“Because he’s a domineering ass?” Yet Pippa’s words lacked heat.
“So is Hadleigh, from time to time. That doesn’t stop me from adoring him.” Livy’s look was shrewd. “You are attracted to Mr. Cullen, aren’t you?”
Pippa didn’t have the wherewithal to lie. “Imight be somewhat drawn to him.”
“Has he kissed you yet?”
Pippa’s cheeks flamed, betraying her.
“Oh my goodness, hehas,” Livy breathed. “Is he a good kisser?”
Pippa straightened a pleat in her skirts. “I’m not discussing it—”
“It’s just you and me, and I’m a married woman now. You can speak freely about you-know-what.”
“You-know-what?” With bubbling mirth, Pippa said, “If we’re calling it that, then we’re definitely not ready for this conversation.”
“Fine. Let’s call it what it is. Relations of a biblical nature.”
“And Hadleigh says you’re not tactful.”
“You’re evading the issue, Pippa.”
Faced with the determined slant of Livy’s chin, Pippa knew her friend wasn’t going to let go of the issue. And the truth was she wanted to talk about Cull. With someone she trusted…someone other than Charlie, who had a bias against males in general.
“He is a good kisser,” she admitted.The best.“That is the problem.”
Livy frowned. “How is that a problem?”
Let me count the ways.She chose the simplest answer. “I am still in mourning. It doesn’t feel right that I should be attracted to another man.”
“You’re widowed, not dead. And it’s been a year since Longmere’s passing—longer than that since he made you happy,” Livy said acutely. “He deceived you, kept you in the dark, made you worry so much that you hired investigators to look into his activities. I know one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but in this instance, I must do so to encourage the living. To encourage you, Pippa, to find the happiness you deserve.”
Her friend’s words were a balm to the chapped patches of Pippa’s heart.
“Sometimes I think I’ve forgotten how to be happy,” she said, her throat scratchy.
“It is like riding a horse. After a fall, it can be scary to get in the saddle again, but one must.”
Pippa pinched her brows together. “Is the saddle a metaphor for a relationship?”
“Or for something else,” Livy said in a suggestive tone.
“Olivia McLeod Wodehouse.” Pippa burst out laughing. “You are incorrigible.”
“Would it be so bad to enjoy the pleasures of the moment? You are a widow, after all. You have freedoms that you could exercise with Mr. Cullen. If you wish to.”
“I think I do.” It was a relief to say it aloud. “With all that was going on with Ollie and Lady Hastings’s murder, however, Cull and I left things unsettled between us. He told me he’s no good for me, but he also admitted that he does…that he is interested in me. It’s all so confusing. And, heavens, I haven’t even seen him without his mask.”
Livy drew her brows together. “He’s never removed it?”
Pippa shook her head. “I asked him to once, and he said he couldn’t. According to Charlie, he’s always worn the mask in her presence as well. To uphold his aura of enigma.”
“It’s one thing to remain masked in public as the Prince of Larks, but another when he is in private with you.”
“It’s strange, I know.” Pippa sighed. “On top of that, Cull and I are locking horns on the matter of Lady Hastings’s murder. He insists that I should stay out of it, and I told him to stop getting in my way.”
“When a man tells a woman to stay out of it, does he actually expect her to obey?” Livy mused. “I have always wondered.”
