Page 35 of Beyond Scandal and Desire
“Where is she now?”
“The rundown place where we grew up. I would provide her with suites here, but she has no desire to leave behind what she knows.”
“I think most of us find it difficult to venture beyond what we know, what we are comfortable with. I know I’m not nearly as daring as I wish I were.”
“Is that the reason you’re marrying Kipwick? Because you’re comfortable with him?”
He wanted to bite his tongue. Her reason for marrying the earl had no bearing on the matter, and yet it seemed significant to know that she hadn’t given her heart to the man.
“I love him. I have since I was a little girl.”
There was no passion in her words, no conviction. “A girl’s love is not the same as a woman’s.”
“Is that the voice of experience talking?” she asked curtly as they reached the lobby. “Have you had a girl’s love and a woman’s in order to compare the two?”
“I have known girls and I have known women. Their passions are very different. A girl may desire a doll or a puppy. A woman’s desires have more consequences, are more passionate, more . . . let’s just say they’re likely to keep her tossing and turning through the night.” He escorted her into the ballroom, took satisfaction in her surprised gasp.
Mirrors ran up one of the walls, while red and gold brocade wallpaper lined the other two. At the far end, windows and glass doors gave a view of the outside. While gaslights illuminated the intricate gardens, he would like for her to see them in full daylight. They were small but intimate, not designed for lengthy strolls but for taking tea in the afternoon or relaxing with a book, a book that might very well be purchased in Fancy’s shop.
In a gilded balcony, an orchestra played. Tittlefitz had outdone himself, ensuring flowers and plants lined the edges of the floor, but allowing enough room for small sitting areas here and there. Footmen walked the outskirts, offering food and beverages.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said.
Not as gorgeous as youhung on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice the words, no matter how sincerely he felt them. A time would come when she might view his words from the perspective of betrayal, and she’d think he’d lied. Yet seeing the delight mirrored on her face made him want to do all in his power to bring enchantment her way. “I hired a man with an eye toward creating beauty.”
“I might have to get his name from you when I begin setting up my own household.”
For the residence where she would live with Kipwick, where he would come to her bed. Would she quiver in his arms, whisper naughty things in his ear? The jealousy that surged through him took him off guard. “Your betrothed doesn’t seem to have left the card room yet. Would you honor me with a dance?”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head at the question. Anger riffled through him because she would think him too crass, too beneath her for so much as a waltz.
“Since your brothers don’t dance, I assumed you didn’t, either.”
His anger dissipated like fog before sunlight. Perhaps he was too sensitive about his origins. “It would be dangerous to assume anything about me.”
She gave him an impish grin, her smile hitching up slightly higher on one side. Another imperfection that made her the most intriguing woman he’d ever met. “Are you trying to frighten me away?”
“I’m trying to be honest with you.” Probably more honest than he’d been since he met her. Suddenly he wanted true honesty between them, wanted to leave all the falsehoods behind, wanted to tell her everything. Have her judge him, whether well or poorly. No, he wanted more time, an opportunity to present the best of himself before he revealed the less than favorable aspects.
“Does honesty not come naturally to you, then? You have to work at it?”
“I suspect there is a bit of the dishonest in all of us.”
She blushed at that, and he wondered what deceits she might have engaged in. Nothing too nefarious. Possibly plucking a flower from the garden when it was forbidden. She haughtily angled that tipped-up nose of hers, and those lush lips he wanted to taste curled up on one side. Then she issued her bold challenge. “All right, then. Prove to me you can dance.”
Chapter 9
She should have declined. Any respectfully affianced lady would have. Not that a betrothed woman wasn’t allowed to dance with a man who wasn’t her intended, but she certainly shouldn’t be so near to a man whose hands, although properly placed—one on her back and the other providing a haven for her fingers—caused her to long for them to be improperly placed, caressing the nape of her neck, stroking her bared shoulders, cradling her face as he leaned in—
Oh, dear Lord. She wanted that deliciously wicked mouth of his doing all the things she dreamed of his hands doing. It was wrong, so wrong.
And he was incorrect. She did experience passion where Kip was concerned, and it was more than the childish desires of small things like a butterfly landing on her outstretched hand or a day without lessons. She had womanly passions. How often had she thought about Kip kissing her? A thousand at least, although not nearly as often as she’d envisioned Mick kissing her during the short time she’d known him.
Mick.She couldn’t call him that to his face. It was far too intimate, but in the hidden recesses of her mind where she held on to dreams that would never see reality, she could be less formal.Mick.
“Is it short for Michael?” she asked.
He arched a dark brow. “Pardon?”
