He clasped the sides of her face. Obviously she had not registered at Boodle's without first acquainting herself with the opposition. All she'd learned of Stillmore said he was a merciless rake who had disinherited his own daughter when his wife divorced him. So why did her heart drum in her breast? Why not slap his face? Because that business with Phoebe the other night had suggested he wasn't quite that merciless, and it had sorely undermined her? Because the darkness and the torment she glimpsed in his eyes, as his mouth found hers, rendered her incapable? Because she'd had that row with Gabe? What flared in her veins was so primal it stopped her breath and her hand.
The champagne bottle scudded across the floor spraying what remained of its contents over her shoes and his boots. His l
