The air between them was stilted. Cold and yet hot. Angry and yet passionate. It struck her then, that she could just as easily kiss him as cut him down with her words.
But she did not want to cut him down. Did she?
Yes, she did. And also no, she did not.
“I would have welcomed you,” she forced out. “There. Are you pleased now, Shelbourne?”
“Ça dépend, chérie.” He had somehow moved closer. Near enough that he took her chin gently between his thumb and forefinger. “Are you telling me what you think I wish to hear, or are you telling me the truth?”
Both. Neither. Oh, she did not know. His scent was curling around her, as heady as any caress. Bay and Shelbourne, leather and musk, seduction and temptation. Those last two were not scents, but if they were, they would have smelled exactly likehim.
She nibbled on her lip, contemplating her response.
“Christ,” he growled. His thumb swept over the seam of her lips, pressing. “Cease doing that, damn you.”
Julianna was certain her mind was in proper functioning order. She was certain the room had not grown smaller and hotter, that her mouth had not suddenly turned to flame from the slightest touch.
And yet she was breathless, giving a lie to all those convictions. “Cease doing what?”
“Biting your lip.” His thumb settled over her philtrum, lingering there. “It makes me bloody wild when you do that. It always has.”
Heavens.Did she still bite her lip so often? She knew she did it when she was nervous or contemplating something. Mama had chastised her for the unladylike habit more times than she could count. Apparently, her discomfit in Shelbourne’s presence overshadowed her mother’s stern edicts.
His thumb still lingered there, on the bow of her lips, warm and tantalizing. She tipped her head back, until the pad landed on her mouth, then slipped to her chin. “Why does it make you wild?”
She was tempting them both, and she knew it. After the unexpected lovemaking in his bedchamber the night of their wedding, Julianna had been stern with herself, knowing she needed to keep her distance from him, to rebuild her walls. However, building walls was the last thing she wanted to do now.
Because what she wanted to do now was kiss him. And then kiss him some more.
It was wrong and she knew it. Falling under Shelbourne’s spell was not something she could bear to do again. He was unpredictable, untrustworthy, and dangerous to her in so many ways. A rake, a rogue, a scoundrel. The man who had taken her innocence and broken her heart. But he was also the father of her daughter. Her husband.
The lines of demarcation had decidedly blurred.
And he had yet to answer her question.
“Well?” she challenged. “Why should anything I do affect you?”
His lips curved into a wry grin, unabashedly sensual. “Everything you do affects me. It has from the moment I first saw you.”
She swallowed against a rush of yearning. “Tell me another lie.”
“It isn’t a lie, Julianna. I wish it were.”
Something inside her froze, for she had felt the same way about him. “I hardly remember when I first met you.”
That was a lie. A horrid one.
He rubbed her chin slowly, tenderly, his expression intense, unreadable. “It was at Farnsworth Hall, 1881. I was out riding, and when I returned, you had arrived with Hellie to spend the week. You were wearing a blue dress that matched your eyes, and you had a volume of Keats.”
She recalled that day. Remembered, even, the poem she had been reading before his dramatic entrance in the cavernous library.Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art.He had been muddied and dressed to ride, having just returned from a morning lather. And he had been looking for Hellie when he had found Julianna instead.
Had she been wearing a blue gown? She had quite forgotten the color of it. But how could it be that Shelbourne recollected?
“I…” She paused, searching his fathomless gaze, at a loss for what to say.
His touch upon her—so simple, a mere thumb, and yet searing as a brand—was robbing her of the ability to think, she was sure.
“Do you remember, Julianna?” he asked, his mellifluous baritone cascading over her.
