Good God.
She really did think him a complete cad. She was the lion in her analogy, but she stared at him as if he were the one likely to pounce. He folded his arms behind his back and turned away toward the railing.
“What if,” he spoke as evenly as he was able, “I told you I had honorable intentions when Isuggestedthis meeting?”
“I’d say you were beingdeliberatelycruel. And intentional cruelty is not, I believe,in your nature.”
“No.” He swiveled back. “Only reckless abandon in the face of yourfeminine arts.Suchhigh praise.”
He stopped himself from wishing her, presently, to the devil.
Still, his wounded pride had so inverted his admiration, he forged onward when he should have retreated to decipher just how and where this conversation had gone so terribly wrong.
“I admit, acurrentfascination with your...” He swept his gaze down her person with slow and open depravity. “...assets. But you are correct. Iwillrecover.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Your lewd interest is none of my?—”
“Lewd?” He interrupted. “Lewd!Of course, I am lewd. Vile. Crude. Inconsiderate.”
She had the grace to blush, but stammered angrily, “Am I mistaken? Or did you not just undress me with your gaze?”
He had, damn her. And he hadn’t found her at all wanting. Fury and lust had him throbbing everywhere from his temple to his groin.
“Your theory appears excessively detailed, decidedly settled, and none too flattering.” He took a measured breath. “It is alsowrong. As it happens, my absorption began, not with a wild, covetous passion, nor with the vision of you as...ascomely shepherdessto my godchildren.” He’d practically spat the word shepherdess. As he ran a hand over his mouth, his gaze fell to her throat. “My absorptionbeganwith a whisp of an errant curl...a curl rather like the one you have been repeatedly threading through your fingers.”
She shoved the curl beneath her cap. “If untidy hair is your weakness?—”
“Notanyone’suntidy hair.Youruntidy hair. I promise you I have never taken particular note of any other lady’s tussled coiffure. And that before I knew a blessed thing about you, but for the fact I was furious with you for having lost track of Lady Felicia, which is rather the opposite of what you’ve accused.”
She eyed him sharply. “I may have given the wrong reason, but you cannot deny the whole. You want me, and you mean to have me with no thought to the consequences to me.”
“No thought?” he sputtered. “Howverywrong you are!”
“Well, then!” She waved her hand between them. “Youdefinethis.”
Seized by a reckless, malignant thrill, he fixed his hands to the furniture, one on the sofa’s arm, just to her right, and the other, on the backrest to her left. “Far be it from me todissemble. Would you prefer a detailed, anatomical justification?”
“That won’t be necessary. The snug tailoring on your trousers has made your state obvious enough.”
His smile was anything but blithe. “There’s no need for fright, my dear. It’s but a tool, and, if skillfully handled, a useful one.”
“Ah, but tools are so cumbersome.” She raised her brows in an expression of sweetness. “I prefer to use my own hands.”
He jerked back, only able to stare. Caught between fury, lust, and a mad urge to laugh, he slowly shook his head. She was beyondanythinghe’d ever known and this entire conversation, perfectly outrageous.
And yet...
And yet, he felt so vital, he should have been sparking. And he knew he’d deserved that counterpunch she’d so calmly and impressively delivered.
“You are beyond audacious,” he said, not without a flicker of admiration.
She rearranged her skirts. “I’m nothing more to you than prey.”
“I wouldneverthink of a lady as prey, particularly not you.” Although earlier, he had compared the act of her entering his home akin to entering a lion’s den, hadn’t he?
If he could just catch his breath, maybe he could redirect?—
“You would never think of me as aladyat all.”
