She was shocked. “I don’t want a lover.”
“I will have to follow you this season until I change your mind,” he warned her.
He was incorrigible, she thought as, at last, he escorted her out of the house, incorrigible and very tempting. Tony had better be successful with Uncle Jason on her behalf, because Nicholas Eden could be a girl’s downfall.
Chapter 6
“I’M sorry you missed the ball.”
Nicholas stopped his carriage a few doors away from Anthony Malory’s townhouse. His eyes caressed Reggie’s face.
She grinned. “I’ll wager you’re even sorrier that Lady Eddington didn’t miss it.”
“You would lose the wager,” he replied with a sigh. “I don’t know why I did it anyway. The drink, I suppose. It’s certainly doesn’t matter one bit now.”
“Stuff! You were jealous when you thought she was seeing Tony.”
“Wrong again. I have never been jealous in my life, of anyone or anything.”
“My, how fortunate for you.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I don’t see any other reason for your wanting to lock your mistress away for the evening. You didn’t even plan to spend the evening with her.”
He laughed. “You say that with such a worldly air.”
She blushed. “At any rate, you needn’t be sorry that I missed the ball. I’m not.”
“Because you met me instead?” he ventured. “You give me more and more hope, love.”
She sat up stiffly. “I hate to disappoint you, Lord Montieth, but that is not the reason. I would as well have stayed at home tonight.”
“As would I have, if you were with me. There’s still time, you know. We can return to my house.”
She shook her head at him, wanting to laugh. In fact, since meeting him, she had felt a continual ridiculous urge to laugh for the sheer joy of it. She was bubbling over. But she knew she had to leave him now and put this night behind her.
“I must go,” she said softly.
“I suppose you must.” His fingers closed over her gloved hand, but he made no move to help her down from the carriage. He exerted a pressure on her hand that held her in place. “I want to kiss you again before you go.”
“No.”
“Just a good-night kiss.”
“No.”
His free hand cupped her cheek. He hadn’t bothered to collect his gloves or hat before they left his house, and his bare fingers were hot against her skin. She couldn’t move, and she waited breathlessly for him to steal the kiss she had refused him.
He did, his lips moving in to fasten on hers for a kiss that was nothing like any kiss she’d had before. Warm and masterful, his lips tasted hers until she thought she would explode.
“Come on, before I forget myself,” he said roughly. Passion made his voice heavy.
Reggie was dazed as he helped her down from the carriage and led her toward her uncle’s townhouse. “You’d better not come with me,” she whispered. Lamps burned on each side of the door, and she could just picture the door opening and Tony facing Nicholas Eden with a gun in his hand. “It isn’t necessary for you to accompany me.”
“My dear, I may be many reprehensible things, but no one has ever said of me that I was not a gentleman, and a gentleman sees a lady to her door.”
“Stuff! You’re a gentleman only when it pleases you to be one, and now it pleases you to be obstinate.”
