Page 31 of The Duke's Hellion

“I’d love to join you,” Mimi chimed in.

“Unfortunately, we already have a fourth.” Sam knew it pained Chris to utter that prevarication, and he would owe the man later for his discreet, if not a touch awkward, approach to helping him out.

Mimi’s eyes drilled into Chris, but he wasn’t watching. Smart man. Chris’s attention was all on Zenobia, as if a silent conversation was happening between them.

And while Mimi watched Chris, and Chris watched Zenobia, and Roger, well, he wasn’t really looking at anything in particular, Sam studied Mimi and her movements. Hershoulders were thrown back and her lips tightened into a straight line. He wasn’t sure how much time he would have with her before she turned on her heel and left him alone to nurture his drink, so he would have to be direct.

Nobi patted her sister’s arm and whispered something inaudible. The moment the three left him alone with Mimi, he didn’t waste a second.

“What are you doing?” Sam threw at her.

“I was talking.”

“You were doing more than talking.”

Mimi huffed and blinked hard. “It’s not as though I kissed the man in front of everyone.”

“I would hope not.” Red. Flashes of red flogged his eyes, and a burning sensation prickled his chest. As if someone had found random bits of kindling around his ribcage and gathered them in one spot in hopes of building a fire. Kindling he was neither aware of nor needed. And a fire he neither wanted nor understood.

“I would never allow my first kiss to be in public.”

First? She had yet to be kissed. He knew she was an innocent. She was far too naive to be anything but an innocent, yet never to have been kissed…The kindling around his chest had garnered a spark and the spark caught fire. As he studied her lips—pink and full—they parted, and his chest rose in a deep inhale. He could imagine himself leaning in and introducing her lips to his. Giving her her first kiss. What the devil was wrong with him? How many drinks had he imbibed this evening?

He banished the vision and berated her. That had been the plan. He needed to stick to it.

“You shouldn’t be kissing at all.”

She stuck out her chin. “Don’t be so old, Sam.”

“Don’t be so young,” he returned. It was the best he could come up with in the moment.

She laughed at that. But it wasn’t a laugh he could join in on. It was the kind of laugh a woman produced when she knew she had the upper hand.

Damn.

His face was heating up and his fists were clenched at his side while her eyes were darting around the room looking for an escape. But he needed more time to tell her to stop being a fool.

“Come with me,” he said.

“I think I’ll join my sister—”

“Now.” He caught her eye and intensified his gaze.

“Sam, really.” She had started to plead, but he had already taken her hand on his forearm with the appearance of taking a jaunt around the room. Of course, the plan would be to secure more privacy than that.

“Don’t make a scene, Mimi.”

She sighed, whether in acquiescence or not, he couldn’t be sure; he was too focused on his goal.

There was a door leading outside. He took a quick glance around and stepped through the frame with her.

“Sam, I must insist—”

But because no one could see them now, he hauled her up on his shoulder and took her down the steps into the garden.

“I’ll scream,” she threatened.

“If you were going to scream, you would have already done so. Besides, you wouldn’t actually follow through. That would cause a scandal with results you wouldn’t be too keen on.”

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