Twice Tempted by a Rogue (Stud Club, # 2)

by Tessa Dare

Tried my best to leave this earth at every turn, but God and the Devil kept sending me back. Neither wanted me, I suppose.” Maybe I just wanted you more.

Their gazes tangled and held. Rhys took a deep, slow drink from those lovely eyes. They made him feel refreshed. Washed clean, as much as a man like him could ever be.

Behind his eyelids, Rhys saw tulips. An endless field of red tulips, and a sky the brilliant blue of aquamarine. He’d spied that field on a pleasant spring morn, marching through Holland with the Fifty-second. A light breeze had teased his hair … almost as sweetly as Meredith now caressed his skin. That field of flowers had been the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, so beautiful it made even his healed wounds ache. He’d led his men straight through it, unable to resist. Striding through that field of a million cheery blossoms all facing the sun at his back, he’d felt as though they were welcoming him into their midst. He waded knee-deep in that beauty, bathed in it—as if it could wash away all the ugliness of war. This must be what heaven is like, he’d thought. I’d best look and breathe my fill of it now, because God knows I won’t be enjoying it after I die. It was only when he’d halted and glanced over his shoulder that he’d seen the truth: the piercing glint of a hundred bayonets stabbing the blue sky in unison. His entire battalion of bedraggled soldiers, crunching through the field, mowing down the tulips with boots and bloodied stumps of bare feet. He’d been welcomed by the beauty of God’s creation, and he was leaving grim destruction in his wake.

He looked at the orange she still carried. “Don’t you want to eat it?” When she hesitated, he motioned to her. “Give it here. I’ll peel it for you.”

Regency orange peel theory

Side by side, elbows propped on the rail, they remained there. Two people who would never belong to the crowd, happily belonging to each other. Eating an orange in sticky, blissful silence, until it was completely gone.

Cornwall was a lonesome place, but like Devonshire, it had a stark beauty. As they rounded a bend, the fog lifted. He glimpsed long, green fingers of earth grasping at a brilliant blue sea. The coves between them were dark, honeycombed cliffs. There was a sense of wobbling along the edge of the world as their coach and team navigated the coastal road, high above the breaking waves.

“I’m only—” “You’re only being an ass. I know. We’re all getting weary of it. Let’s hope it’s a curable condition.”

“What do you do with your time?” Bellamy asked contemptuously. “Much the same as you, my friend. Spend money, when I have it. Perfect the art of leisure. Work at being very good at being good-for-nothing.”

“The better question would be, who doesn’t want me dead?” “I don’t want you dead,” Rhys said. Then he added honestly, “But then I’m rather ambivalent to your general existence.”

“‘If he cared for you, he’d leave you alone,’” she muttered, mimicking Rhys’s deep voice. Her bold gaze met his. “If he truly cares for me, he’ll stay. And do better.”