Anything but Innocent Read online

  Lucy patted her horse’s neck. She held the reins of both horses and began the trek back toward the stables. They weren’t that far away, but there was no chance they would beat the rain at this pace.

  They settled for silence. The only sounds those of nature and Thea’s gentle sniffs. Lucy knew she was doing her best not to cry. Lucy was grateful for her breeches and boots as she hiked across the field with greater strides than a heavy riding costumed could have allowed.

  “We could both ride Esmerelda,” Thea offered.

  “Yes, but I’m enjoying the walk. We’d still have to go just as slow for Penny’s sake.”

  “That is true.”

  Lucy paused and turned to look from whence they had come. She could here riders approaching. “We may have company.”

  Thea twisted in her seat to look. “It’s Jonathan and Lord Winchester.”

  Lucy felt a buzz of excitement go through her. She waited for them to approach, composing herself enough to appear unaffected by his presence.

  “What happened?” Jonathan looked over both of them in alarm.

  “Thea was stung by a bee and Penny has a sprain,” Lucy said.

  “A bee! Where?” Jonathan edged closer to look. Thea held out her hand. The back of it was already swollen and red. Jonathan grimaced. “We need to get you home immediately.”

  “It only hurts a little,” Thea lied. Her discomfort was evident by her red nose and teary eyes.

  “We would have, but Thea refused to leave me, and Penny can’t do more than walk.”

  “Have you been stung before, Miss Manton?” Dean asked. He’d heard of some people dying from bee stings.

  Thea shook her head.

  “Are you feeling all right other than your hand being hurt?”

  “I believe so.” She sniffed.

  “Rigsby, you should escort her back quickly. I will make the slower return with Lady Lucy,” Dean recommended.

  Jonathan nodded. “Can you hold the reins?” he addressed Thea.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Let’s be off. We’ll see you back at the house. I’ll send a groom with another horse to trade places,” Jonathan said.

  “That isn’t necessary.” Lucy sighed. “I can walk back with Penny. Don’t make a poor groom walk in the rain. He doesn’t have access to a warm bath like I do.”

  Jonathan nodded without answering. “My thanks, Winchester.” Then he took off at a trot with Thea.

  “That was very considerate of you,” Dean said as he looked down at her.

  “What was?” Lucy squinted up at him.

  “Thinking of the grooms comfort.”

  Lucy shrugged. “I suppose I could always request a bath be heated for him, but I can just as easily walk my horse back myself and spare everyone the extra trouble.”

  Dean looked up at the sky. When he looked back at her, she had begun walking her horse. He caught up with her. “You should ride and I’ll walk,” he suggested as he dismounted and walked behind her. He took a moment to let himself appreciate the view of her backside.

  “I’m fine walking.”

  He moved to walk beside her. They were sandwiched between their horses. “How did Penny sprain her leg?” he wondered aloud.

  “She startled when Thea screamed.”

  “Ah. I sincerely hope Miss Manton is not allergic to bee venom.”

  “I didn’t know that was possible.” Lucy looked over at him in concern.

  “It is. How many times have you been stung?”

  Lucy pondered the question. She knew the answer readily. What she didn’t know was why he was so comfortable with her right now. This was their first unguarded conversation about things other than boring pleasantries. They were alone, and yet he was perfectly at ease.

  “Three,” she answered.

  “Three?” He looked impressed.

  “Mm hm, twice on the foot, and once on the arm.”

  “The foot?”

  “I enjoy walking barefoot at times, especially during the summer when the lawn is freshly cut. Have you ever been stung?”

  “Six times. All on the hands.”

  “Six?” She laughed in surprise. “What were you doing?”

  “Stealing bits of honeycomb from the hive.” He looked at her sideways and grinned.

  Lucy sucked in a breath. That grin was dangerous. It was genuine and…wicked. She felt a shiver go down her spine. If he kept grinning at her like that, she wasn’t responsible for the things she might do. She looked away and exhaled slowly.

  “How many times has Rigsby been stung?” he asked her profile.

  “To my knowledge, none.”

  Dean chuckled. “To my knowledge once.”

  “When and where?” Lucy couldn’t help smiling as she looked back at him.

  “We were on break from school and he was stung on the—” He stopped and coughed. “Never mind.”

  “No. You brought it up. You have to tell me now.” Lucy shoved him playfully. He didn’t budge. His arm was as solid as a tree branch.

  He gave her that wicked grin again, and Lucy just barely stopped herself from sighing in pleasure.

  “He was stung on the arse while swimming nude.”

  Lucy put her head back and laughed. They both stopped walking and Dean watched her, laughing himself, as she composed herself. He didn’t know laughter could increase a woman’s beauty, but like everything she did, Lucy laughed without restraint, without concern for the judgment of others. She laughed with her whole being, with pure delight.

  He wanted to kiss her and swallow her laughter. He instantly sobered. He shouldn’t be thinking like that. His plan was to frighten her out of her infatuation with him, not kiss her, or any of the other things that kept devilishly slipping into his imaginings when he thought of her.

  She stopped laughing as she looked at him. He saw her throat move with a swallow as she collected herself and wariness crept into her gaze. Good. She should be scared. He turned and started walking expecting her to follow. He needed to get a hold of himself.

  He paused when she didn’t immediately follow. He turned and looked back. She was looking up at the sky and holding out her hand. The light had a strange luminosity, and it made her skin look vibrant and soft. The sun was smothered behind the clouds, but it made them glow brightly. He felt a drop of rain slide down his neck as a drop landed in her hand. There was a rumble in the distance.

  “You should take my horse back,” he said. He wasn’t feeling like himself, and now there was the threat of a proper storm brewing.

  “No.” She frowned. “Penny is my horse. I will take care of her. You are welcome to return home if you’re afraid of a little rain.” She walked past him and continued on.

  He scowled after her and caught up with her. He let irritation smother the other emotions that had taken hold before. He could think clearer that way. She stumbled over a molehill, and he grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

  “I’m fine.” She pulled her arm away. They stopped again and were facing each other. The rain had begun to fall in a light drizzle.

  “Do you think I would let you walk back alone?”

  “I don’t know what you would do. First, you want to get away from me and now you are acting differently. I’m trying to ferret out what is real and what isn’t. I don’t know you well enough to tell the difference.”

  “That is precisely my point.”

  “I’d be happy to discuss it with you once we’ve reached shelter, but for now, I’d like to keep moving. I’m sure you will agree.” She turned to walk again.

  Dean looked up at the sky. It was growing darker, but the misting rain had ceased for a moment. She was right, whatever he had intended to achieve with her would not happen out here in a field with the threat of a downpour. He shook his head and followed her. There was a crack and then the rumble of thunder closer than before. Her horse shied right, knocking Lucy to the ground.

  Dean cursed and ran to her.

  “Penn
y!” Lucy glared from the ground as her horse bolted to the shelter of a tree a few meters away.

  Dean offered his hand. She put her hand in his and let him pull her up. What she didn’t expect was for him to put his arms around her.

  “You’re walking trouble. I cannot let you return alone.”

  She blinked and tried to find her voice. She promptly forgot about her horse, her dirt covered backside, and the looming storm above when her front half of her body was being warmed by his. She licked her lips.

  “I didn’t foresee Penny being spooked again, but other than that, what could possibly happen?”

  His hand swept over her rear, brushing off the dirt. “A man will see you and want to ravish you.”

  Lucy pretended to scoff but it was weak. She looked at her hands. They had settled on his chest quite naturally. “That is absurd.”

  “It’s not. That very thought has crossed my mind a dozen times in the last hour.”

  Her eyes moved to his. He said it so honestly, too honestly. “You’re lying. You want to frighten me.

  Dean wished that were true. But try though he might to separate what he wanted to do and what he was trying to do to frighten her, things became muddled. Both involved him seducing her to some degree.

  It was at this enlightening moment that her weight shifted, he lost his balance, and they both toppled to the ground. He retained enough control to guide her down gently, but he still landed on top of her, still holding her with one arm and catching himself from falling on her with the other.

  She gasped as she hit the ground, but Dean would guess it was more from surprise. He looked down at her. “You must have been standing over a burrow and it collapsed.”

  “That’s very plausible, but it doesn’t explain why you are still on top of me.”

  He smiled crookedly. “Because I want to be.”

  Her breath was coming in short pants. He adjusted himself on top of her, their legs, tangling together, their hips lining up naturally. Dean wanted to groan in pain and pleasure. She looked wary but still excited. He could almost mistake the look in her eyes for arousal.

  “Let me tell you exactly what a man like me does with a woman like you underneath him. I’ve got you in my arms. I can feel the cradle of your body in these damned breeches, and you know what that makes me want to do?”

  She shook her head and licked her lips.

  He bit back a groan. “It makes me want to bed you, Lucy. I’d like to be in a literal bed, bending you over the coverlet and slowly peeling these breeches over your hips until I have you bared just enough to take you, but here we are in a field, the air charged with expectation. I could still flip you over and take you from behind like our ancestors would have done. Quick and rough. You’d cry my name, startle the birds from their nests with moans of ecstasy. Or I could take off my jacket and lay it on the ground. Peel the clothes from your body, making love to you slowly, keeping you warm and sheltering you from the elements while I leaned over you, your thighs open beneath me, welcoming my thrusts. If I took you like that, with you naked beneath me, I could enjoy the sight of your breasts, taste them like delicacies set out before me.”

  Lucy swallowed. Her mouth had gone dry. Her entire body felt charged like the storm above them. She wanted to react, he was expecting her to, but she didn’t want to move. The things he said painted vivid pictures in her mind, of wicked things, of wanted things. She felt a strange ache in her body that she didn’t understand.

  “Would you like that?” He tucked his hips just barely, enough to enunciate the pressure of his groin against hers.

  She took in a shaky breath and nodded.

  Dean clenched his jaw. He dipped his chin and hid his eyes from her. He closed his eyes, a swell of acute need overtaking him. She felt so damn good under him. She was radiating heat from her sex straight to his manhood, and it took everything in his power not to respond, not the feed the beast inside him that wanted to do everything he had said. He fought his own body to stay physically unaroused. He was losing. He pushed himself away from her, falling back on his haunches. He couldn’t look at her, but he was aware of her every move. She slowly sat up and dusted off her hands.

  “You didn’t have to stop,” she said quietly.

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “I know I didn’t.”

  “Then why did you?”

  “Because I know what I’m doing… you don’t. You’re a naïve virgin who doesn’t get the simple fact that you are at the mercy of the world.”

  “And you want to show me that?”

  Dean stood and pulled her to her feet, this time not pulling her against him. He was still fighting the urges of his own body. “I want to show you how cruel it can be.”

  “You mean how cruel you can be,” she stated.

  He paused. He turned and looked away from her. “Yes.”

  He knew when she turned and started to walk away. He followed her to collect her damn horse. She was soothing her mare when he joined her under the branches of a tree.

  “It would be faster to ride back with you given the circumstances. She certainly had no trouble getting here swiftly, but I don’t want her to bear any extra weight.”

  He eyed her horse with dislike. She was right, of course. The patter of rain on leaves filled the silence.

  “Let’s be quick about it,” he growled.

  He mounted his horse and pulled her up before him. The breeches tightened over her rear as she settled back against him. There may as well have been nothing between them. He immediately dismounted.

  “What’s wrong?” She looked down at him in confusion. He ripped off his jacket and tossed it to her.

  “Put this around you. We’re going to be cold and wet by the time we get back.”

  She did as he said, and he climbed back into the saddle. He bunched his jacket between them. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  He walked his horse to hers and she leaned over to grab the reins. They left the shelter of the tree and raced the raindrops back to the stables. It was a losing battle, but Lucy could barely feel them as they pelted her in the face. What she could feel was him. His smell was all around her. Try though he might, the jacket rode up between them and soon, she was tucked against him, nestled between his thighs and arms. They moved in one motion, a rolling jolt, and each time, she landed firmly against him. She could feel the state of his body, and it thrilled her. He could never claim to not be affected by her. The evidence was branded on her body and in her memory. It was the best ride of her life. His knuckles were white on the reins and Lucy grinned because she knew he couldn’t see it.

  They arrived at the stables much faster than she had wished, and he rode directly inside as a groom held the door. The rain was falling heavily now, and his clothing was soaked through. He dismounted as a groom took Penny’s reins. Shockingly, he did not help her dismount. He went immediately to the tack room.

  Lucy jumped down ungracefully and followed him. She found him drying his hair with a blanket.

  “You’re really doing a poor job of convincing me.” She tossed his jacket on the bales of straw beside him and folded her arms over her chest.

  He turned slowly to face her. He held the blanket in front of him. Lucy was dying to see what he might be hiding.

  “I beg your pardon?” His voice was low and gruff.

  “You want to convince me that you’re too old for me, too worldly and experienced to trifle with a mere girl like me.” Lucy rolled her eyes. She pinned him. “It’s not working. I can see you want me. I can feel how much you do. As much as you wish otherwise, I’m not fooled, I’m not scared.” She stepped closer. She closed the tack room door as she entered all the way. What she was doing was absolutely mad, but she was emboldened by his words, pushed to act by the idea of his want of her. He had tried to push her and now she was pushing back.

  “You said things that you thought would frighten me. I’m not frightened. I like it.” She stepped forward. “I may be a vir
gin, but I believe that, at the right time, with the right man, all the things that are supposed to scare me won’t. Because I will know, in here,” she put a hand to her heart, “that it is right.” She watched his gaze drop to her hand. She grew even bolder. Her hand moved to the buttons of her shirt. She undid one. “You can say what you want to do to me, but the real test is…will you do it? Or are they just empty words?”

  He stared at her so intensely, her skin grew hot. He dropped the blanket. Lucy dropped her gaze and sucked in a breath. She could see the rigid evidence of his manhood. She brought her gaze back to his. His eyes looked furious and wild. She had a moment of panic when he strode forward, backing her against the tack room door. He touched his forehead to hers, the only part of him to touch her, and yet she was held immobile.

  “You think you have any idea what I’m feeling based on what you see and feel?” He took her hand and brought it to his manhood.

  Lucy gasped. Shock and delight filled her.

  “Touch me.”

  “I—I don’t know how—”

  He molded her fingers around him, closing his eyes briefly as he squeezed her hand around him. He opened them again. He let go of her hand and brought his to her breasts. He cupped them, dragging his thumbs over her erect nipples. She shivered in his hands. He clamped his mouth over hers, taking advantage of her surprise and claiming her mouth. He swept his tongue over hers aggressively, pulling away the second she tried to engage him back. This wasn’t going to be a true kiss. If it were, he would lose all control. He held tightly to his tattered restraint.

  “You think what you see and feel here is based on tender emotions? That is where you and I differ. I’m a man with a large sexual appetite. Being close to any woman of passable beauty, especially dressed in revealing clothing, will be rewarded with the evidence of my arousal. But the truth is, Lucy. I don’t care who that woman is, only that she is willing and that I will be satisfied adequately.” He pressed his lips to her neck and closed his eyes again.

  She was still gripping his manhood, albeit weakly, but if she had the inclination to do more, to run her hand down his length and squeeze, he might spill his seed all over himself. He was only holding on by a prayer. She took her hand away, and he could feel her withdrawing from the moment.