She nodded. “Ah, yes, society’s rules of propriety and chivalry, and whether you can even sit when I do not.”
He looked down at her and she gazed up at him, and Henry would swear until his dying day that a special bond or affinity had passed between them in that instant. Her eyes widened and her lips parted, as she gasped ever so softly. Undoubtedly, the chocolatier had seen something in his eyes and noticed his own expression of surprise.
Henry knew he had better step through the curtain right away. She was entirely too fetching, with her lovely mahogany-colored eyes and her sweet upturned mouth. He was ready to take her in his arms. In fact, he longed to feel her against him and to claim her lips under his.
Sweeping the curtain aside, he said, “I hope to see you tomorrow although I may have other engagements that keep me away. I very much enjoyed your company.”
“Thank you, my lord. As I enjoyed yours.” She preceded him through the opening, and he followed her out into the shop.
“How did you two get on?” her mother asked. “Did you create magic for Lady Madeleine?”
“We’re unquestionably getting closer,” Miss Rare-Foure told her mother.
Henry looked at her sharply.Did she mean that as a message to him?He could almost believe it was adouble-entendre, for he definitely felt closer to this woman than he had a few days earlier.
If at all possible, he would be there again the next day.
Chapter Six
After Lord Pelham leftthe shop, and no other customers had entered, her mother gave her a pointed look.
“What is it?” Amity asked her. “You look nettled.”
“You mustn’t let him go back there with the curtain closed. If we’d had a shop full of people when you came out with your face all pink-cheeked and smiling and his lordship saying he’d enjoyed your company, only imagine!”
“But he’s a duke,” Amity protested, wrinkling her nose, “in the workroom of a chocolate shop.”
“Exactly. For what reason could anyone imagine the Duke of Pelham would be back there except to spend time with you.”
Amity closed her mouth on the protest she’d been about to make. Her mother was correct. The appearance was decidedly improper.
“If we’d had some other member of the nobility in here, they would have recognized him and tongues would have wagged. Soon, all of London would be wondering what you were offering in that back room.”
“Mother!”
“Amity, don’t be naïve. I hate to say it, but the duke might actually be hoping for something along those lines. And the ruin would be all on your side, not his. He would be considered blameless while you would be labeled a trollop.”
