“Valaria and Callum will be gone for ten days,” she said. “And Roarke and Flora are always half busy with each other.”
“Yes. Married for months and they still barely come up for air,” Theo chuckled. “Though I don’t blame them. That sounds perfect to me.”
She couldn’t fight the little smile that inspired. “If we are too wrapped up in each other, they’ll see. You say they already do. Why don’t we take advantage of a time when two of our group are gone and the other two might be busy most nights?”
“Ten days,” he repeated.
She nodded. “When we reach the end, we can always reevaluate, see if we want to risk more.”
“Very well,” he said softly, his tone unreadable. “Ten days it is. And what do you want it to look like?”
She wrinkled her brow because she didn’t fully understand the question. “Look like?”
“Last night I stayed in your home until dawn and sneaked out,” he said. “Do you want our assignations to be brief? Do you want to spend nights together? Do you want to go out on the town before we retire? Do you want to make only one place where we meet? Do you want to return to the Donville Masquerade for our meetings?"
“Oh, I see," she said. “Goodness, that’s a lot of detail.”
“Specificity will help avoid misunderstanding and hurt feelings,” he said. “Because one thing I do not want to lose is your friendship, Etta. You may not believe this, but it does mean a great deal to me.”
That confession warmed her almost as much as his touch. Perhaps too much, considering how brief they were arranging for this to last. She would have to be careful.
“I don’t want to lose yours either,” she agreed. That, at least, she knew. “Could we mostly meet here?” she asked. “Kent’s Row is not a large neighborhood and many of the dowagers who live there have little else to do but look out the window and notice everyone else’s business. I fear our secret will come out if we meet there too much. And you…”
“I have a reputation and you believe my servants to be more discreet,” he filled in effortlessly.
She nodded. “Yes. As for spending the night…” She pictured drifting off in this man’s arms, of waking in them unlike she had that morning. It sounded like heaven. Dangerously so, even. “Er, why don’t we assume we will sleep separately? Pleasure for the bed, sleep at home.”
There was a moment when she thought he looked disappointed at that, but then it was gone and she must have imagined it, because he had claimed he wanted to explore more passion with her, but he couldn’t crave the intimacy that sleeping together would create.
“As you wish, Your Grace,” he said softly.
“I suppose it will be easy for you to keep things light…meaningless,” she said.
He arched a brow and slid a little closer. “Not meaningless.”
He leaned in, his breath warming her lips, and then they brushed hers. She gripped his lapels, sinking into him as he kissed her. Kissed her. Covered her and kissed her until her blood heated and sang, until her hands shook, until her body pulsed in time to her heartbeat.
But if she expected him to go further, she was disappointed. After the kiss went on for a while, he sat up and smiled at her. “I would love to take this so much further, but it seems you are joining your friends for tea.”
“In a few hours,” she said, realizing she was begging after the words had slipped from her lips.
“Ah, that’s not nearly enough time for what I want to do,” he whispered. “So why don’t you run home, try to enjoy your day, and when you’re finished…come back. Have supper with me here.”
She shifted. “I suppose if I were late to tea or disheveled, they would only suspect something more, especially if Callum mentions that he saw me here with you. Yes, I’ll come to you after.”
“Good,” he said, and then he caught her waist and dragged her closer once more. “I can’t wait to take the next step.”
His mouth found hers again, this time harder and it was like everything in her world expanded into stardust. Even when he let her go, she still tingled, still needed.
And she knew that when she came back, he would change her all over again. As terrifying as that fact was, she had no interest in escaping it, or him, until she had to.
CHAPTER9
Because she intended to go straight back to Theo’s home after her tea with her friends, Bernadette was not wearing drawers. It wasn’t that she hadn’t ever forgone undergarments—sometimes the cut of a gown required it. But she’d never been as aware of the fabric brushing her skin or the exposure beneath her dress as she was now. She was keenly aware that as she sat so innocently with her friends, as she had a hundred other times, she now had a naughty secret.
So many naughty secrets.
“Look at this bevy of beauties,” Callum said as he entered the room with a broad smile.
