Caroline kept her gaze ahead, following the line of Kitty’s copper gown as it swished along the ground. “No, of course not. Was there not a healthy degree of guilt guiding you as well?”
“There was, but that was not all.”
The silence stretched. “I have the sense you would like to tell me more.”
“In an effort to defend myself, yes, but also so you might understand the fullness of the situation.”
“Why would that be necessary?”
His hand came over hers, and he looked down at her with frankness, drawing them to a stop. “Is that not plain?”
Caroline’s heart pounded, filling her ears with the sound of her pulse thrumming. She recognized her breath growing shallow, but did her best to disguise it. “No.”
“I bungled the thing, but my offer was partially because of guilt, partially inspired by the wager, but wholly because I was confident you would make me a good wife.”
“We had not seen one another in years,” she reminded him, her voice breathier than she would have liked.
“I did not believe your character would have changed so much in that amount of time. Surely you were still the same Caro I had known in my youth.”
A couple passed them, and Tristan’s hand around her back guided them from the path and closer to an alcove created by a wall of hedges. She ended up closer to him than she had been a moment before, the smell of his cologne nearly intoxicating, especially when combined with the feeling of his hand pressing against her spine. Caroline was faintly aware they had stopped walking. She didn’t know where Kitty had gone off to, but since James had designated himself her protector, Caroline did not worry for her friend.
“Surely you know I care for you,” Tristan said. “Your feelings for Dennison are not so strong as to make him a more worthy match than me, I hope. You had mentioned he provided security, and I flatter myself in thinking I might provide the same. I have a house in Mayfair and a small income, though your dowry would no doubt add to that security.”
“My dowry,” she repeated, considering his words. Theway he leaned close and kept his hand on the small of her back was clouding her thoughts. She tipped her chin up to gaze into his eyes, wishing the mask was gone. What had she been saying? It hardly signified now. The fire snapping in his eyes was a direct mirror into the feelings burning within her.
Tristan was claiming to want her forher. She reached up on tiptoe and took the silk ribbon behind his head in her fingers, tugging until the mask was free. Tristan did not fight her. He maintained his expression, watching her face closely as she let the mask dangle from one hand, dragging the pads of her fingers over his cheekbone. His cheek was smooth, but his jaw rough, as though he had not shaved since that morning.
He sucked in a heavy breath. “You are tormenting me,” he whispered.
Caroline felt powerful. She brushed her thumb along his lower lip, surprised by its softness. “Then we are finally even.”
Tristan circled her wrist, tugging it down. “That is not nearly as true as you believe it to be.”
“Why?”
“Because I have wanted to kiss you since the moment you rejected me at Lady Petunia’s ball, and you have been nothing but unaffected.”
There was a flutter deep in her stomach. “Thatis not nearly as true asyoubelieve it to be.”
“Oh?” Tristan’s hand on her back pressed lightly, until she was practically in his embrace. He cupped her jaw, running his finger along the underside of her mask. “Then this is affecting you?”
Caroline said nothing.
He ran his finger down her jaw and around her neck, justwithin the hood of the domino, and a shiver ran over her skin. “Andthisis affecting you?” he asked.
She remained silent.
Tristan leaned down, his lips a breath away from hers, his eyes closed. When he spoke, she could feel one of his lips faintly touching hers. “And this is affecting you.”
Her breath hitched. “Yes,” she said quietly.
Tristan made a noise low in his chest. His body pressed closer to hers, but he seemed uncertain. “I cannot kiss you in the dark of Vauxhall Gardens, Caro.”
“Why not?”
Tristan moved his mouth to the side, pressing his lips lightly to the corner of hers. “I respect you too much for that.”
A squeal ripped through the night air, one that sounded faintly distressed.
