“And there is still this feeling that we know very little of one another, so it can help do away with that too,” he added matter-of-factly.
“Yes, I have that feeling also. In fact, I was just going to bring it up, and then—”
“You closed your eyes.”
“I closed my eyes and… to think!” she quickly stammered, heat splashing through her skin. “I closed my eyes and I was thinking and you took the kiss right from my lips—words!Wordsright from my lips!” She looked down and cursed inwardly at the slip.
Gideon nodded with pursed lips and a repressed grin as if he didn’t believe a word she’d just said. He gestured to one side of the small library with an exaggerated flourish. When she faltered in confusion, he took her hand softly and led her over to the chaise situated next to the tall bookshelf there. She sank down on one end and he purposely left little space between them by claiming the spot right beside her. The decision had her blushing to the roots of her hair.
“Let us set rules first,” Gideon said. “If one person does not answer a question truthfully, a punishment should follow.”
“What kind of punishment?”
Gideon gave her a devious grin. “Thatchoice belongs to the other. I shall be the commander first then.” Right as she was about to respond, his hand casually found its place on her thigh, nearly making her jump. Gideon didn’t seem to notice, however. His thumb began to trace a leisurely path along her skirt. “I command you to… tell me the true reason why you kissed me at my ball the night we met.”
“Wait, I never agreed to this!” She made to rise, but his hand on her lap had her falling back onto the chaise.
She glared at him, nose wrinkling, hoping it would mask how much his command had frightened her. “This isn’t fair,” she complained.
“Are you forfeiting then?” he challenged with a smirk.
Amelia sighed. She’d brought this upon herself, after all. She stared vacantly into the middle distance, her eyes glassy with contemplation. “I… wasn’t thinking.” She shook her head resolutely. “No, that’s a lie. Though I might have been a little… influenced that night, I made the decision with the full knowledge of its consequences.”
“You’re avoiding the question, Amelia,” Gideon drawled. In her periphery, she could still feel his thumb massaging her leg, making it difficult to think straight.
“I realize,” she murmured. “I… well, I was feeling a little… well, this is embarrassing to say but…”
“Concupiscent?” he teased.
“Concu—What? No!” Amelia could feel how red her face had become, drawing laughter from Gideon. “I was going to say desperate. I… needed access to my inheritance and marriage was the only way to acquire it. With the Season's end nearing and my time to wed running short, it felt like I had no other choice. It is horrible, I know, but… it is quite terrifying and you as a man would never understand. Being in the situation I had been in with my aunt and uncle, I knew that a lifetime of loneliness and misery awaited me if I became a spinster. Not to forget, my…”
“Your what?” Gideon probed slowly.
Amelia shook her head. She’d almost revealed theotherreason for her desperation—Dorothy and her plight. “It’s nothing. I have answered your command.”
Gideon shrugged. “Fair. Though I cannot say your response differs much from what you have already revealed and what I have suspected for some time now.”
“Are you not upset?”
“That you trapped me?” Gideon frowned as he considered the question. “I should be, shouldn’t I? Nevertheless, I believe it is your turn to be the commander.”
Amelia studied him a moment longer. She’d expected him to be angry or at least resentful. But… he didn’t seem to care at all. Strangely, that lightened the guilt that had been weighing on the back of her mind for some time now.
She watched him, unable to understand the warm sensation coursing through her body. Images filled her mind—of the first time he’d genuinely smiled at her, of the way he touched her unconsciously as if he wanted to be close. She’d never imagined that she could feel something as heart wrenching and as terrifying as the emotions filling her, emotions she’d never experienced before, emotions for the man whom she had despised for so long because of the part he played in the calamity that befell her family…
“Amelia?”
The room snapped back into focus. “Yes, right. My command for you—explain why you take on the guise of the Masked Rogue.”
To his credit, Gideon didn’t flinch. She supposed her asking that question was rather predictable.
He twisted in his seat to face her. “I am the Masked Rogue because I choose to be.”
“Why?”
“That’s two commands.”
“Are you forfeiting?” she shot back.
