In silence, he cleaned himself and pocketed the soiled handkerchief.

When they were both calm and reassembled, she peered around, squinting in the darkness. “What now?”

“We won’t get far in the dark. We should try to get some rest and wake up in a few hours when it’s light.”

“Out here in the open?”

He shook his head. “I saw the top of a folly or a rotunda to the north, I think. It must have been part of the old Lemon Hill estate. At least, that will give us some shelter if it rains again.” Valentine glanced at her. “How’s your ankle? Still sore?”

“I can manage.”

***

They picked their way through the trees by the meager light of the moon whenever the clouds parted. It was slow and tedious, but Bronwyn was too tired and too cold to complain. Her ankle ached, but there was no way in hell she was going to whine about it, only to end up in the duke’s arms…not after what they’d just done. She might not be able to control herself if he touched her again.

Good gracious, she’d made a hash of things.

She’d bloody lain with him! Though technically, they had been vertical.

Heat filled her cheeks, and once more, Bronwyn was glad for the cover of night. This brazen, demanding version of herself had shocked her to the core. She had practically ordered him to do the deed. Palmed his hard male organ and then dropped to her knees like a seasoned doxy. Her cheeks scorched at the memory. And then, he had taken her like a wanton up against a tree, and she had liked it!

Loved the raw, explosive nature of the release he’d given her…the release she had begged for like her body needed food to function or air to breathe. She’d felt his need in the uncontrolled movements of his hips that had sent her onto her tiptoes with every decadent, forceful plunge.

That had to be a novel position for deflowering. Most of the books she’d read had virgins being introduced to the marital act in the customary man-on-top-of-the-woman position. She hadn’t even thought such an act could be possible or even pleasurable.

But it had been.

The orgasm had felt nothing like the furtive ones she’d given herself, all quiet and civilized and unseen beneath the bedclothes. This release had been almost primal in nature, climbing from the most primitive depths of her like a beast in heat being unleashed. She bit back a giggle. And in actual nature, too. Oh, the audacity of it.

Sex in a public park in the middle of the night after nearly being murdered.