Sure, it was ostentatious and luxurious. Damian Lancaster was one of the richest guys in the world, so why wouldn’t it be? But what made it so inviting was the man who resided there, not the expensive materials that decorated it.

  I nodded. “I’m ready.”

  I tried not to think about how I was going to feel when it came time for me to go back to the United States.

  We were going to Surrey tomorrow night for the gala that Bella was hosting, and then what?

  The bad press had completely died down.

  I supposedly took one of the most eligible bachelors in the world off the market, so people in England were more curious about me than Damian’s naked picture.

  When I was gone, Damian Lancaster would garner a whole lot of sympathy because a flighty American woman had jilted him. He’d be the victim. I’d be the wicked witch.

  Job well done.

  Really, my work here was finished.

  So why did it seem like it was going to be so damn hard to say goodbye?

  But it wasn’t like I hadn’t known the sad ending to this fairy tale.

  Damian held out his hand, and I offered mine immediately, instinctively, because it felt so natural to do it.

  The crowd had thinned considerably as we walked through the lobby, but the cries from the other side of the hall were impossible to ignore.

  “Your Grace! Wait!” a male voice bellowed as it got closer us. “Your Grace!”

  The older man stopped in front of us. Behind him, there was a guy with a large video camera on his shoulder.

  “Trenton Brown with The Sun Times, Your Grace. I’m a reporter. Would you mind a few questions?” the man asked eagerly.

  Until now, we hadn’t been approached by reporters. Probably because we’d mostly sought out tourist attractions, and Damian had managed private tours for several of my sightseeing adventures.

  Damian sent the man a glare that probably would have had most people backing off. “Since I assume that camera is already rolling, yes, but make it quick. Ms. Ashworth and I are knackered. It’s been a long day.”

  And…it was on. The forward reporter rattled off question after question. Damian answered when it suited him, or when the questions weren’t all that personal.

  I kept a smile plastered on my face, and my attention on Damian’s expression.

  Even though he looked more bored than rattled, I knew that he didn’t like this type of intrusive publicity. Damian had managed to stay out of the limelight most of his life.

  Now, his handsome face was becoming familiar to more than just reporters because he’d been forced to act out this whole charade. Eventually, it might become impossible for him to leave his own home without some kind of security detail.

  And he’d hate that.

  All of his efforts, and his mother’s earlier endeavors to keep her children out of the news, could end up being completely wasted by one single incident that had catapulted Damian into front-page news.

  Now, after one scandalous picture, it was like the media had just realized how much people wanted to hear about Damian Lancaster.

  Of course, we’d given them a fairy-tale romance to follow.

  And Damian had started it with the whole setup orgy thing.

  But if I’d ever doubted how much Damian hated being in the public eye, all I had to do was look at his face right now.

  He hated it.

  “Should we be hearing wedding bells at this point?” the reporter asked craftily. “Will every single woman in London need to cross you off their lists of very eligible bachelors?”

  “I doubt very much whether I was ever on those lists,” Damian said charmingly. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, gentlemen, I’d like to take Ms. Ashworth home. It’s getting late.”

  He didn’t wait for those men to accept their dismissal. Damian strode forward with me in tow, and exited the theater.

  I stumbled on a large crack in the sidewalk before we could reach the curb. “Ouch! Damn it!”

  Damian halted instantly and turned. “Nicole. Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “The damn cement jumped out in front of my big toe.”

  Not to mention the fact that I’m a major klutz because I never wear a pair of three-inch heels with an open toe!

  He didn’t acknowledge my joke. Instead, he swept me up into his arms, and carried me to the curb where his limo was waiting. “I’m sorry,” he said huskily as he looked down at my face.

  I’d wrapped my arms around his neck when he’d picked me up, and I stared back at him, my heart melting. “Don’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. I’m sorry that you’re being plagued by reporters now.”

  He leaned down and kissed me, a sweet embrace that I barely had time to respond to before Damian’s driver opened the back door of the vehicle.

  My ass hit the soft, creamy leather, and I clambered across the seat so Damian could come in after me.

  “Now, let me see that foot,” Damian demanded gruffly, as he pulled both of my clumsy feet into his lap.

  CHAPTER 29

  Nicole

  “IT’S THE RIGHT toe, and it’s fine,” I told Damian, feeling awkward with both of my sandaled feet plopped in the middle of his lap.

  He gently removed both of my shoes, and dropped them onto the floorboard. After he surveyed the injury closely through the sheer stocking, he said. “No blood. It looks okay.”

  “It’s good. Really. I just stubbed my toe.”

  I expected him to give up, and put my feet back on the floorboards.

  Instead, he took one foot into his large hands and started to massage it.

  After hours of wearing those shoes, my feet were a little sore, and what he was doing to them right now felt like a mini orgasm. “Oh, God. That’s nice.”

  He pushed on a pressure point with his thumb. “Just nice?” he mocked.

  It didn’t take me long to realize he was teasing me like he had after our first kiss. He obviously wanted to hear that what he was doing was more than just…nice.

  “Amazing,” I moaned as he picked up the other foot. “Fantastic,” I added breathlessly as he massaged my left foot. “Maybe even orgasmic.”

  It wasn’t like I had some kind of foot fetish, but Damian’s hands were like magic as he massaged over the cramped muscles of my insole, and forced them to relax.

  I stretched out on the long leather seat, and propped my elbows behind me, watching Damian as he soothed away the ache in both of my feet.

  “Better?” he asked as he moved to lightly rub my calves.

  The feel of those beautiful fingers skimming across the sheer silk of my stockings sent a shiver of longing through my entire body.

  He stroked over my knees, and then slowly up my thighs. “I’m more than willing to sooth any part of your body that aches, sweetheart,” he said in a hoarse, deliciously naughty tone.

  I flopped down on the seat, releasing a pent-up breath as my head hit the soft seat cushion. “Damian,” I said in a loud whisper.

  His fingers stopped their marauding progress as they hit bare skin. “Fuck! How did I not know you were wearing these?”

  He’d found the lace edges of my stockings that were held in place by an equally lacy garter belt.

  “Because I didn’t tell you,” I replied in a sultry voice. “I was going to let you discover them later.”

  “They’re sexy as hell,” he informed me.

  I closed my eyes. God, I adored that barely leashed edginess I could hear in his words. He sounded like he couldn’t wait to fuck me, like he’d completely lose it if he didn’t. “I wore them for you, Damian. I thought you might like them.”

  “Mission accomplished if your goal was to make me crazy,” he answered tightly. “My cock is hard as a rock.”

  I opened my mouth to make a smartass comment, and then snapped it closed as his fingers started to explore beneath the scrap of lace.

  “Jesus, Nicole. You’re so damn wet.”

  I whimpered as he smoothed a finger over my slick flesh. It didn’t take much for Damian to soak a pair of my panties. It had happened as soon as he’d started to massage my foot. “Yes,” I hissed in agreement.

  “You’ll have to be very, very quiet,” he advised in a low, wicked tone. “The partition between us and my driver is pretty thin.”

  I sighed. It wasn’t like I could straddle him right now and ride both of us into an amazing orgasm. The seats were enormous, and the windows were tinted, so it would be physically possible, but I doubted he was carrying a condom.

  I felt the cool air waft over the skin of my upper thighs as he lifted my skirt. “Very pretty,” he remarked appreciatively.

  The lingerie set was really nice. The lace was black, but there were tiny red bows at the top of each stocking, and at the band of the panties. I’d thrown them in my suitcase on a whim. I’d never worn the stuff. Kylie had given them to me as a gag gift for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I’d shoved them into the back of my drawer, assuming they’d never see the light of day again.

  I wasn’t the kind of woman who wore anything sexy.

  Or, at least, I wasn’t…until I’d met Damian.

  Maybe I’d just never been inspired like I was right now.

  His fingers continued to play in my slippery heat, and I let out a squeak as he sought and found my clit. “Feel good, baby?” he asked in an almost polite tone.

  “God, yes,” I answered tremulously.

  He rolled his finger over the sensitive bundle of nerves again, and kept stroking over it lazily until I was ready to shoot off my seat. “Damian,” I moaned, my body primed for his.

  “You want my cock?” he asked in the same controlled voice.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” I cried, right before his hand clamped over my mouth.

  “Quiet. Remember?” he admonished. His torso stretched out on top of mine.

  I nodded and he took his hand from my mouth. “It’s hard,” I whined quietly.

  “Sweetheart, you have no idea how hard it really is right now. I’m going to make you come, but I really don’t want to share your pleasure with my driver.”

  “Tell me you have a condom,” I pleaded quietly, my body begging for release.

  “I don’t,” he said. “But it’s not necessary right now.”

  I was panting as I tried to stem my disappointment. I needed Damian fast and hard to satisfy the need he’d stoked inside me.

  His whole bossy do-what-I-say prelude had me panting for more.

  He was probably enjoying it, but I was a complete mess.

  I’m going to make you come.

  Ha! He hadn’t mentioned that he couldn’t do that until we got back to his house.

  I started to sit up, but Damian pushed me back down firmly, and then took my right leg and stretched it over the back of the seat until my legs were spread wide open.

  He looked at me and put a finger to his mouth in caution right before his head disappeared between my open thighs.

  A strangled gasp left my lips as I felt his tongue probing, stroking over the thin lace of my panties.

  Holy shit!

  I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to hold the mewl of pleasure that sprang to my lips.

  Damian teased, his tongue sliding along the edges of my panties, but never making it to the place where I really needed him.

  I slapped one hand on the back of the seat, and clawed at the leather as Damian did everything in his power to drive me out of my mind.

  “Please,” I begged in a soft tone, trying not to be too loud.

  Just when I thought I was going to scream in pure frustration, he gripped the crotch of the sexy panties and gave them an enormous tug.

  They tore away from my body under the brutal assault, and I heard Damian growl as his mouth covered my pussy.

  “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” I chanted as he went down on me with very serious intent.

  No more playing.

  Damian Lancaster was now apparently determined to make me come, or die trying.

  I tossed my head from side to side as I panted, waiting for him to bring me the release my body demanded.

  It was so damn hard to stay quiet, to stifle the cries that rose to my throat in response to what his wicked mouth and tongue were doing between my legs.

  “Oh, my God,” I hissed, no longer capable of staying completely silent. “Yes, Damian. Please. Make me come.”

  I couldn’t take any more.

  I tamped down a scream of elation as I felt his fingers fill me, working in the same rhythm as that incredible tongue on my clit.

  My body began to implode as I felt my climax building.

  I didn’t care who was listening.

  I had to scream.

  I slapped my own hand over my mouth, and settled for whimpering into my palm as my orgasm hit full-force.

  All I could do was lay on the leather seat and tremble in the aftermath. “You ruined me…again,” I told him once I’d caught my breath.

  He pulled me up as I recovered, and cradled me on his lap.

  He nuzzled my ear as he said, “If I keep ruining you, I might just have to marry you, woman.”

  I knew it was a joke, but my body tensed up a little anyway.

  I couldn’t find a single witty thing to say to him in return.

  Really? Like His Grace would ever marry a nobody American woman like me, shotgun wedding or not?

  Maybe I would have laughed at his comment if it hadn’t made my heart ache so damn badly.

  CHAPTER 30

  Nicole

  “YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY beautiful, Nicole,” Bella told me as she strode into the sitting room in the east wing of Hollingsworth House.

  I did a last mirror check on my appearance. “Because of you,” I reminded her.

  I’d spoken to Bella this morning, nervous because I wasn’t sure I had the appropriate formal wear for her gala.

  She’d been insistent that I come to Hollingsworth House right after breakfast.

  Who knew that we could search through pictures on the internet, and have a ball gown delivered a few hours later?

  “I’ll take no credit for how you look tonight, dear. All I did was provide a means to get a dress. The makeup artist and hair stylist were already here for me.”

  Yes, but…she’d lent me those resources without a qualm. I’d never done such an elaborate makeup job on my own, or a hairstyle with such elegant knots.

  Not to mention the beautiful, floor-length red dress Bella had talked me into.

  I’d seen the dress as a little fussy when I’d first seen the pictures, but I didn’t regret choosing it now. The tight, sheer sleeves that ended at a loop over my thumb had dainty, delicate embroidery that I hadn’t noticed in the pictures. Although the bodice hugged my body, the skirt flared at the waist, falling gracefully to the top of my high-heeled shoes.

  I felt like a princess. Okay, maybe more like Cinderella when she was cleaned up for the ball. Regardless, I did feel beautiful.

  There was also the small—or maybe not so small—matter of learning how to waltz. Bella had opened up her ballroom for this event, and she’d employed a small orchestra to play.

  Leo had come to my rescue before I’d gone upstairs to start getting ready. He’d shown me the steps, danced with me until I was confident I wouldn’t make a fool of myself.

  I looked at Bella with gratitude. “You look very elegant yourself, Your Grace,” I told her.

  She made a face as she replied, “It doesn’t matter what I look like. I’m an old woman who already found the love of her life and lost him. I’m perfectly content to sit on the sidelines, my dear, and watch the younger generation mingle.”

  I snorted. “You’ll never be sidelined, Bella, and you know it.”

  She gave me a small smile. “You may be right. I’m probably a little too ornery for that.”

  The older woman looked like…a duchess. The ice-blue gown she was wearing complemented her coloring, and the sapphire and diamond jewelry she had around her neck, on her wrist, and adorning her ears were the perfect accessories.

  Well, if you could really call a fortune in gemstones an “accessory.”

  I reached out and touched her bracelet gingerly. “These are gorgeous.”

  “They were a twenty-fifth anniversary gift from Damian’s father. I was born in September, so sapphires are my birthstone. They were given to me with so much love that it’s been too difficult to wear them until tonight,” she said wistfully.

  “You loved him very much, didn’t you?”

  She nodded. “More than I ever could have imagined loving anyone. I’ve never regretted a single moment of leaving my own country as a young woman, and adopting England as my second home.”

  “Was it strange?” I asked her. “Coming from Spain to England?”

  “It was a whole new world for me, but it wasn’t the country—it was the stark difference in social classes that made it so hard to adapt. My family are poor farmers. I wanted better, which was why I was living in the city to get an education. I wanted more, but I certainly didn’t aspire to be a duchess, or to suddenly be so rich that I could buy anything I wanted. Most women would give anything for that kind of life, but I was…uncomfortable.”

  I nodded. “I can see why.” Hell, it was disconcerting for me just to be dressed like a princess going to her first ball. I couldn’t imagine how Bella had felt trying to make all this her everyday life.

  There was a sparkle in her dark eyes as she answered, “I got used to it, but what made it an amazing life was the man I shared it with, and the family we made together. All the money would have meant nothing if I wasn’t already happy with the man I’d chosen. Damian’s father was worth all the work I had to do to try to fit into his social status.”

  “But why isn’t that class system gone? We’re into the twenty-first century. Does it really matter?” I questioned. “Even the royal family is pretty much there for show. It’s not like they have any real power in the government.”