“I was foxed.”
“While that is your usual state, Your Grace, you did not appear to be in your cups at the Perswick ball.”
“Don’t you find that odd? If that is my natural state.”
Termagant.
“Exceedingly. I imagine if you were to cut yourself, brandy wouldpour from the wound instead of blood.”
Good lord, she was annoying.
And…somewhat arousing.
Alexander shifted in the chair, eyes roaming over the pale yellow of her dress, noting the way the silk seemed to cling to the curves of her generous form. The cut was incredibly modest, which was what made her all the more…enticing.
I could have kissed her. With that mouth and that bosom. That venom.
Her rounded features pinched at his perusal. Dark lashes swept over her cheeks. “And not a very good one.”
He hadn’t been listening, far too immersed in his perusal of this girl who claimed Alexander had ruined her. “What wasn’t very good?”
“The kiss. Don’t tell me that in addition to all your other faults, you are also hard of hearing. Will I need to string one of those horns around your neck?” She bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud. “So that you may hold it up to your ear?”
Never in the entirety of his life had anyone spoken to him with such a lack of respect and he was starting to like her for it, against his better judgement.
“You haven’t an ounce of decorum. No tact. Obnoxious in your bluntness. Disrespectful.”
“Well, you’re a sot.” She shrugged. “I was speaking of the press of your lips at the Perswick ball. I saypressbecause I refuse to keep calling it a kiss. There was little to recommend the action and the execution…sloppy.”
“Sloppy.” Alexander jerked back, so astonished he momentarily forgot his craving for the brandy.
“A great disappointment given your reputation.” She set down her tea. “Frankly, I expected something more spectacular. The moon to become that much brighter. The earth to move beneath my feet. But alas, the kiss lacked any magnificence.”
He deliberately knocked the table with one foot, making her cuprattle against the saucer so that she had to jump to catch the tea before it spilled. “Untrue. And I’ve far more experience than you, Lady Sara.”
A small growl came from her. “Sophia, you sot. And I disagree. Dukes go about imagining themselves to be superior, and they are not. People tend to tell a duke whatever it is they want to hear.”
“No one has ever lodged a complaint but you,” Alexander snarled back. “Perhaps I wasn’t properly motivated. In fact,” he flicked a finger in her direction. “I’m sure I was not.”
A soft hiss came from her.
“Any kiss bestowed by me has always been lauded as nothing short of intoxicating,” he growled. “There’s dozens of women who I’ve kissed into a state of euphoria.”
Good lord, why was he defending himself to this…harridan? More importantly, why was he…aroused…byher?
“Nonsense,” she stated.
“You’ve just proved my point, Lady Saffron.”
A sound came from her, she picked up the spoon from her saucer, perhaps thinking to toss it at him, then set it back down just as quickly.
“If the kiss was sloppy, it simply could not have been bestowed by me. It’s an impossibility.”
“Goodness, but you are arrogant.”
“I’m not sure what you hoped to accomplish with your accusations, but I suspect it is because you wanted to be a duchess. Even mine will command respect, Sarafina.”
The dark eyes flashed at him with murderous intent. Her cheeks reddened. “You—”
