“I must admit I’m a little disappointed,” he said.
“And why is that, Your Grace?” She needed the distance his title provided.
“You didn’t attempt to extract a ransom for my clothes.”
“And what should my price have been?” she somehow asked.
He shifted to face her, his intense golden gaze landing on her to devastating effect.
Her lungs forgot how to breathe.
Her heart forgot how to beat.
This man… What was he doing to her?
Actually, that wasn’t the question on her body’s mind.
It was more concerned with what he presentlywasn’tdoing to her.
*
Awareness crackled throughthe air.
It occurred to Sebastian that he could reach out and take the nape of Delilah’s neck in his hand, his fingers sliding through silky blonde curls, and draw her forward.
The look in her eyes suggested she wouldn’t offer resistance.
But was that what he wanted for their first kiss?
Firstkiss.
A word that suggested that if there was one kiss, then another would surely follow.
But he wanted more from a Delilah kiss than a lack of resistance.
He wanted her to feel as if she would die without it.
He wanted an enthusiasticyes.
And while she might be close, she wasn’t quite there yet.
So, he snorted.
Her eyebrows crinkled together, and she blinked as if released from a trance. She also looked slightly disgruntled. Then she sniffed, and her gaze shifted toward the sea. “We cut inland tomorrow.”
Was this Lady Delilah Windermere making small talk? He hadn’t known her capable of it. He supposed he could play along, even as a pang of disappointment shot through him.
He should’ve kissed her.
And now the moment was lost.
“Aye,” he said, the syllable emerging on a grouchy note.
“And the bonfire tonight,” she continued. “Will you be attending?”
Ah.So it wasn’t small talk. “Why do you ask?” he asked, knowing exactly why, but wanting her to say it anyway.
She shrugged a shoulder.
