He clenched his jaw. “I neverseducedAnne.”
Her gaze flitted to him. “You convinced her she could love you so that she would go with you. You wanted to have leverage over Harcourt.”
He couldn’t deny that, nor the guilt that slashed through him. “Yes. I thought Harcourt knew the location of this damned gem his brother and I stole. I knew a straight-laced fop like him would never give it to me outright, especially considering his financial situation. I went back to what I know.”
She shifted in her seat and her head bent. “Love games,” she whispered. “Seducing women for your own purposes.”
He nodded. “That’s what I do, angel.”
“What you’re trying to do with me,” she corrected. “Isn’t it? What is it you want, Ellis? Another way to get to Harcourt? Information you think I have? A way to punish Anne for choosing Rook over you?”
His lips parted at the last suggestion. “I want to make it clear: Ineverwanted Anne. She was a way to get to Harcourt, plain and simple. I am happy for her and my cousin. I know Rook like the back of my own hand, and he adores her. They will make a happy life together. I feel no regret in anything to do with her except that so many were hurt by my actions.”
He thought she smiled ever so slightly, but it was hard to tell in the dimness of the carriage.
“At any rate,” she said, and sighed, “the scar is only a final straw in a long march to ruination for me. The only benefit is that at least the mark will help everyone tell me apart from Thomasina and Anne now as I labor for the rest of my life as my father’s secretary.”
“Fucking fops,” Ellis growled, not even trying to tamp down the rage that lifted in his chest. “If those arses could look at you, scar or not, and not want you, they are fools.”
She shrugged. “Then they areallfools. I assure you, no one wants me. That’s why I went to the Donville Masquerade. I know my future.” She looked out the window and her tone went faraway. “I just wanted a taste of something more before I surrender to it. Just like I told you that first night before I knew you were…you.”
He clenched his jaw at how resigned she was, and although he’d never considered himself the kind of man to comfort or soothe, he couldn’t resist reaching out to take her hand. It was warm in his. So soft that he almost moaned at the feel of it. He lifted her fingers to his lips and brushed them ever so gently, and her gasp echoed in the quiet around them.
“You asked me what I wanted a moment ago, what my game is,” he said, holding her gaze steady. “There is no game, not this time. I kissed you because I wanted just what youthinkyou want. The difference is, I understand it.”
She pulled her hand away, clenching it in her other one as she glared at him. “I understand it. I’ll have you know I read a very shocking book. Withpictures!”
“Christ.” He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to imagine Juliana bent over some naughty book, green eyes wide with desire at the scandalous images, perhaps even touching herself as she learned about pleasure.
The carriage was beginning to slow as it took the last turn toward the home Juliana shared with her father. Her lips pressed together in a thin line and her cheeks flamed before she whispered, “Do you really want me?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
She looked out the window again, and desperation lit in her stare. He hated to see it. Hated more what it drove her to do. The danger she put herself in because of it.
“Don’t go to the Donville Masquerade again, angel,” he said softly.
She jerked her stare back toward him. “I won’t promise that.”
Although that wasn’t the answer he wanted, he had to smile. She was a spitfire beneath that propriety. He’d never been able to resist a spitfire.
The carriage stopped and she moved toward the door as it was opened. “Good night.”
“Good night,” he echoed, watching as she pushed her shoulders back and strode with purpose to the door. He had no idea how she was going to explain her late arrival to her father, or if the man even cared, but she seemed unconcerned as she walked into the house and out of his sight.
He flopped back against the seat as his carriage moved again. His poor rock-hard cock was not going to survive too many more encounters with this woman. And he had just enough time before they reached his own small home on the other side of London to relieve the ache she had caused in him.
With a groan, he eased the placard of his trousers down and touched himself as he thought of Juliana Shelley and her soft, sweet mouth on his.
Chapter 5
Juliana sipped her tea and tried not to look across the parlor in frustration. Thomasina and Harcourt had gone out for the afternoon, and Juliana had thought she and Anne would be having tea alone. She’d actually looked forward to the moment of normalcy after the madness of her last two nights at the Donville Masquerade. But Anne had come downstairs with her husband, Rook, and the two were now standing at the fireplace, heads together, discussing something closely.
Juliana might as well have been invisible. Shewasinvisible. Of course, that afforded her the opportunity to observe Rook Maitland without it being obvious.
He was Ellis’s cousin and the two did have some similar features, ones she’d also seen on that mystery man at the Donville Masquerade the night before. Their noses, for example, were alike, and she couldn’t help but think of Ellis’s nose nudging hers as he kissed her.
Their jawlines were also close in appearance. Ellis’s jaw had a smattering of stubble that had abraded her fingertips slightly when she brushed her hand along it.
