“Perhaps that is why when we attend a recital of the pianoforte, if the young woman playing strikes a wrong note, we grit our teeth at the sound, though she may be quite pleasant to look at. Therefore, chaotic sound may well overcome a sight—”
Leaning down, he kissed her.
Her lips were soft and though he had only meant to interrupt, her open mouth was an invitation he couldn’t ignore. Slipping his tongue inside, his first impression was chocolate and then a unique flavor and texture hit as her own tongue met his. A shock of desire sped to his groin, recalling him to his senses and he straightened.
Her eyes rounded for a moment before she spoke. “Though I do believe the green of your eyes would overcome any strident sound.”
He should apologize, but the words stuck in his throat. He had only wanted to stop her discourse in the politest way possible. “I have not thought my eyes a particularly peaceful shade.”
“Oh, yes. They are like new leaves uncurling on the buds of trees in the spring.”
He stared at her, for the first time speechless himself. He just kissed her, which was in all actuality, highly uncalled for, yet she continued to discuss her topic as if nothing had happened, albeit more briefly. “It appears you are observant as well.”
She cocked her head as she thought about his statement. “I believe I am observant about those items which stand out. Your eyes are unusual in their color.”
He waited for more, but she seemed to have finished what she meant to say. Where was her prattle about leaves, nature, or even the kiss? “Do you mind that I kissed you?” Even as he said it, he wished he hadn’t.
“No.” She didn’t blush, yet she blushed so often.
“Then am I to assume you are often kissed?”
Chuckling, she shook her head, genuinely finding his comment comical. “Hardly. You are the first.”
Completely confounded by her odd reaction to such a momentous occasion in a young woman’s life, he needed to understand. “Were you surprised, then?” He refused to ask if she enjoyed it.
“Most certainly. I did not think of you as a suitor.”
“I’m not.” He dropped his foot from the bench and took a step back, a mild panic starting in his gut. “I was merely hoping to refocus your attention.”
Her brows raised, but her gaze left him. “I see. I do think it worked.” She turned her head to look at him. “Yes, it most definitely did.” She grinned, her happiness seemingly unbound. “By the beard of Zeus, you’ve fixed me.”
She rose, coming closer, and he backed up a step.
“I’m beholden to you. If only I had known a simple kiss would make my prattle disappear. You simply don’t know how wonderful this is.”
Simple? He took umbrage to the word. It had not been simple. It had been complex, trying to kiss her while she spoke and then taste—“I’m pleased that I could be of service, though I would caution you from kissing every man you meet in order to converse in a more typical manner.”
She stilled at that and the smile left her face, which he found he didn’t like. Her eyes when she smiled seemed to glow, making her even prettier, and her cheeks rounded in, dare he think it, anadorable way. Maybe if she smiled mostly, she could also attract a husband.
“So you think it might be you in particular who must kiss me?”
He silenced a groan. “As much as I would like to accept the honor you so generously bestow upon me, I am not convinced that my action had anything to do with you concluding your dialogue. It could be that you had simply come to the end of your statement.”
She contemplated his remarks, turning away as if she needed a moment of privacy. That did not bode well. How could such a simple solution to a temporary problem become complicated? Maybe if he could find another way to distract her, he could signal her from across the room, so as—
“I think you should kiss me again, then.”
As she wasn’t facing him, he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. “Did you say something?”
She turned to him and advanced. “Yes. I said that in order to determine if your kiss had an effect on my dialogue, we must kiss again. We learned in school that an experiment must be repeated more than once to glean any empirical data from it. So you must kiss me again.”
She closed her eyes and puckered her lips.
What he wanted to do was run, but even in her ridiculous pose, he found it hard to resist her full lips. “But circumstances are quite different, as we are not having a conversation. Besides, I do believe that it was not the kiss itself, but the distraction that helped you focus.” He had no reason to believe that were the case, but he needed her to open her eyes and stop offering him her lips.
As he hoped, she opened her eyes and relaxed her mouth. “I do see what you mean. Then I suggest that we start another conversation and if I begin to ramble, you can bring me backwith a kiss.” She gave a quick nod. “Yes, that would repeat all the elements of the first occasion nicely.”
He was not one to panic, or to be of a frantic disposition, but at the moment, his gut burned as if it were being used as a grindstone and the resulting powder were acid.
