The plan, he thought, taking a deep breath.  Remember the plan!  Which was to fascinate her to the extent that she would forget all about that rogue she had been stealing away to meet in secret.

He cleared his throat.  “Miss Morville, I think…” he managed to say, before realizing that he had no idea how he meant to finish that sentence.  The sight of the tip of her pink tongue, darting out and wetting her lower lip had chased all coherent thought from his mind.  “That is I want…”

Lord, how he wanted!  The most inappropriate things, considering the lovely young woman he held in his arms was a complete innocent.  And living under the protection of one of his closest friends.

Heavens, thought Felicity.  What was it about men with dark eyes?

The way he was looking at her was making her insides melt, her heart beat fast, and her clothing feel much too tight.

            She had thought him very dashing, the first time she had met him, in the company of Lady Honoria’s brother, Lieutenant Carlow.  When he had come to escort them to the ball tonight, in his dress uniform, her heart had given a strange little flutter.  And when he had smiled into her eyes, she thought for a moment it might have stopped altogether.

            Waltzing with him had been one of the most thrilling physical experiences she had ever had.  Until he had kissed her.

            “What is it you want?” she heard herself breathing in helpless response.  She had the feeling that whatever he asked, if he kissed her again, her morals would melt away to the point that she would be unable to do anything but breathe, “Yes!”

He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, and took a half step away.

He was supposed to be protecting her from seduction by a dangerous rogue, not taking the damned fellowÂ’s place!

            He reached up, and took hold of her hands, which had been clasped about his neck, an apologetic look on his face.

            “Gad, Miss Morville,” he said with a wry grin, “but you almost make me forget myself.”

            As soon as he put that tiniest bit of distance between them, Felicity became aware of sounds coming from the ballroom.  The faint strains of music, a tinkling laugh, the soft footfall of somebody walking past the open window which led out to this terrace.

            Heavens, how could she have behaved with such abandon?  If anyone had caught them, her reputation would be ruined!          

            He saw her dart a wary glance in the direction of the house.  She was on the retreat!  He could not let her slip through his fingers now.  Hal was going to get his brother’s tame Bow Street Runner to find out just who and what the fellow was, but until then, it was his duty to prevent her meeting him again.

“Having an attack of nerves?” he taunted her.

“Of course not!” she lifted her chin.  “You said I would be safe out here with you, Ben.  And I trusted you to keep the line.”

He caught her round the waist, and drew her close again.  “I have done nothing truly terrible, have I?”

Her moral code was crushed by the thrilling proximity of his body.

“No, not terrible,” she managed to say, though her voice was very breathy.  Kissing Ben had been completely wonderful!  The only trouble was that it was just a bit too wonderful.  It made her crave more.  Made her crave…things she was quite sure she ought not to even know about!  “B…but it is time to go back inside now.”

She raised her hands to his chest, to push him away.  But instead of doing anything so resolute, her palms flattened against his coat, then spread to either side, revelling in the broad expanse of masculinity.

“Not just yet,” he said coaxingly.  “We have not arranged a time for us to meet again.”

“I am going to Mrs Leeming’s rout tomorrow night.  I shall see you there.”

He lowered his head as though going in for another kiss, and then, at the last moment, he pulled back.  To his delight, Felicity made a moue of disappointment.

She had wanted the kiss he had teased her with, at least half as much as he wanted it himself.

“Tomorrow night?”  He shook his head, then, slowly, lowered his head again, this time bypassing her mouth and pressing his lips to the side of her neck.  She made a sound of helpless surrender, tipping her head to one side so that he could explore the delicious length of creamy skin.

“That will be no better than this!” he said between kisses.  “A dance, a few snatched kisses…I want to be able to…talk to you, Miss Morville.  Really talk to you.”  It was no less than the truth.  The time he had spent in her presence had all been sheer delight.

“No…” she moaned faintly.

“No?”

“I mean, yes…”

“Where then, and when?” he said, pressing her for a rendezvous whilst she was so befuddled she hardly knew what she was saying.

And while he still retained sufficient self-control to remember the whole point of this exercise.

“Wh…when?”  She looked up at him, her glorious green eyes dazed with passion.  “When what?”

“When will you meet with me, so that we may explore more deeply,” he said, trailing hot kisses down her neck, “what we have begun here tonight.  Can you get away tomorrow morning, early?”

He knew damn well she could.  He had seen her with his own eyes in the Inns of Court garden with that other fellow!

She stiffened in his arms, a look of consternation on her face.

 “I cannot.  Not in the morning…”

“I thought you said you were as brave as Honoria,” he taunted her.  He felt something inside him twist into a knot.  But he had to do it.  It was for her own good!  She had to meet him, in the morning, not that other fellow!

Her chin went up.  “I am every bit as brave as Lady Honoria,” she said defiantly.  “It is just…” she bit down at her lower lip.

He groaned.

And did what he had to do.

Kissed her again.  This time, with no holds barred.  He held her tight, and applied every bit of his expertise in seducing her mouth.  He did not stop until she was clinging to his neck, her whole body trembling in his arms.  He swore he could feel her heart pounding through the flimsy silk of her gown.

Or was that his own heart?  Damned if he knew anymore.

“Miss Morville,” he groaned.

“Yess…” she breathed, her eyes closed, her head tipped back.  She was limp in his arms.

“Yes, I will meet you…in Green Park.”

“Thank God,” he murmured into her ear, clasping her to him in relief.  Much more of that sort of persuasion, and she would be in as much danger from him as she could ever be from the dark stranger!

He had been on some dangerous missions in his time.  But this one was growing a bit too hot, even for him.

“We had better return to the ballroom before somebody misses us,” he said.

            “No, wait!”  Felicity could not believe she had just agreed to a secret assignation with Ben.  What had come over her?  She had given her word to another, but one kiss from the dashing Lieutenant and all her moral values had flown straight out of her head!  She would have to tell him that she could not go after all.  That she had only said yes, because…

            And there her thoughts ran aground.  She had known she would say yes to anything if he kissed her too often.  And she dare not tell him that.  What a spineless creature he would think her, to have her thoughts completely addled by what, to him, was probably nothing out of the ordinary.  He had probably kissed dozens of girls.  He must have done, to have become so good at it!

            But he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, and tugged her out from behind the cover of the shrub.  And somehow they were walking across the flagged terrace, and back through the doors, and she had not managed to frame one coherent sentence.

            “Until tomorrow,” he grinned at her, as they stepped across the threshold, and into the glaring brightness of the ballroom.

            And then he was gone.  Swallowed up by the swirling throng of people.  Giving her no chance to tell him she’d had second thoughts.

And she was left standing by the window, dazed, bemused, and more than a little vexed.