Page 68 of The Moonstone Pirate
“I’d rather face the Irishman,” Draco muttered to Parrot, the only faithful friend he had in this house.
He stalked to his bedchamber, tossed off his shirt, and then took a towel to Parrot, who was now whining because he was still wet. Draco had just finished drying off the pampered hound when he heard a light knock at his door. “Come in, Kendall,” he said with impatience, expecting his newly hired valet. “Do not berate me again about the state of my clothes. It cannot be helped. And—” He had tossed aside the towel and opened the door only to find Imogen standing before him. “Blessed saints, is there no getting rid of you?”
Imogen pursed her lips and frowned. “You said I may come in.”
“I thought you were my valet.”
“I did not realize you had one.”
“He is newly acquired, not that it is any of your business. Nor do I need a nursemaid for myself, but my uncle was adamant that all proper gentlemen ought to have a valet. No doubt his old biddy of a cousin, Lady Claudia, insisted upon it.”
“So you indulged your uncle and hired one?” She cast him a soft smile. “That was nice of you. He must have been so pleased his opinion was valued.”
Draco sighed.
“It is a good thing you did, Draco. An experienced valet will know how to keep your clothes in shape. You do have an aptitude for ruining them.”
“And you have an aptitude for turning up wherever you should not be.” Were he not still irritated over the surprise visitfrom McTavish, he would have used his brain and simply shut the door, leaving Imogen to sputter and pout indignantly in the hall.
But he was so riled about everything that had gone wrong today that, instead of shutting her out, he drew her into his bedchamber, closed the door behind them, and trapped her against the wall by placing his arms on either side of her shoulders and leaning in close enough to feel her soft breaths against his chest. “Why did you come up here? To make sure I would stick to our pact? I made you a promise, and I always honor my promises.”
She stared at him with her big, beautiful eyes. “Oh, Draco. No. I would never hold you to it. How could you think I ever would? In fact, I came here to assure you that I would release you from all such obligations. You must not feel compelled to honor our silly marriage pact.”
“Why let me off so easily? I am an earl, you know. No other young lady would let me off so lightly. In truth, they would not let me off at all.”
“But I am, for my sake as much as yours. I would never force you or any man to marry me. I wish to marry for love, not for reasons of scandal or trickery.”
“It’s about those moonstones, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “I want them to shine for me. They won’t if you feel coerced into marriage. If you ever do propose to me, it must be because your heart aches for me and you cannot live without me. But I am glad you kissed me. It was another wonderful kiss, wasn’t it? True, I was squatting and could not get up while you were holding me down, and pirates were about to attack.”
“Imogen, they were not going to attack.”
“They might have,” she insisted. “This is another thing I wished to discuss with you. What was that confrontation with the captain of theDroghedareally about?”
“What are you going to do if I refuse to tell you?”
She cast him another stubborn look. “Persist, probably.”
He eased closer so that his mouth was almost upon hers and their breaths mingled. “And what are you going to do if I kiss you again?”
“Melt and kiss you back with all my heart, in all likelihood. I would love for you to kiss me again.”
He groaned. “Imogen, why would you tell me something like that?”
Her eyes widened. “Should I have lied to you and pretended you mean nothing to me?”
“Yes.”
“Unfortunately, I am a terrible liar. In fact, you had better not ask methequestion if you are not prepared to hear the truth.”
“Thequestion? What isthequestion?”
“It is not something I am going to tell you, but something you ought to know on instinct. I’ll wait until you figure it out.”
“Then you will have quite a long wait.” How could this girl be so lovable and at the same time so aggravating? “Enough, Imogen. Are you going to tell me what this mysterious question is, or must I guess?”
“I’m sorry, Draco. You will have to figure it out on your own. May I leave now? Or are you going to kiss me first?”
