Page 7 of A Season for Christmas

“My plans are none of your business.” Her chin went up in the air, stubbornly defiant. “Suffice to say, I am not going to change them just to travel with you to a home I have not been invited to.”

“I am inviting you now.” He smiled easily, leaning against the table and tracing his fingers over the map. “Gregory certainly would not mind. He said I could bring anyone I wanted.” He had not, but Gregory would back him up. He understood the importance of bending the truth when necessary. “And you would not be doing it just to travel with me. You would be doing it in service to your country.”

Fire lit in her eyes, along the curiosity. Yes, he remembered how much she’d loved to read mysteries, always trying to figure out the villain before the end of the book. She loved her puzzles. That was clearly something that had not changed, even if so many other things had.

Pressing her lips together, she took another deep breath, obviously thinking. Samuel took the moment to enjoy watching her, his gaze traveling over the way her blue daydress hugged her curves and the tendril of hair that curled beside her long neck.

“You are very impertinent,” she said after a long moment.

“Perhaps you should flog me for it.”

The words were out of his mouth before he could think them through, but he did not regret them. The challenge hung in the air, waiting for her response.

4

Catherine

The afternoon was one shocking revelation after another. And the morning had been so calm. So sedate. She’d had no idea her entire world would be turned upside down mere hours later, but here she was.

“You do not mean that,” she retorted immediately, not believing Samuel would actually want her to flog him… though some small part of her quivered in hope.No.She pushed that away.

He was challenging her, taunting her. That was the only explanation.

Raising one eyebrow, he tilted his head.

“I never say what I do not mean.” The corner of his mouth curved upward. “If I am impertinent, perhaps you should flog me for it. That is what you like to do, yes?”

“I…” She cleared her throat. There was no point in denying it. He had seen her at the Society of Sin, after all. He knew what she did to men. What she liked to do to men. But she could not believe he was offering himself up tobeone of those men. He had fled from that night, and she hadnot seen him again until today, and suddenly, he was trying to wrangle her into going on a trip with himandflog him, both at once?

It made no sense. No sense at all.

Squaring her shoulders, she gave him a look.

“That is whatIlike to do. That is not whatyoulike to do.”

“I do not know if I’d like it or not; I’ve never tried it.” The slow grin spreading across his lips was sheer challenge. Straightening, he tugged on his jacket, pulling it back into place over the red waistcoat beneath.

Catherine got a sudden vision of pulling both things off him…

Stop it.

She was going to drive herself mad if she did not get a handle on her emotions and her fantasies.

“And what if you do not like it?” she asked, doing her best to keep the tremor out of her voice.

Samuel carelessly shrugged one shoulder.

“Then we will both know instead of making presumptions.” Though his tone was indifferent, his blazing eyes were anything but. He did not feel as sanguine about the prospect as he was pretending. “I will admit, I would prefer not to explore the options in front of a crowd or at a party. Coming with me would provide us with the privacy to experiment, and on top of that, you’d be doing a service for your country. Are you not curious about what happened to the dead dukes? Who might have done it?”

“You do not believe your friend had anything to do with his father’s death,” she retorted accusingly. He was dangling bait in front of her without truly believing it was a worthwhile catch.

A wry smile twisted his lips, though it did not quite reach his eyes.

“But I might be wrong. It’s also possible someone else in the household or on the estate might have reason to want to hasten the former Duke of Clarence’s demise, which is another avenue of investigation I’ll be pursuing during my visit.”

Which would be something the former duke’s mother might know about, but she would likely not speak freely to Samuel. She may not speak freely to Catherine, either, but as another woman, there was a higher likelihood of being able to establish some sort of bond. Catherine huffed.

Damn the man for making sense. Damn Priscilla and her friends for being so much more than they seemed.

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