Something Reckless by Jess Michaels

take my lovers in private, where I would have more time to savor the surrender.”
    Penelope wet her suddenly dry lips and forced herself to look up into Jeremy’s eyes. They were such a pretty green. So sensual and dark. And his mouth also drew her attention. How many women had he kissed with that mouth? His lips were very full; she had to assume they would be nice to kiss. They were standing so close now that it would be so easy just to lift up on her tiptoes and indulge. That would be very naughty. A stolen kiss from one of the ton ’s most talked about rakes.
    Would he be swept away or want to savor the moment if she did so?
    “But that was before I was reformed,” Jeremy said, and took a long step back.
    Penelope shook her head to clear her mind. Great God, what had she been thinking? Standing here in the midst of a Cyprian’s ball, contemplating kissing this man?
    “I-I think I have seen enough,” she said, voice shaking. “I want to go home.”
    Jeremy nodded. “Yes, you have probably seen enough for one night.” He hesitated before he held out his arm. “Come, I will escort you home.”
    Penelope took his arm, ignoring the spark of awareness that shot through her at his touch. As they weaved their way back down and through the crowd, she thought of what Jeremy had said.
    Was he truly “reformed”? Or had he escorted her here for the exact reason that he wished for her to see such titillating sights?
    And if the second were true…did he know just how fully she had fallen into his trap?

Five
    Jeremy watched Penelope closely as she motioned him into her parlor and said a few soft words to her servant. He had been surprised she asked him to come into the house for tea, but he’d been in no position to refuse. Not if he wanted to follow through on his plan.
    Although tonight, perhaps, his plan had succeeded all too well. When he came onto the balcony at the Cyprian ball and saw Penelope staring at Cecilia and Rannoch’s frantic coupling, her breath short, her eyes glazed with desire, her legs shaking, it had taken all his willpower not to sweep her against his chest and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe. And that had been even more difficult to resist when she stared at his mouth, asked him questions about his own conquests that he hadn’t been ready to answer.
    As much as he wanted this woman, those things weren’t part of his plans. No, he had to be careful. Prudent.
    And it couldn’t be Jeremy Vaughn, Duke of Kilgrath, who seduced her. If he did, she could curl up into her shell and fight him. He would have her, but it would be in the guise of her mysterious secret admirer. So when he was with her, he had to remember that fact.
    No, when he was Jeremy Vaughn, he had to play her friend. Someone she could trust.
    “May I ask you a question?” he said as he took a seat by the fire.
    Penelope paced restlessly to the window and stared outside for a long moment before she whispered, “What question?”
    “You have always seemed to be a very proper lady,” he began, choosing every word carefully. “However, taking up a public fight against sexual excess brings the kind of attention to you that most women of your station shun.”
    Slowly, she turned to face him. Her cheeks were pale and her eyes wide. “Yes. It’s true that having this crusade thrust upon me has altered my life in so many ways. Friends I’ve held dear for years have cut me. And people I never had any association with suddenly know my name. I’ve been praised and threatened, sometimes simultaneously.”
    Jeremy tilted his head. “Thrust upon you? Are you saying you don’t truly believe in your cause?”
    If that were the case, “convincing” her to end her intervention would be all the easier.
    Penelope looked at him for a long moment, and Jeremy could sense the fight within her. She did not yet trust him, which hehad to give her credit for, and yet there was a longing in her eyes. A desire to tell him things that perhaps she