He pulled her under him and lay atop her, his knee riding between her legs, and she was mindless again. His hips pressed against her most intimate spot and his mouth owned hers. The stark evidence of his arousal nudged against her thigh. When his hand came up to touch her breast, a shiver racked her body.

“Easy,” he whispered against her mouth. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

“That’s the problem.” Her voice trembled.

He laughed a little against her mouth. It was arousing. Arousing? Upton? Oh, God, what was happening to her? She had turned into a mindless, lust-crazed beast.

His thumb lightly pressed against her nipple through the stiff fabric of her gown, and Jane’s head rolled back. His lips found the pulse in her neck, and she moaned deep in her throat. “You’re gorgeous,” he whispered. “Let me remove your mask.”

“No!” With strength she didn’t know she possessed, Jane shoved him away and pulled herself from under him. She scrambled to the far end of the settee and sat there, staring at him no doubt with wild eyes, still panting from his kisses.

“My apologies,” he said, still breathing heavily himself. “I didn’t mean to— You don’t have to take off your mask if you don’t want to.”

Jane winced. Her response had been nearly involuntary, but she should have thought it through a bit more. Surely her wild reaction would make him wonder why she was so adamant about keeping her mask in place.

“No, no,” she hurried to reassure him. “It’s not that … It’s just that…”

“I frightened you, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” She nodded. Truly, she’d scared herself, but he didn’t need to know that. Right now, now that she was on the other side of the settee, and a modicum of common sense and decency was returning to her brain, she needed to concentrate on getting out of this room quickly and with as little interaction between the two of them as possible. The more she spoke, the more she did anything, the greater the chances of him discovering her identity. That she could not live with. She would have to move to India, perhaps farther, to live this down if Upton ever discovered who she was and what he’d just done.

She’d have to find another scandal. Not this one. This one wouldn’t do at all.

“I’m sorry, my lady,” he said, and Jane heard a tinge of true regret in his voice. “I couldn’t control myself. It’s entirely unforgivable and I—”

“There were two of us here tonight,” she answered, lowering her voice in a desperate effort to disguise it. “Neither is more at fault. But it’s true, we should get back.” She took another deep, shaky breath. “Right away.”