Page 62 of A Royal Kiss & Tell
Caroline folded her arms. “Idowant you to go.”
His entire body stifled his groan of disappointment. He mustered some sort of face-saving smile and bowed his head. “Very well.” He turned toward the door. “As you—”
“But Idon’twant you to go, Leopold. I want to despise you, and I can’t seem to do it.”
His heart filled with hope. He slowly turned back. “Then don’t, Caroline.”
She bit her lower lip, as if biting back words. And then she sighed heavenward. “There is no point to this,” she said gesturing between them. “None at all! It only causes me to desire things that I can’t possibly have and shouldn’t want.”
“Why shouldn’t you want it? What is the harm in wanting?”
“Are you mad?” she asked with disbelief. “Yearning is nothing but agony.”
“That’s not true,” he said, stepping closer. “Yearning can result in extraordinary pleasure. But you don’t have to yearn or want, Caroline. We can be friends. I am a very good friend to those I care for.”
She clucked her tongue. “Robert Ladley is a friend. Even Mr. Morley is a friend.Youare not a friend. You are a rake, and you’ve always been a rake. You are something else entirely than a friend.” Her gaze slowly slid down the length of him. “I don’t know what you are.”
In that particular moment, he was indeed a rake, because he was raging with desire. “Would you like to know what I think?”
“No,” she said, but then impatiently gestured for him to speak.
“I think an undeniable physical attraction between us has presented itself and has begun to flame. Personally, I find it increasingly difficult to ignore. But I’ve no desire to ruin you, Caroline. I’ve no desire to go against your wishes in this. I think too well of you to attempt anything crass. What I want, more than I want to kiss you or...” His gaze drifted down her body. He swallowed. “Or to touch you, is to spend time in your company. I want to discover what makes you so confoundingly original.”
One of her brows rose skeptically. “You do?”
“I do.”
She smiled dubiously. “I don’t trust you, Leopold Chartier.”
“So you’ve implied. You’re very cynical,” he said with a lopsided grin.
“You would be, too, if you were me. I’ve been lied to and flattered by more than one gentleman.”
“Ah, well, I can’t defend my sex. Men are such singular creatures when it comes to women. We are ruled by lust. But Caroline, if I wanted to lure you into my web, I would do it. I would entice you with riches and promises that I didn’t intend to keep. I would drape you in flattery. I would gift you with baubles. I’ve done none of those things, you may have noted. I’ve not promised you a thing, have I?”
She seemed to consider this a moment. “True...you’ve not gifted me any baubles and you certainly haven’t flattered me.”
He laughed. “You don’t need to be flattered. You need to be loved.”
Her lips parted and she stared at him, as if she hadn’t heard him properly. And then she looked at the door and rubbed her nape, as if rubbing off a chill. “Friend or foe, Leopold, it’s dangerous for you to be here in this room. My brother is downstairs with the duke.”
“Your brother is always close by.” He took another step closer to her. “This is a bit like gambling, isn’t it? How boring life would be if there was no danger to it?”
Her green eyes sparked with delight. “Youdolisten to me,” she said. This time, she was the one to move closer to him. “It would be impossibly boring, I should think. If one doesn’t gamble, one must be content with imagining what might have happened.”
“What do you imagine might happen?”
“This,” she said, and reached for him.
“I knew it,” Leo said as she drew him to her. “You like the danger.”
“Don’t talk—we haven’t much time.”
This was the second time she’d urged him to get on with it. Lord, but the woman was intimidating without even trying. A lesser man might have been cowed by that command, but Leo was not a lesser man—he was eager and captivated. He put his arm around her waist and pushed her onto an armchair. Caroline landed with anoofand a giggle. He landed awkwardly on top of her, facing her, his knee braced against the floor and somewhere between her legs, he thought, although the volume of her gown made it hard to judge.
“How aggressive of you.”
“You are the sort of woman a man must aggress.”
