Page 56 of My Hellion, My Heart
“Was it the noise? Did I crack the balls too loudly?”
Henry tried to stifle his laugh, but it threatened to become a snort, and he let it loose. “No, no. Though, I must say, Princess, I don’t believe I could ever grow tired of hearing that word on your lips.”
Immediately, a lewd image of Irina sprang to his mind, and he decided perhaps mentions of lips and balls should not be made so close together. She must have connected the words as well for her cheeks went a lovely shade of pink.
“Take your turn, my lord, and tell me—how did you know I visited a gaming hell in Paris?”
He walked around the table, closer to where Irina stood, to align his cue stick. He concentrated on the shot and took it before answering her question, earning himself another two points.
“I have contacts in Paris still. People who owe me favors.” Henry leaned against the table. “I asked them to deliver information on Lord Remi.”
“You’re spying on him?” He noticed there was more curiosity in her expression than anger.
“I am simply gathering information,” he replied. That it had reinvigorated him, he did not mention. “In case he does decide to offer for you, I need to be certain he’s not after your dowry. I made a promise to your father, after all, to see you and your sister safe, and that includes pursuit from fortune hunters.”
“Max has enough money of his own.” Her cheeks tinting, Irina hiked her chin. “You behaved abominably with him tonight.”
“I wanted to behave worse,” Henry said, smiling to try and erase the pinch of a frown between her eyebrows.
It worked. Irina sighed. “He is only goading you on.”
“He is pushing too far.”
She fixed him with a withering stare. “And you never have?”
Henry held her challenging gaze. “I don’t push where I am not wanted.”
She had no response to that, though he could see in the trip of emotion on her face that she was searching for one. Something witty or clever, perhaps.
Henry took a step closer, keeping her command not to kiss her again in the very forefront of his mind. “Lord Remi was right regarding one thing, however,” he said softly. “I am no longer your guardian.”
No more than a foot of space separated them, he realized, as the warmed scent of her wafted toward him. He’d gotten drunk on the smell of her skin in the woods. Henry couldn’t help but think of her as she’d been against that tree, only this time, he wanted her facing him…her dress hitched around her waist, those silken hips of hers on luscious, decadent display.
Unable to help himself, he reached out, the tips of his fingers brushed hers, resting on the raised bank of the billiards table. Irina held her mace stick in her other hand as tightly as she would a weapon and closed her eyes as if to brace against his light touch. Her chest rose and fell in a sharp, erratic motion, but she did not move away.
“You can do as you want,” he went on, his fingers traveling over hers, skimming over her satin-encased knuckles and up her wrist.
The feel of her skin was addictive—one forbidden touch was not enough. But Henry held himself well in check, staying firm to her request not to kiss her. Those lips. Knowing how soft and malleable and yielding they were did not make his task of holding back any easier. He knew all too well where a kiss between them would lead…to the fruition of his lewd fantasies.
A glimpse of her bare shoulders and back caught his eye in the gilded floor-length mirror, and an urge to trace his lips along the long, elegant rise of her spine overcame him. The near constant ache in his groin throbbed. Henry spared a glance to the open doorway, the arm of the footman just visible.
“Tell me, what is it that you want, Irina?” he asked softly, edging so close he could feel the heat rising from her body.
Irina parted her lashes to look up at him, the jeweled deep-blue depths of her eyes searching his. Desire swam in them, but something else did, too. Something that gave him pause. With a long inhalation, as if to fortify herself, she stepped away out of his reach to the other side of the billiards table.
“I can’t do this.”
“Do what?”
Irina looked sapped of all strength. As if it had taken all her willpower to step away from him. He, too, felt the loss of her keenly.
With a sigh of frustration, she shook her head and gestured between their bodies.“This.”Her voice lowered, a blush filling her cheeks. “What happened at the waterfall. We both know it cannot happen again.” She smiled brightly at him, though the heaviness remained in her eyes. “You did say no to my very unconventional proposal. Perhaps I thought obtaining a ‘yes’ was going to be as easy as the very first time I asked you to dance on the way to the duke’s wedding ball so many years ago.”
“Irina—”
“No, wait. This must be said.” She paused, staring out to the candlelit gardens beyond the panes, as if to gather her thoughts. “I do not want us to fight or argue with each other. I wish for us to start over with a clean slate. As friends.”
“Friends,” he echoed.
