kiss.”

  Oh, God. If only he could. The delicious things that he could teach her swirled through his desire laden brain. Like how many very satisfying and diverse places there were to kiss a woman. That particular lesson would go on for days, weeks even. Repressing a shudder of pure need, he dragged his brain out of his groin, and repeated a bit hoarsely, “Teach you?”

  Scarlett nodded her confirmation and pointed out reasonably. “After all, you are an expert.”

  He hadn't been kidding when he'd told Scarlett that there was a limit to how much temptation a man could take, and he knew damn well that kissing her would push him past his. Nicholas broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. No, dammit. He couldn't even think about it. Not with Scarlett close enough to touch. Close enough to pull into his arms and...

  “No,” was the blunt response as he surged to his feet and prudently moved to the other side of the gazebo to put some space between him and the temptation her lips presented.

  “Fine. I'll ask someone else,” she replied defiantly.

  “The hell you will,” he snapped jealously and whirled around to glower at her.

  “Well, how else am I supposed to find out?” Was demanded in annoyance at his refusal.

  “Dammit, Scarlett, you will not go around asking men for kisses,” Nicholas growled, fit to be tied at the thought of another man kissing her. Those obsidian eyes flashed a dark warning as he prowled back and forth across the small building. “D'you have any idea what could happen? One of those puling whelps sniffing about would jump at the chance, and before you knew it, you'd be married to the bastard.”

  ~~~~~

  There was the big brother, lecturing her again, dammit.

  “But that's why I asked you,” she interjected smoothly, determined to take advantage of the situation now that it had presented itself and get him to unleash the rake again. “You and Dev have taught me practically everything I know, but I can't ask my brother to teach me how to kiss.” There. That should let him know that even though he might consider her his sister, she was not of the same opinion.

  ~~~~~

  The knowledge that she didn't consider him as a brother elated him and pacified the jealousy burning through his veins somewhat, but it did nothing to aid his dilemma. “Your husband will teach you,” Nicholas informed her a bit more calmly.

  “One of those puling whelps you mentioned?” She scoffed. “I'd rather die an ape leader.” When he finally stopped pacing and just stood there scowling at her, she offered her most persuasive smile and asked hopefully, “Please, Nicky?”

  Resisting was a futile effort, and he knew it. Scarlett had always managed to wrap him around her little finger and he'd rarely ever been able to refuse her anything. “Bloody hell,” he sighed and gave up the battle. Walking across the gazebo, he cupped her chin, lifted her face, and placed the merest peck on her lips before he released her and stepped back.

  Scarlett blinked up at him in confusion and then scowled at the brotherly peck he had given her. “Damnation. Is that the best you can do, Nicky? I might as well have been kissing Dare goodnight,” she challenged boldly.

  “Dammit, Scarlett,” he growled in frustration and wanted nothing more than to haul her to her feet, crush her body against his and devour her mouth. To show her what a kiss should be like. To claim her as his once and for all. The dangerous mood won out over common sense. “The hell with it.”

  He grasped her shoulders, pulled her to her feet, and pressed her body full length against his own. The startled expression on her face tamed his desire, tempered his actions, and his arms wrapped around her gently. Nicholas lowered his head, his mouth brushing lightly over hers, once, twice, before settling more firmly.

  His lips molded to
hers, warm and luxuriant, tenderly caressing, oh, so sweetly coaxing a response that she willingly gave. When he eased his lips away with a series of nibbling kisses and lifted his head, Scarlett smiled up at him a bit dreamily and sighed, “That was lovely.”

  Barely resisting the urge to do it again, he dragged his eyes away from those luscious lips, released her and asked in a slightly husky tone, “Did it clear up the confusion?”

  “No,” she admitted with a cheerful smile.

  “No?” Was expostulated in indignation that she had somehow found his kiss lacking.

  “The novel gave it different names, intimate kisses, open mouth kisses, but somehow they all involved the man putting his tongue in the woman's mouth,” she explained innocently.

  “Oh, God,” Nicholas groaned and closed his eyes in agony. This had to be some horrible penance for the wicked things he'd done. It could be nothing else, because he knew what was coming next, and he knew what would happen if it did. He was going to hell.

  “That was the part that confused me,” Scarlett admitted. “So now you have to show me how it works, because I'm deuced if I can understand why anyone would want to do such a thing.”

  Forcing his throat to work, Nicholas tried to dissuade her. “Scarlett, it's a kiss that lovers share. If I were to... demonstrate, I'd be taking advantage of your innocence. You know I won't do that.”

  ~~~~~

  Damnation. Scarlett was fed up with the big brother and wanted the rake back. This was the perfect opportunity to further the delightful lesson they had begun that day in his ballroom and she was not about to give up now. Placing her hands on her hips, she glared at him in exasperation. “Bloody hell, Nicky. It's just a kiss. It's not like I'm asking you to ravish me.”

  ~~~~~

  “In a way, you are,” he admitted and would have given every bloody pound he had to be able to teach her exactly what she wanted to know. “That's why lovers kiss that way. It's just that intimate, kitten.”

  “Bother that,” she grumbled and shoved him backward onto the bench behind him before pouncing astride his lap.

  “Scarlett, what...” Nicholas began in surprise as she grasped his head with both hands, placed her mouth against his and plunged her tongue past his parted lips. White hot heat filled his entire body and rational thought was nowhere to be found. Acting purely out of reflex, his tongue dueled with hers for dominance, took control of the kiss and quite literally ravished her mouth.

  ~~~~~

  Scarlett hadn't known what to expect, but it definitely hadn't been anything as wonderful as this. Nicholas's tongue swept inside her mouth, curling around hers, tasting her, savoring her, devouring her. When he would have withdrawn, she instinctively applied suction to keep him from leaving, and he growled deep in his throat and began to plunge in and out of her mouth in a rhythm as old as time itself.

  A low moan of pleasure filled her ears as she clung to him with something akin to desperation, her nails tunneling through the silky hair and raking his scalp. Her breasts grew heavy, her nipples hardening to sensitized peaks. The heat that coiled in her abdomen spread lower and intensified to become an aching need. Her thighs gripped his tighter, her pelvis rocked against him, demanding something she couldn't even begin to fathom.

  Scarlett wanted. She needed. She burned.

  ~~~~~

  Nicholas had already gone up in flames and desire had burned away his common sense in the process. In a split second, the woman intent on climbing inside his flesh had reduced him to six feet and fourteen stone of raw, aching need. The woman he wanted more than his next breath of air. The one woman that he could not have.

  Yet, here he was, with his hands all over her and ravaging her untried mouth like some damned lecher. That thought brought him back to his senses, and he forced himself to gentle the kiss, taming his desire. But no one had told Scarlett that this had to stop. She began to rock her pelvis against his throbbing cock and he damn near lost what was left of his mind.

  Tearing his mouth from hers, Nicholas pressed her head against his shoulder and just held her trembling body fiercely as he willed his body and his mind back under rigid control. Once his breathing was as even as it was going to get, he told himself to release her and move away. Sitting there holding her like this was scandalous behavior at best. If anyone saw them, Scarlett's reputation would be ruined.

  His hands weren't quite steady when he placed them on her shoulders and she slowly raised her head until their gazes met. The emerald eyes were still dazed and dreamy, her expression languid with desire and it took all of his considerable strength of will to keep from kissing her again. There was no doubt about it. He was going to rot in hell. Or at least a hell of his own making. God help him, now that he'd tasted her passion, Nicholas knew he would crave it even more.

  “Scarlett, I...”

  ~~~~~

  She placed trembling fingertips against his lips and shook her head. She didn't want a lecture or an apology. She'd gotten exactly what she wanted and was well pleased. “I understand now,” she said in a breathless, sultry voice as she slid backward off of his lap onto legs that felt as solid as water. “Thank you, Nicky. It was a... remarkable demonstration.” That said, Scarlett picked up the novel and walked back to the house, a brilliant smile on her face. A man couldn't kiss a woman the way Nicholas had kissed her and still think of her as his little sister.

  Maybe there was hope for him yet.

  ~~~~~

  Nicholas had no hope at all.

  He was doomed to suffer the agonies of an unquenchable desire, or avail himself of the only means at his immediate disposal to relieve the hunger burning through his mind and body. He was going to have to visit his mistress. He left Langford house, rode a few streets over to a house he owned in a quiet little neighborhood and walked inside without knocking.

  Mounting the stairs, he took them two at a time and strode down the hallway to the bedroom at the end. Pushing the door open, he spied a woman seated at her dressing table wearing nothing but a wisp of material over her curvaceous body. Her maid curtsied to him and slid unobtrusively from the room.

  Surprised and pleased to see him, she rose and turned to face him, more than aware that all of her best attributes were on display. “Nicholas. This is a surprise,” Lady Lettice Housdon said with a seductive smile. He never visited her during the day, and not nearly as often as she would like at night.

  Without a word, Nicholas led her to the bed and gave his hunger free reign like a man too long denied. His petite blonde mistress might have been the one to benefit from his ardor, but in his mind, it was a long legged redhead that he made passionate love to. Over and over again until the image of desire laden emerald eyes finally left his mind.

  A substitute wasn't enough, had never been enough, and would never be enough, to assuage the hunger inside of him. But it was the only choice he had. The only choice he could make. Because damn his miserable soul to hell, he could not take further advantage of Scarlett.

  The kiss had been a mistake. He never should have allowed it, never should have let it get so far out of hand, but damn it had been worth it. Kissing her, holding her, touching her, was worth any price. He'd sell his wretched soul for the chance to do it again.

  ~~~~~

  Their arrival at Almack's caused quite a stir. The highly anticipated presentation of the much touted Lady Scarlett had been enough to turn every head, and her stunning looks had been enough to hold the attention. But when her brother very reluctantly entered the assembly hall, every feminine heart in the room began to flutter. Juliette kept her granddaughter by her side as she made the multitude of introductions while her grandson greeted the simpering females presented to him with bored disdain.

  Hell's teeth, this was even more tedious than Devlin had remembered. The shocked gasps and exclamations heard a few minutes later caused every head to turn in expectation again. Such a commotion normally occurred when a member of the royal family deigned to visit, or something equally un
expected happened, like his own arrival. Being nearly a head taller than everyone else in the room, Devlin saw what all the commotion was about and laughed softly. It would appear that Nicholas had decided to join them after all.

  Nicholas made his way to his side as quickly as he could. “Why the hell did you agree to this?” He demanded in a low growl as he deftly avoided yet another match making mama's eye.

  “Seemed like the thing to do at the time,” Devlin shrugged. “Can't believe you showed up.”

  “Thought you might need someone to watch your back.”

  “Appreciate it, old boy,” the duke assured him. “It's worse than I remembered.”

  ~~~~~

  The marriageable females present began to surround the two most eligible bachelors to grace the doorway in a decade, slowly closing in for the kill, Nicholas realized wryly. “Believe I'm going to give up fox hunting,” he announced and saw his friends questioning look. “This has to be how the fox feels when he's surrounded.”

  Devlin smiled ruefully at the analogy. “Indeed,” he agreed dryly.

  “So, where is the little minx?” Nicholas asked as he looked around.

  Devlin nodded to the herd of young bucks across the room. “In the middle of that.”

  Just then, the crowd of men parted and a grinning and obviously smitten young man led Scarlett onto the dance floor. She was stunning beyond belief. The glorious mane of red hair was swept up framing her beautiful face and the deep lemon dress accented her long, curvaceous frame perfectly. Every other woman in the room paled beside her.

  As if she felt him watching her, Scarlett looked directly at him. A sly, secretive smile curved her lips as she lifted a gloved hand to a curl at her temple and gave her wrist a little shake. Nicholas smiled broadly when he saw the flash of gold at her wrist. Scarlett was wearing his gift. Something dark and possessive inside of him thrilled to the knowledge. As far as he was concerned, the bracelet branded her as his.