Page 57 of Almost a Bride
But he thought he heard the slightest hesitation in her voice, and for some strange reason, it pleased him. “I only asked because I wondered if our kiss bothered you.”
“It was more than a mere kiss,” she said with sarcasm, glancing at him.
“Very well, our mutual fondling.”
“Mutual—”
Roselyn turned away again, and he couldn’t tell if she was withholding a smile.
She slowly began to knead the bread. “I guess those intimacies do not matter to one such as yourself.”
“Such as myself?” he repeated, limping over to sit on a stool near her.
“You have surely exchanged much more than ‘mutual fondling’ with your mistresses.”
“Ah yes, all fifteen of them.”
“Fifteen—” She whirled to face him, scattering flour in her wake.
He grinned. “At the same time.” It was getting far too easy to fluster her.
She studied him coolly. “Well, that’s a story Francis didn’t hear.”
“Or didn’t repeat.”
“He only heard that there were two of them. Do you miss them?”
Spencer frowned. “Two of them?”
“Dancers, I think. They were at the same time, too—or so Francis heard. But do you miss them?”
She didn’t even blush, though he realized with mortification that he did, just as if he was guilty.
“Your bailiff repeated such a story?”
“No—his wife did. I think she was trying to convince me that I had made the right decision in not marrying you.”
He could tell by her wrinkled nose that she wished she’d not said so much.
He stood up and stepped nearer, asking in a low voice, “Did you need convincing?”
“No,” Roselyn quickly said, her back to him.
She wore her hair pulled tightly up beneath her cap, and he wondered what she would do if he started unpinning it, setting it free curl by curl to bury his face in it.
“MargaretthoughtI needed convincing,” she continued. “I think the Heywoods told me stories of you out of some misguided sense of…consolation.”
He wanted to run his tongue down her spine; he wanted to slide his arms around her and cup her breasts, and watch her face while he caressed her.
“Did it work?” He blew softly on her neck.
“Did what work?” she asked in a faltering voice.
“Were you comforted by the thought of me being so…scandalous?”
“I—I—”
He leaned forward and pressed his open mouth just behind her ear. She gave a little gasp and a start, and when she would have ducked away, he slid his arm about her waist to hold her still. Her buttocks were pressed to his thighs, and he almost dipped to rub his erection between them.
