Page 34 of Courting Claudia
“Oh my.”
He leaned in and kissed her hotly on the neck, just below her left ear, then grabbed her hand and pulled her into a room.
“The painting I want you to see is in here.”
Painting. Right, that’s why she was here. Not to be fondled in the hallway in front of everyone. Granted no one had been there, but someone could have been. They entered the room, and thankfully were no longer alone, else she feared he might take advantage of her on that billiard table. But what scared her even more was that she doubted she would stop him.
His hand was warm over hers, their fingers laced together like those of lovers, and something in her heart swelled. He was touching her in public. Aside from dancing, Richard never touched her in public. He’d held her hand once when they were sitting in her garden, but that had been a long time ago. Derrick seemed not to care whether something was appropriate. Despite how much she enjoyed it, she pulled her hand from his.
He didn’t seem to mind, and instead put his hand at the small of her back again. “It’s this one right here.”
She looked up at the painting, and her breath caught. The size alone made it magnificent, but the portrait shocked her. It was a woman, fully nude and reclining on a chaise longue, her blond hair hanging loosely.
Most of the paintings she’d seen that evening had women in them, but all had been fully clothed, and all had been looking off to the side or with a downward gaze, but this woman faced the front boldly. She had looked straight at the artist while he painted her, proud of her body, daring him to look. Daring everyone to look.
Derrick’s hand slid from her back around to her waist, and he pulled her so that she leaned against him. “I thought of you when I saw this portrait. Look at her body.” His words brushed against her cheek.
How could he see such a creature and think of her? She was physically perfect, the kind of woman all other women secretly wished to be. “There is nothing about her that resembles me.” Her mouth had gone dry and words seemed hard to form. “Except perhaps the color of her hair.”
“It’s not her body. It’s her passion. Look at her eyes. See the boldness there. I see that in you, simmering just below the surface.” He leaned in closer and nipped at her ear. “I long to release it.”
Shivers danced through her blood and pooled at the apex of her thighs. Oh, to be that bold.
“She’s proud of her body, Claudia. Comfortable with it. That’s what makes her beautiful, not the shape of her breasts or her narrow waist.”
She fought the urge to close her eyes.
“You would see your own beauty, if you saw yourself through my eyes.”
No words found their way to her brain or her tongue. She simply stood there staring at the painting and feeling Derrick’s hands and his breath and his heartbeat. It would be so easy to believe him, but wouldn’t it also be foolish? As tempting as his words were, she knew that if she believed them she’d be gambling with her heart. She could not afford to lose her heart to Derrick Middleton, as she was certain she’d never recover.
She needed some distance before something happened they both regretted, because all she wanted was to find a secluded room and see if he really could unleash her simmering passion.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment to relish his embrace. She inhaled his scent, willing it to brand itself on her senses. But too much more of him and she wouldn’t be able to walk away.
“I think I should go,” she said.
“All right. We’ll find Poppy, and I’ll have a coach take you to your soiree.”
Very shortly, she found herself sitting next to Poppy in the carriage. Poppy chatted nonstop about Alistair and his many wonderful and interesting attributes, but Claudia heard none of it.
Her mind wrestled with Derrick’s words. Did he really think she was beautiful? How could he look at a painting of a woman like that, a woman who no doubt was not untouched, and think of her? The thought exhilarated and confused her.
If he was right, and she was beautiful and had that simmering passion, why was he the only man ever to see it? Why hadn’t Richard taken the opportunity to release it? Didn’t he see it too? If one man could see it, couldn’t anyone?
Perhaps Derrick saw it because Derrick was looking.
Chapter 7
It had been two days since the art exhibit. Two days since Derrick had kissed her. Two days in which Claudia had given the current situation a great deal of thought.
So she stood her ground and waited for the inevitable.
Claudia watched from the corner of the ballroom as Derrick crossed the floor toward her. She desperately wanted to turn and run the other direction. But she couldn’t very well do that without making everyone around think something was going on between them.
He looked the very picture of the proper gentleman. Clean and crisp and dashing in his black suit. His smile made her catch her breath, and it took her a minute to remember to inhale again. She was certain that if the other women in the ballroom were watching, they must be positively jade with envy.
His determined swagger toward her said he was a man who knew what he wanted, and it very much looked as if he wanted her. Her heart wrestled to accept the possibility, while her mind struggled to comprehend it. Regardless of if he wanted her and regardless of if she wanted him in return, she had other people to consider.