“Then you must.” And he held out the remainder of the piece, right in front of her mouth.
Their gazes locked. “Don’t you think you should eat the rest of it,” she said, “in order to make sure.”
“I will come to the shop again and try more of these, if you like. But I am quite sure.” He nodded at the piece he held, urging her to eat it.
Parting her lips, she allowed him to place it on her tongue. A little too slowly, he withdrew his fingers. She closed her eyes to focus.
First, the unmistakable taste of pure chocolate followed by the burst of lavender-infused sweetness.Very pleasing. Lastly, the subtle woodsy, fruity vanilla became apparent as she swallowed.
“There is a little,” he started to say, “upon your lower lip.”
Her eyes flew open to see him bending closer, and she knew he was going to kiss her, if only to taste the chocolate again.Of course!
Delia coughed. Apparently, her maid was no longer buried in the slim pages of the penny-dreadful.
Lord Pelham drew back quickly. He had seemingly forgotten the existence of anyone else in the room.
He had the grace to look remorseful before he smiled and wiped her lip with his thumb. Astonishingly, he licked it, making her insides coil.
“Even in this small, sticky remnant, I can taste its perfection.”
“Perfection?” Amity echoed.
“For Lady Madeleine, yes. You have done it, Miss Rare-Foure. She will love it! This shall be theBrayson.”
Then, all at once, Amity thought of the prior day’s events and the spell of success was broken. She recalled why they were having their lovely meeting. Not so she could share sweets with this alluring man, but in order to make certain his proposal went as planned.
“It may all be for naught, my lord. I must confess, Lady Madeleine may not accept this gift if she knows it is from my shop.”
“Why would you say that?” he asked, perusing the chocolates, seemingly intent on eating another.
“Because — and I’m terribly sorry to say this — we insulted her yesterday, or rather my sister did, but I may have started it.”
“Started what?” he asked ahead of putting another sweet in his mouth and not looking in the least bit worried.
“A bit of a quarrel. In any case, no matter how it began, Lady Madeleine has threatened to ruin Rare Confectionery, and I am here to beseech you to help us.”
