“Your first?”His heart lurched, and then suddenly began to pound erratically.
Why was his heart pounding?
This was his last night in London.One night.Only one night and he would be off to Somerset for as long as it took him to get his dukedom back in order.
You fool, just let this evening pass quietly.
But he ignored the warning.
He ignored the simple and effective rules that had kept him out of compromising situations all summer long.Do not engage a girl in conversation, especially not this girl and not while you are holding her in your arms.Do not look at a girl’s lips, especially not this girl’s lips that he had ached to kiss since their first meeting.
She was now giving her fleshy lower lip a soft nibble.
He could go on with more rules that he was obviously abandoning because this was Tulip Farthingale and he did not understand why he could not get enough of her.
To his chagrin, she seemed quite comfortably nestled in his arms and was making no attempt to move away when she could have done so with ease.
She should have done so.
He would never be so boorish as to prevent her.
“Yes, my very first kiss.”She nodded again, the dark curls surrounding her lovely face bobbing delightfully.“Because I have never been kissed before.”
“That is usually what afirstindicates,” he said, then quietly chided himself for his snide response.He blamed it on the heat coursing through him.“So, never?”
“Not once in all my life,” she continued, giving him a slight frown for his impertinence.“And I thought it was time to take the leap.But as his lips drew closer to mine…”
“What happened?”
The expression on her face turned to one of distaste.“I panicked and ran off.How could I kiss anyone who did not have my heart?Should it not be splendid and meaningful, a kiss to cherish all the days of my life?”
Oh, gad.
This is why he stayed away from innocents.
They were so…innocent.
“All right, I’ll keep an eye on you as you head back into the ballroom.Just promise me you will stay close to your family for the rest of the evening.”
Tears now formed in her eyes as she solemnly promised.“I feel so ashamed.”
“Why?It was just a harmless kiss that never took place, although it might have led to something far more compromising.”
“I know.I think this is what scared me into running away from him.He was not looking at me in any nice way.”
Alex glanced around the garden, wondering where Caruthers had got to.Should he not have caught up to Tulip by now?“Um, did you by any chance hit him before you ran off?With a heavy object, perhaps?”
“No,” she said with a sniffle.“I simply ran off when he attempted to stick his face close to mine.And then he stuck his tongue out from between his pudgy lips and…ew.But, oh.I see.He should have walked right past us to return to the ballroom, but he hasn’t yet.I promise you, I did not touch him.And the garden paths are sufficiently lit so that he should not have lost his way or tripped over a tree root.”
Alex let out a breath as he repeated his earlier instruction.“Go back inside the ballroom.I’ll stay out here and watch you walk in.”
“Then you’ll go in search of Lord Caruthers?Should I not go with you?”
“That entirely defeats the purpose of getting you safely away from him.”
“But I am with you, so he would never dare anything.Besides, I know exactly where I left him and you do not.”
He ignored the stubborn look on her face.“This is not a large garden, Miss Farthingale.Just point me in the general direction and I will find him.Withoutyour assistance.I do not want you within reach of him again.”
