He wasn’t so pleased himself now, drawing his own conclusions. “You’re not going to dash my hopes this soon, are you, sweetheart? Tell me you’re not seeking matrimony along with the masses.”
“Oh, but I am, most definitely. It’s why I’ve come to London.”
“Don’t they all.”
“I beg your pardon.”
He smiled at her again, and it had the strangest effect on her, sort of like melting into honey. “You’re not married yet, are you.” He wasn’t asking, but clarifying it in her mind as well as his. He leaned forward and caught at her hand, gently tugging her closer. “What name goes with such loveliness?”
What name? What name? Her mind was filled with gloveless fingers lightly gripping her own. Warm, strong. Gooseflesh rushed up her bare arm. Her shins bumped the edge of the bench next to his foot, but she didn’t feel it. He had brought her into the shadows.
“You do have one, don’t you?” he persisted.
A clean, masculine scent assailed Roslynn’s nostrils. “What?”
He chuckled, delighted with her confusion. “My dear girl, a name. We all of us must bear one, good or bad. Mine is Anthony Malory, Tony to my intimates. Now do confess yours.”
She closed her eyes. It was the only way she could think. “Ros—Roslynn.”
She heard his tongue click. “No wonder you want to marry, Ros Roslynn. You simply want to change your name.”
Her eyes snapped open to be dazzled by his smile.He was only teasing. It was nice that he felt free to. The other men she had met recently were too busy trying to make a good impression on her to be at ease in her presence.
She returned his smile. “Roslynn Chadwick, to be precise.”
“A name you should keep, sweetheart at least until after we become much better acquainted. And we will, you know. Shall I tell you how?”
She laughed, the husky sound jolting him to his socks. “Ah, you’re trying to shock me again, but it won’t do. I’m too old to blush, and I’ve been warned about men like you.”
“Like me?”
“A rake.”
“Guilty.” He gave a mock sigh.
“A master of seduction.”
“I should hope so.”
She chuckled, and again this was no silly giggle or simper to irritate the senses, but a warm, rich sound that made him want…he dared not. This was one woman he didn’t want to risk scaring off. She might not be innocent in years, but he didn’t know yet whether she was experienced otherwise.
That fateful upstairs light that had started Roslynn on the path to confusion was suddenly put out. Panic was instantaneous. It didn’t matter that she had enjoyed his company. It didn’t matter that she had felt perfectly at ease with him. They were now enshrouded in darkness, and he was a rake, and she couldn’t afford to be seduced.
“I must go.”
“Not yet.”
“No, I really must.”
She tried to pull her hand away, but his grip tightened. His other hand found her cheek, fingertips softly caressing, and something unfurled in her belly. She had to make him understand.
“I—I mun thank you, Mr. Malory.” She slipped into the brogue without realizing it, half her mind on his touch, half on her increasing panic. “You’ve taken my mind off my worries for a spell, but dinna add to them now. It’s a husband I’m needing, no’ a lover, and you dinna qualify…more’s the pity.”
She got her release, simply because she had managed to surprise him once again.
Anthony watched her passing in and out of the different shades of light before she disappeared inside, and again he had that ridiculous urge to go after her. He didn’t. A slow smile started and widened. “More’s the pity,” she had said with such poignant regret. The little miss didn’t know it, but she had sealed her own fate with those words.
Chapter Six
