Charity responded with a huff of irritation. ‘Where were you standing when it happened?’
‘In the salon. Grandmama had just taken the painting upstairs and we were alone.’
Her sister leaned forward, her smug superiority momentarily forgotten in perfectly girlish curiosity. ‘Did you like it?’
Hope bit her lip. ‘Proper young ladies do not ask such questions, nor do they answer them.’
‘I will take that as a yes,’ Charity said with a satisfied nod.
‘I should not have,’ Hope said quickly. ‘It happened so fast that I did not know how to stop it. But it ended quickly as well.’ Which still felt strangely disappointing. ‘It should never have happened at all,’ she said firmly. ‘And when it did, it was wrong to take pleasure in it.’
‘Do not be ridiculous. Kissing is usually considered pleasant, or people would not bother to do it. You can hardly control a visceral response,’ Charity said and slowly closed her eyes. ‘And he does seem to be the sort of man who could evoke feelings.’
‘Yes,’ Hope admitted. Perhaps it was his fault, after all, for being too handsome to resist. ‘But I am still not sure why it happened. He did not seem very happy afterward.’
‘Considering his past, I expect he was not,’ Charity said, acting just as she always did, as if she knew more than everyone in the room.
Hope sighed. ‘Go ahead. Tell me what it was about his past that would make him unhappy to have kissed me.’
‘I will if you tell me what it was that set him off.’
Was there any part of the day that had not been mortifying? And must Charity tease out every last secret? ‘I was overwrought,’ Hope said at last, shaking her head. ‘After seeing the painting and Grandmama’s reaction to it. It was humiliating. She could not contain her pride, even in front of Mr Drake. What must he think of us?’
‘So you went on a sanctimonious rant about our honourable family heritage,’ Charity retorted, making a face.
‘Between her pilfering and her lewd paintings, Grandmama does not do a very good job of protecting our family reputation.’
‘And you felt the need to explain it all to a natural son whose family would not claim him and who is now being paid to clean the Strickland linen,’ she said, then stared at Hope, waiting for her to understand.
Hope had not thought it was possible to be more embarrassed by what had happened, but apparently, she was wrong. ‘I had no idea he would think my words pertained to him. He must have thought me the most arrogant woman in the world.’
‘It is worse than that,’ Charity added, her smile even wider.
‘Of course it is,’ Hope said in a faint voice. It was as if, because she had enjoyed a kiss, God meant to punish her by spoiling every other moment in the day.
‘Of the parents, his mother was the proud lady and his father the underling who seduced and abandoned her. I suspect he was appalled to find he was acting out a tradition from his own family, right there in the salon.’
‘He will never want to see me again.’ That was what the letter had said and what he had meant by it being all his fault.
‘If he is attracted to you, what he wants to do might be quite different from what he actually does,’ Charity announced.
‘He is not attracted,’ Hope corrected. ‘He said that he would not have spent a moment with me had he not been paid to do so.’
‘That is quite possibly true,’ Charity said. ‘If he had not been hired by Mr Leggett, there is a good chance you would never have met. But now that you have, the fact that he is employed by the family makes no difference. It does not make him less than human. And it certainly does not make him any less of a human male.’
He was definitely that. Hope could not help the little tremble of excitement she felt when she thought of the strong hands that had grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.
When the cloud of fantasy cleared, she looked up to see Charity was staring at her as if she was an idiot. ‘He kissed you because you are a beautiful woman and hewantedto kiss you,’ she said, explaining it as if it should be obvious. ‘His passions were likely inflamed by the presence of the picture which bears a striking resemblance to you. There were also the ideas I might have put in his head...’
‘You told him to kiss me?’ said Hope, horrified.
‘I told him not to,’ Charity said with a dismissive wave. ‘Rather, I told him not to seduce you. Telling a person not to do a thing is often the same as urging him on.’
‘Why would you do such a horrible thing?’
Charity grinned. ‘Because when as fine a masculine specimen as Gregory Drake enters the house, someone ought to get a kiss from him.’
‘And you decided it should be me?’
