He smiled, though there was something unsatisfying about her single-word answer. Was she saying yes merely because her aunt had forced her into a bargain, or did she truly want to be a friend to him? To get to know him?
It was a jumbled situation, that was certain.
She pulled her hand from his, her cheeks suddenly flushed with color. “I-I should go.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond, but rushed from his side. He watched her careen through the crowd, past her aunt and her friends and all the mercenary gentlemen who were waiting to press their suit. She passed it all and exited directly onto the terrace.
He didn’t recall making the decision, but he found himself striding after her. He pushed through the terrace doors and found her standing at the stone wall, staring up at the moon above. He caught his breath at how lovely she was in the moonlight, and there was nothing in the world that could have stopped him in that moment.
She gasped as she turned toward him, watched him approach her wordlessly. She gasped again when he put his arms around her, bent his head and brushed his lips to hers. She was supple against him, molded to his chest as her trembling hands lifted to grip the lapels of his tailored jacket.
Her lips were impossibly soft, and he tilted his head for better access as he lightly traced the bee-stung swell of them. She caught a breath and he delved deeper, tasting the hollows of her mouth as she made a low moan in the back of her throat that hardened his cock and boiled his blood in his veins.
Reluctantly, he drew back, steadying her gently before he stepped away. They stood panting, staring at each other, for what felt like an eternity before he said, “Thatis what I should have done in the parlor, Sophie.”
Her lips parted in what appeared to be shock, and he could see her mind racing again, just as it had in the ballroom. He didn’t wait for her reaction, for her arguments, for her decisions about what she should or shouldn’t do. He merely smiled at her. “Until we meet again, my lady.”
Then he turned on his heel and left the terrace, left the ball, left her standing there to ponder what had just happened between them. And knew that he would do exactly the same thing.
Chapter Five
“What do you think of Rowan Sinclair?” Sophie asked, hearing the tremble in her voice even as she continued stitching on her needlepoint.
Without looking up, Sophie was well aware of Hannah’s gaze. There was a beat of silence, then another, and heat flooded her cheeks, much as it had on the terrace after he kissed her so shockingly and thoroughly.
“Rowan Sinclair,” Hannah repeated, her tone carefully neutral. “I think he’s very handsome. I think that you danced with him at the Applegate ball three nights ago and insisted that it meant nothing to you. Were you not completely honest about that fact?”
Sophie shifted in her place. Normally she spoke of her concerns to her aunt, but Louisa was not likely to approve of her sharing a scandalous kiss on a terrace, agreement between them or not. Even if she were, Rowan was a friend to Louisa. Sophie couldn’t imagine baring her soul about the man to her.
“I don’t know,” she admitted through clenched teeth.
Hannah tossed her needlepoint on the settee next to her and leaned forward with a grin. “Thatsounds promising. Do tell all, for I know you’ve always liked him!”
“I have not!” Sophie argued. “I think nothing of the man.”
“Posh!” Hannah said on a laugh. “You are constantly watching him from the corner of your eye and making little comments about his attire or his comportment.”
“Gossip means nothing,” she argued.
Hannah arched a brow. “It wouldn’t mean anything if you ever gossiped aboutanyother man in our acquaintance. But he’s the only one. And why wouldn’t you be interested? Heishandsome and dashing and has a bit of a dangerous air about him.”
Sophie couldn’t argue that fact. Rowan had felt dangerous on the terrace a few nights before. Her thoughts and dreams of him since had been equally so.
“What happened?” Hannah pressed.
Sophie sighed. “Fine, since you are insistent. We bumped into each other in the parlor. We had a very…odd conversation there.”
“About what?” Hannah asked.
Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know. Adventure. The expectations of men versus women.”
Hannah’s brow wrinkled. “Heavy topics for a passing conversation.”
“It didn’t feel heavy. It just felt…normal.” Sophie said with a frown. “Then we danced. But afterward he followed me out onto the terrace and he…kissed me.”
She said the last two words as one quick, smashed-together sound, but there was no hiding it from Hannah. She gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide. “Hekissedyou!” she squealed.
Sophie flinched and looked over her shoulder. “Gracious, tell the whole house, will you?”
