If He's Wicked. Hannah Howell

      

      A WICKED KISS

      Forcing himself to look up from her lush mouth, Julian met Chloe’s gaze and felt himself become lost in the rich depths of her inky blue eyes. He began to lower his mouth to hers, ignoring the loud warnings in his mind. For too long he had wondered what she would taste like and he could no longer resist the temptation she presented. The way her eyes widened told him that she knew what he was about to do, but she made no move to stop him.

      Chloe knew Julian was about to kiss her. She also knew she ought to push him away. Instead, she leaned toward him, hungry for the touch of his mouth.

      The moment his lips touched hers, Chloe knew she was in trouble. As he brushed his mouth over hers, he slid the fingers of one hand into her hair and she shivered from the strength of the desire that roared to life within her.

      Her senses reeled as he nipped her bottom lip and, when she gasped from the heat that roused, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. Chloe was startled by the invasion for barely a heartbeat before the stroking seduction of his tongue robbed her of the last of her resistance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself over to the heady delight of his kiss. She didn’t think anything had ever felt as good or tasted as sweet…

      Books by Hannah Howell

      ONLY FOR YOU

      MY VALIANT KNIGHT

      UNCONQUERED

      WILD ROSES

      A TASTE OF FIRE

      HIGHLAND DESTINY

      HIGHLAND HONOR

      HIGHLAND PROMISE

      A STOCKINGFUL OF JOY

      HIGHLAND VOW

      HIGHLAND KNIGHT

      HIGHLAND HEARTS

      HIGHLAND BRIDE

      HIGHLAND ANGEL

      HIGHLAND GROOM

      HIGHLAND WARRIOR

      RECKLESS

      HIGHLAND CONQUEROR

      HIGHLAND CHAMPION

      HIGHLAND LOVER

      HIGHLAND VAMPIRE

      CONQUEROR’S KISS

      HIGHLAND BARBARIAN

      BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

      HIGHLAND SAVAGE

      HIGHLAND THIRST

      HIGHLAND WEDDING

      HIGHLAND WOLF

      SILVER FLAME

      HIGHLAND FIRE

      NATURE OF THE BEAST

      HIGHLAND CAPTIVE

      HIGHLAND SINNER

      MY LADY CAPTOR

      IF HE’S WICKED

      Published by Zebra Books

      IF HE’S WICKED

      HANNAH HOWELL

      

ZEBRA BOOKS Kensington Publishing Corp.

       http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

      To Evelyn Rose and Jennifer,

       the two best granddaughters

       anyone could hope for.

      When you decide what you want to be,

       don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t

       or shouldn’t

       or won’t.

      Go for it, girls.

       Be happy,

       stay healthy,

       be kind,

       and always remember

       that you are loved.

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 20

      Epilogue

      About the Author

      Prologue

      England—fall, 1785

      “Damn it, Tom, the woman is dying.”

      Tom scowled down at the pale woman lying so still on the tiny bed. “She is still breathing.”

      “Barely.”

      “Just worn thin from birthing is all, Jake.” Tom picked up the swaddled child that rested in the woman’s limp arm. “Poor wee mite. Throttled by the cord, it looks like. Well, come on then, Jake, set that lad in this one’s place.”

      “I hate this, Tom.” Jake gently settled the peacefully sleeping newborn he held next to the woman. “T’ain’t right. T’ain’t right at all. The poor lass has no strength to care for the mite. He will be dying right along with her. Mayhap we could—”

      “You just stop right there, Jake Potter,” Tom snapped. “You be forgetting what happened to old Melvin when he tried to say nay to that bitch? You want your bones tangled up with his in that pit? ’Course this ain’t right, but we got no choice. No choice at all. Better the wee lad dies than gets reared up by that woman, I says. Or e’en murdered by his own mam.”

      “His lordship’d take good care of the lad.”

      “His lordship is blind to what that woman is and you be knowing that. Now, let us be gone from here. The bitch wants this poor dead babe in her arms ere his lordship returns, and that could be soon as he was sent word that his wife had been brought to the birthing bed hours ago. The fool who did that will be fair sorry, I can tell ye,” Tom muttered and shook his head.

      Jake started to follow Tom out of the tiny, crude cottage, but then hesitated. “I will come with you in a blinking, Tom. I just—”

      “Just what? We have to go now!”

      “I just want to make ’em warm and comfortable, give ’em a fighting chance, or I will ne’er rest easy.”

      “Hurry, then, or soon we be both resting easy right alongside old Melvin.”

      After making a fire and covering the woman and child with another thin blanket, Jake looked around to make certain Tom was not watching him. He took a sheaf of papers from inside his old coat and hastily tucked them beneath the blankets. When he looked at the woman again, he started in surprise. She was watching him.

      “Your babe will have a fine resting place,” he whispered. “I hate doing this, I surely do, but I got me a wife and five wee ones. Aye, and I be a coward when all be said and done. That vile woman would ne’er hesitate to kill me if