Hector scowled. When he said it likethat,it sounded bad.
“It’s more complex than that,” he protested.
“Is it?” Ramsay did not sound convinced.
Hector stood by his initial point, however. Cliowasbeing obtuse. She clearly didn’t actually want to hie off to the Continent. If she did, she would have done so already, rather than pretending to ignore all the snide remarks from the Society toffs that he’d been forced to invite to make it seem that he wanted more than one guest at this so-called party.
And the two of them clearly held an attraction for one another. He didn’t doubt that. Every interaction, from the very beginning, had held sparks. And true, many of those sparks had been antagonistic, but nobody had ever said that such a thing didn’t make for good rapport in the bedchamber.
So why was she avoiding him instead of coming to her senses?
He could only assume it was some kind oftonnonsense that he would never understand.
“We just need to speak frankly with one another,” he said. “Get this whole thing … out in the open.”
Ramsay arched a brow at the hesitation, correctly guessing that it obscured the notion that Hector didn’t want to do anythingout in the openwith Clio. No, he wanted to take her to his bed and not let her leave until she saw sense.
“Well,” he said, his mouth kicking up at the corner. “You’ll have to try again later.” He nodded over Hector’s shoulder at the parlor, which was now—damn it all—empty. “She’s given you the slip again.”
CHAPTER 13
Clio was not possessed of a nervous disposition.
By the third—and thank the good Lord above,final—day of the house party, she felt as frazzled as the most missish lady thetonhad ever seen.
She had spent the whole day prior trying to avoid Hector. And she had spent the entire day seeing him in every shadow.
Only half of them had proven real.
That had been the part that had driven her truly out of her head, the realization that even when he wasn’t actually closing in around her, she could feel his presence.
And then, when he’d looked at her from behind the doorway…
There had been something in that gaze that had made her feel hot all over. She’d gotten so flushed that Phoebe had asked if she felt quite all right.
Clio had responded in the very mature and sensible way of fleeing.
She’d hated it. And, in other ways, she hadn’t hated it at all.
She hadn’t hated it in a way that made her agonizingly aware of her body in a way she’d never felt before. Yes, she’d been complimented for her looks—even Hector had complimented them—but that had never felt like it wasabouther.
Maybe Lord Gwanton had been right, she’d thought in her lower moments.Maybe I am the problem. Maybe I’m too spoiled. Maybe that’s why none of the men who have ever shown interest have made me want them in return.
Except …
Except, as soon as the thought had manifested in her mind, she’d recalled Hector’s assessing eyes, had thought of the way his shoulders had bunched under his shirt as he’d lifted her from the carriage, had thought of thatkiss?—
It left her with questions.
And so, after spending the last day of the party in her room, feigning a headache and avoiding everyone—except Phoebe,who had come to laugh at her over the obvious lie—Clio had slipped from her room to find the man that had instilled those questions in her and, for goodness’ sake, get some bloodyanswers.
She refused to listen to her better angels as she bribed a housemaid for the direction to Hector’s bedchamber, refused to pause long enough to consider that this was, without a doubt, the stupidest thing she’d ever done.
She didn’t even pause long enough to knock.
Hector startled when the door cracked open, revealing himself as a man who hadn’t grown up with a staff around him, constantly slipping in and out of rooms. He was alone and expected to stay alone, which was never guaranteed in one of the grand aristocratic houses. His shoulders—Clio swallowed hard as she looked at his shoulders through only the thin linen of his shirt—tensed, then relaxed when he saw it was her … but only halfway.
“Clio,” he said, sounding resigned more than surprised.
