Three Kisses Before Christmas by Wilde, Tanya (epub e ink reader txt) 📕

finish her current sketch with that question at the forefront of her mind, mocking her with each pencil stroke?

She flipped to the page in question. And froze. It had been torn from her book.

“Well, I never!” The man’s treachery knew no bounds!

Rebecca suddenly recalled Mr. Lance’s letter and skipped to the back of the book where she had placed it.

Lord Above. It wasn’t there.

She shot from her bed.

“Wicke and Selborne! I will have your head this eve!”

She strode from her chamber and down the west wing to the room Wolfstan always occupied whenever he visited. She threw open the door without knocking.

In her defense, Rebecca had not expected him to be in his chamber. She had been fully prepared to wait him out, perhaps vandalize his bedsheets while she was at it. But he was there, and he was stripped down to nothing but his breeches.

Her breath caught as her gaze locked on his bare chest. Lean, roped muscles laced his chest into a set of broad shoulders. His pale skin reminded her of smooth marble, the kind statutes were carved from, and she wondered if it would feel as smooth to the touch. Rebecca swallowed.

Her eyes lifted to meet his, and her reason for barging into his chamber returned full force.

“How dare you?” Rebecca demanded, marching up to him. She pointed a finger at his chest. “How dare you!”

He squared his shoulders and folded his arms over his chest. “I dared quite a lot today, Rebecca. You will have to be more specific.”

“You kissed me!”

“You did not push me away.”

“You caught me off guard and you know it. You stole my first kiss.” Her voice broke, fragmenting over the words. They were like siblings! Everything was ruined now.

He seemed taken aback by that. “Do not tell me you were saving your first kiss for Langley?”

Her face heated. “Not that it is any of your concern, but yes, I was.”

“How the bloody hell does that make sense, Rebecca? Saving a kiss for a man you barely know?”

“That is beside the point!”

“No, it is not. But let me impart this: you have taken everything from me. It is only fair I steal a kiss from you.”

“Whenever have I taken anything from you, pray tell?” She shook her head. “Dear Lord, you have lost your marbles!”

“We are in agreement there.”

“You humiliated me in front of Caroline and Langley.”

“That was never my intention. I only meant to tease you.”

“I do not believe you.” She shoved her notebook under his nose. “Where is the letter?”

He cocked his head to the side.

“The letter,” she repeated. “There was a letter in the book. I want it back.”

“Ah, yes.” He strode to his jacket draped over a chair and withdrew the envelope containing the secret that could ruin her forever from its inner pocket.

She held out her hand.

“Who is it from?” he questioned. “A secret suitor?”

Rebecca scoffed. “Absurd.”

She refused to answer when he raised a brow. Thankfully, he returned the letter without pressing the matter. Rebecca let out a deep breath.

“You tore a page from my book. Why?”

“You hadn’t sketched Langley in the drawing yet.”

“I—” Rebecca clamped her mouth shut. His statement pulled the air from her lungs. How was she to respond to that?

“I do not want you to sketch him into the picture.”

“Why?”

“I want you to sketch me.”

Rebecca blinked up at Wolfstan.

Him?

Thump, thump, thump, went her heart.

Before she could absorb his words, he caught her once again by surprise and swept her up in his arms, his mouth descending on hers. The scent of him enveloped her in a dizzy rush. Her anger momentarily melted as her breath caught on his tongue.

This close, Wolfstan wreaked havoc with her senses. His arms, gentle in their hold, defied the urgency in which his mouth moved over hers. He pulled her closer, and Rebecca unthinkingly lifted onto her toes to meet his demand. She was swept up in a whirl of foreign sensations that courted a monumental lapse in judgment. Yet her mind refused to dwell on anything logical.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Wicke?”

Rebecca tore herself away from Wolfstan, her hand closing over her mouth as her gaze darted between him and the door.

Caroline.

Wolfstan cleared his throat. “Yes?”

“Have you seen Rebecca? She is not in her room.”

Rebecca shut her eyes.

Of course Caroline would seek her out after the way Rebecca had fled the drawing room. How foolish of her to act so rashly! If Caroline discovered them together, alone, in a bedchamber, Rebecca would be forced to marry Wolfstan. That could not happen.

“Not since she left earlier, no,” Wolfstan answered.

His gravelly voice struck every chord of Rebecca’s nerves. She lifted her lashes to meet Wolfstan’s gaze. Intensity whirled in their depths.

“Oh.”

“Have you tried the greenhouse?” Wolfstan asked, his eyes not leaving Rebecca. “She always goes there whenever she is upset.”

How did he know that?

“Ah, yes, I forgot,” Caroline said. A pause. “Dinner shall be served at six.”

“Thank you, my lady, I shall join you then.”

“Ah, good . . . I shall leave you to rest then.”

They listened to the pitter-patter of Caroline disappearing down the hall. Only when Rebecca was sure her sister-in-law was gone, did she exhale a breath of relief.

“Dear Lord,” Rebecca breathed, heart pounding.

“Rebecca, we should talk.”

She leaped away from Wolfstan when he would have approached her again. She held out her hand to stop him. “Do not move an inch.”

“We must talk,” he reiterated.

“No.” She shook her head. “We will forget that this moment, and the moments before, ever happened.”

“What if I do not want to forget?”

“You must. This,” she motioned between them, “Will be gone from my mind as soon as I clear the door.”

He narrowed his eyes on her. “You imagine it will be that easy to forget my lips on yours?”

Rebecca gasped. “Do not speak of such things,” she hissed. “Have you not done enough?”

“Not nearly,” he said, voice rough. “I am done standing in Langley’s shadow.”

“You have never stood in his shadow. You are a shadow all by yourself.” Rebecca blinked.