Page 85 of Never a Bride
Dazedly, she put a berry in her mouth and chewed. Alex watched her as if eating food were something new and fascinating. There was a drop of strawberry juice on the corner of his lip, and she wanted to lick it with her tongue. His smile died, as if he read her mind and was willing to complete “The Seduction of Emmeline.”
She was willing, too, regardless of the risk.
To distract them, she said, “Tell me more about what it’s like to be a twin.”
He merely blinked at her, then looked down to wrap bread about a small piece of cheese. He popped it into his mouth, and after he swallowed, his guarded gaze rose to meet hers.
“Where do these questions come from, Em?”
She shrugged and picked apart her bread. “When you posed as your brother the other night, you seemed so good at it. I couldn’t help thinking that you had done such a thing long before Queen Elizabeth asked it of you.”
He leaned back on one elbow at her side, staring into the fire. Endless minutes passed before he spoke, and she’d begun to think he wouldn’t answer.
“It was natural, I guess, for Spencer and me to play at being each other. The servants began it first, by confusing our identities so often. By the age of eight, we learned that trouble could be avoided by blaming the other brother.”
“Was that not cruel?”
He shrugged. “We both thought it was funny to see who could get the other in the most trouble. As long as we did nothing bad enough to involve our parents, the servants were content to deal with us themselves.”
She tried to understand. “But wouldn’t the innocent brother protest with the truth?”
“And risk being unable to get his revenge the same way? No, it was too good a scheme.” Alex’s fond smile faded. “As we grew older, I sometimes took his place when it was necessary to display the ‘heir.’”
She hesitated. “That must have been difficult.”
“I hadn’t thought so at first. Then it became uncomfortable, and I began to resist Spence’s requests for help.”
“Why was it uncomfortable?”
“I’m not sure.”
He bit into his apple, and she was patient while he chewed it. When he didn’t offer more, she softly said, “Sometimes I feel like I’m always behind Blythe, in the shadows, I guess.”
“How ridiculous.” He tossed the apple aside and propped himself higher on his hand, so that they faced one another. “If you are, ’tis only because you put yourself there.”
“Did I?” she asked boldly, studying him, wanting to see that this connection between them was more than physical, that there was much they shared. “Why would I do that?”
He was watching her lips now, and she fought the urge to wet them with her tongue.
“You’re trying to distract me,” he said.
“From what?” Her voice was breathless as her desires cavorted madly throughout her body, making her feel hot and flustered and aching with the want of his touch.
He cocked his head to the side and reached up to cup her cheek. “I seem to remember that you still owe me a kiss.”
She looked at his mouth. “Why?”
“For turning Max into a much sought-after gentleman.”
She couldn’t think, could barely quote his words back to him. “The terms of the wager have certainly not been met. I think you said you could turn him into the most sought-after gentleman in all of England.”
His thumb rubbed across her bottom lip, parting it from the other. “But is he sought after by Blythe?”
She blinked slowly, lazily, leaning toward him. “Perhaps,” she whispered, then shuddered as his finger touched her tongue.
He suddenly released her and lay back on the embankment to look up at her. “I’m waiting.”
“This is hardly an appropriate time or place,” she murmured, bracing herself on one arm as she leaned above him. Her hair slid over her shoulder to pool across his chest, and for a moment, she could have sworn he was stunned. He might not love her, but he desired her, and she felt powerful in the night, with the stars above her and Alex vulnerable below her.
