Conduct Unbecoming of a Gentleman by Wareeze Woodson Page A

perhaps if he is foolish enough to finally succumb to his grandmother’s plead and actually marries one of them, he’ll relent and allow you to remove Jamie from his house.”
    “You know about his need to have me prove myself worthy?”
    “Of course. I’ve been friends with the man these many years,” he said with a pensive smile. George tore his gaze away from the couple and stared down at her. “I intend to be around to pick up the shattered pieces. You need someone to look after you. I won’t pressure you more. At least not now.”
    Afterward the ball took on the realm of a dream, floating, enchanted and disconnected as she danced with one gentleman after another. She managed to push Adron to the back of her mind, but somehow she knew exactly where he was all the same.
    The music ended with Adron standing next to her and for the first time that evening she was caught up in the dance by him. A hissing sound signaled Adron’s displeasure. “I don’t care to see you sitting in George’s pocket. And I shouldn’t take him too seriously if I were you. He’s a good chap but all too often he falls prey to his chivalrous instinct.”
    “I’ve only danced with him one time.”
    “I stand corrected. I can read the passion in your eyes and that belongs to me. I feel the tremble of excitement in your fingers and that too belongs to me.” His lips curled up in a devastating, knowing smile. “And I can actually see your pulse throb in your throat. A telltale sign your heart is racing—for me, my beauty. Remember, it’s my kisses you crave, not his.” Laughter threaded his voice.
    A lump lodged in her throat before she drew in a deep breath. “Crave is perhaps too strong a word. You once reminded me, a widow is allowed a certain license to indulge in a little—flirting shall we say, without the censure of society.”
    “Is that what you call it? Flirting?” He whispered a promise in her ear, “Later, my beauty.”
    She gave an unsteady laugh. Would he take no for an answer this time and did she want him to accept her no as final?

Chapter 7
    “Blast the wench,” Adron muttered to himself. He envisioned her standing before him with her lips parted, moist and sweet, making him daft. His plan to drive her away had reached out and coiled him in the clutches of this insane, wanting dilemma he seemed unable to escape.
    Adron slipped into his library and poured brandy into a snifter, swallowing the burning liquid in one gulp. Tightening his lips, he determined his body would not rule him and sank into his chair when all he wanted to do was possess Laurel. He shuffled through his papers, penned instructions for Edmond and rose, fully intending to seek his bed.
    Heading up the stairs, he somehow found himself outside her door instead of his own. He’d truly tried to keep away, but against his will he found himself drawn by her sensual allure.
    Rapping softly, he pushed into her room only to find she wasn’t there. Before reason took over, he panicked. Adron knew she dared not take Jamie without his permission else she would pay a price for her folly. Moreover, she wouldn’t leave without her son. Nevertheless, he exhaled a deep breath when he recalled her unwavering duty to her charges. From the moment she’d entered his home, she’d always made certain all was well with the children before any other consideration.
    Not wanting to recall that about her, he thrust the disturbing recollections from him. Adron wanted to think the worst of her, to believe she deserved no better after what she’d done to his cousin. Acknowledging he could be wrong would prove fatal to his plan so he pushed even that aside. He simply wanted her. His body was on fire and fight as he would, he could no more avoid her than he could fly. He waited.
    Upon entering her room, Laurel suppressed a scream as she spied a man standing beside her bed. “You frightened the life out of me. What are you doing in my chamber?”
    “Waiting. As you