Authors: Nichole Matthews
“
It sou
nds dangerous,” he whispered,
his gaze
swept
to her mouth.
Her gaze met his.
“I thought you
were all about
danger?”
She blushed and quickly
glanced away.
T
he sight of that blush made him want to kiss her senseless.
A devilish smile curved his lips. “I like
your
kind of danger.”
“Be quiet,” s
he hissed
playfully
,
jerk
ing
her head toward their audience
,
clapp
ing
her hands. “Now, girls, it’s time to take out your supplie
s.”
***
A little more
than an hour
later,
they made their way back into Poppy’s private office so that sh
e could gather her belongings.
Declan watched as Poppy organized paperwork into baskets and bins, wrote in an a
p
pointment book
and unlocked her bottom desk drawer to remove her reticule.
Straighte
ning,
she looked directly at him and smiled.
His mouth watered every time he looked at her
and now was no exception
.
“I’m i
m
pressed with the work you
do here at the school.”
He leaned his hip against the corner of her desk. “All t
he girls adore you.”
A grateful smile touched her lips. “You
really believe so?” s
he asked
. “I’ve worked rea
l
ly hard to
earn their respect and trus
t.” She looked into his eyes unable to repress her smile
.
“
I learned during our meeting that your farm is
now supplying
the school with its
wool?”
“It would seem so
.
”
Declan grinned. “Your aunt is very persu
a
sive.”
“She expects only the best for our students.”
“Well
,
as I advised you earlier,
I only
supply the
very
best wool.” He winked.
“Of course you do.” She smirked back. “I wouldn’t expect anything less f
rom the Duke of Hawksley.”
Lowering his voice to a sensual rasp, “You
do
reali
ze that we are completely alone?
” A devili
sh smile curved up his mouth.
His
eyes glittered darkly as he
came closer and trapped her b
e
tween him and her desk.
A
rush
of possessive lust surged through him. He caught h
er
head in his hands
and
kissed her. His mouth plunder
ed
her soft lips
.
“I’ve done nothing all day but think of kissing you.”
H
er pulse
jumped
as his hot breath wafted over her skin.
“
Some
one could walk in at any moment,” she said with a
moan
.
“Your aunt is a
very
smart lady.” His mouth moved from her ne
ck to her ear.
“Yes
, I daresay
she is.”
Rebelliously emboldened by that information
she allowed her
head
to fall
back
.
Her lids fluttered, then fell
as he
brushed her lips with his.
“Watching you today
has been
quite
stimulating,” he
said huskily.
“And I’m hard-pressed to imagine why?”
He murmured the words against her lips
,
fill
ing
her mouth, ca
p
tur
ing her tongue and
strok
ing
her senses.
There was no
thing gentle in
the way he kissed her or in the way his mouth settled on her in a determined caress creating an irresistible friction. Cr
a
dling her jaw, his long, lean fingers held her still for his seductive assault.
Bold
ly she slid her fingers into the hair at his nape
and kissed him back. Her own hu
n
ger all
owed her passions to run free.
He angled his head, deepened the kiss, and took complete and absolute possession of her mouth.
W
ith h
is
lips and
tongue,
he tormented and teased.
H
e
tightened
his arms
around her, crushing her breasts to the hard solid planes of his chest
as she
wrapped her arms a
bout his neck and clung tight.
“Poppy, darling,” Adele called through the door. “I’ve finished with the babies.”
Tearing her mouth from Declan’s
, “I’m retrieving my reticule, A
unt.”
She leaned her forehead against his
c
hest while she worked at catching her breath. “I’ll be down in a co
u
ple of minutes.”
Declan
drew her once more flush against him and kissed her
, long, deep, and li
n
geringly.
Grinning from ear to ear, Poppy
knelt down to retrieve
the reticule that had fallen
from her limp fingers
.
Declan
t
urned and when she was
finally
ready, led her
out
into the hallway
.
Why then, can one desire
too much of a good thing?
As You Like It
*William Shakespeare
T
he next morning the bright sun
once again
heated the air around them as they made the morn
ing rounds in the garden.
“
Thank you for coming to the school with me yesterday
.
”
S
he looked steadily at him.
“It really me
ant a lot to me and the girls.”
She smiled
.
He turned
and stared
at her for a long moment; h
is gaze was intent as he leaned t
o
wards her,
halt
ing
when he noticed a sudden movement.
Glancing
up
,
he
spied a face pee
r
ing at them f
rom an upstairs window.
Unable to stop the curve of his mouth
, h
e stepped
back a little for proprieties sake. “
We seem to
have an audience
,
”
h
e said dryly.
He had courted sca
n
dal too many times to count but he did not mean to ruin her. If they belonged together, he would prefer it be by her choice and not
because she was
force
d
.
Quickly looking up,
she
lifted her hand, placing it on the top of her bonnet to keep it from
fall
ing off as she
squint
ed up
at the window.
“I cannot believe that anyone else would be up at this hour.”
***
Chloe slipped into
Freya’s room without knocking.
Surprised at the intrusion
, Freya
sat up quickly in her bed. “What are you about, Chloe?” Sh
e groaned,
falling back on her pillow.
“What is the time?”
“Who cares what the time is, we need to talk
,
”
Chloe
said
frantically as she made
herself comfortable on
the foot of the bed.
“Have you be
en paying attention to Poppy?”
“Not
any more
than usual
.
I’ve been a little
preoccupied.
”
Freya stretched and yawned. “Why are you awake already?” She asked with laughter in her voice. “You never
leave your room before noon.”
“I could
n’t
sleep. I
have too much
on
my mind
of late
.
” She chewed on her bottom lip.
“
I
really
think we need to say something to Hawksley
.
Are you not afraid that she will end
up
hurt?” Worry
co
n
tinued to
gnaw at her.
“Why should I be concerned?” Freya asked. “Poppy is a sensible girl. How are you pr
o
posing to talk to the
d
uke
anyway
?” She frowned. “You very well cannot plan a private mee
t
ing. W
hat would everyone think?
”
“How utterly ridiculous you sound
,
”
Chloe
cried
with an astounded e
xpression
, stom
p
ing
her foot. “Everyone can see that
s
he is mad about
Hawksle
y. H
er
eyes follow h
im
ever
y
where.
No one would even consider t
hat he holds a tendre for me.”
Resigning herself to the fact that she was not going to sleep longer, Freya
rose from her bed and put on her
sage green silk
wrapper.
“You are acting like a frustrated child.”
Chloe sat quietly contemplating for a minute.
“Have you asked Poppy how she feels?
” Freya questioned,
attempting to hold back a
n
other yawn.
“I think
I’m going
to corner
him after breakfast. That would
definitely be the best idea.
Then
I
’ll
just ask him what his intentions are.”
She
looked
intently at Freya. “I believe we have a right to know. We are Poppy’s best friends after all. We are practically
part of the
family
.”
After taking a deep breath,
she asked, “
What do you think?”
“I think it looks like our picnic may be interrupted by rain today
,
”
Freya stated
amusin
g
ly
as she purposefully misunderstood.
“No, y
ou know very well that is not what I am talking about
,
”
s
he challenged. “I am most obviously talking about Hawksley
,
”
Chloe
retorted
with annoyance.
“I know perfectly well what you are talking about
,
”
Freya
said.
“I daresay you have not even mentioned this to Piper yet? For all you know she or even Parker
ha
s
already had a di
s
cussion with Hawksley.”
Pressing her lips
firmly together, Chloe sighed.