“Not at all.” He held her stare. “You look like the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
A becoming flush stole over her cheekbones. “Do cease flattering me. You’ve already won me, you rogue.”
But he hadn’t won her. Not truly, had he? And the knowledge left an ache in his gut. One he had never felt before.
“I’ll own that I’m a rogue,” he allowed, tamping down those unwanted feelings. “However, I would never offer empty flattery. You are every bit as incomparable as your desserts.”
“Speaking of my desserts, I was thinking of bringing some of my molds and an ice cave here,” she said. “I thought that perhaps you might enjoy an occasional cream ice over the course of the month, and it would be easier for me to prepare it here in the kitchens than to freeze the mold at the school and bring it with me.”
The month—an unwanted reminder that their time together was finite. Unless he could persuade her to give him more.Before her, he had never wanted more from anyone. But Miranda was different.
He knew it to his marrow.
“I would love nothing better than to indulge in your ices, but I don’t like the idea of you continuing to work after you’ve spent the day at your school,” he pointed out, keenly aware of how hard she toiled. “I want you to relax when you are with me here. I want it to be your respite.”
“That’s very considerate of you.” Her smile warmed. “Perhaps on days when the school is not in session, then?”
“As you wish. When we are together, however, I don’t want you to feel as if you must tend to me.”
“Perhaps I like tending to you,” she said softly.
That warmed him more than the wine. Dear God, she was a gem. Ammondale ought to have his head examined for treating her so callously. But then, if the earl had been a proper husband to Miranda, Rhys never would have had the opportunity to get to know her. And he couldn’t fathom his life without her in it.
A sobering thought, that.
“I have a great deal that requires tending,” he teased her to distract himself and lighten the conversation. “One part of me in particular, kitten.”
That won him a laugh from her. “Will you forever insist upon referring to me thus?”
He winked. “Yes. I will. For one thing, I like to ruffle your feathers. For another, when you chastise me, it makes my cock hard.”
But then, in her presence,everythingmade his cock hard.
She bit her lip, clearly trying to keep from laughing again. “You are an unrepentant scoundrel.”
“Would you have me any other way?”
“No.” She shook her head, her expression turning serious. “I don’t think I would. But fortunately, though you may be a rogue,you are a generous one. I’ve already received some inquiries about my employment agency. I presume you are the source.”
He had indeed been planting the seed in as many places as possible during the house party.
“I’m pleased to hear that some of the guests have contacted you so soon,” he said. “I cannot say I’m surprised, what with the way everyone was perpetually raving over your ices each night. I quite expect the demand for your charges will exceed the number of pupils you have, forthwith.”
“Thank you, Rhys.”
“You needn’t thank me. Your hard work and dedication are responsible for your success.”
“But without the funds you paid me for the house party and your recommendations, my school would still be struggling.” There was a tenderness in her verdant gaze that touched something inside him.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, well. I can assure you that my motives were not entirely noble.”
Hell, when they had begun, his motives had been anythingbutnoble. He had wanted her in his bed, full stop. But now? Ye gods. Now, he couldn’t quite tell what his motives were where she was concerned, and that terrified him more than anything else. Because he was very much beginning to fear that he, a man who had always considered his romantic entanglements purely carnal in nature, was beginning to fall for Miranda after a mere week of bedding her.
“You want me to believe the worst of you, but there is far more to you than the jaded rake,” Miranda insisted quietly.
No one had ever looked at him as she was. It was a potent, heady sensation.
“Come to bed with me,” he said, needing the diversion of the physical rather than the intellectual, which felt suddenly far too dangerous with her.
