Then they returned to the silence he didn’t care for, so he broke it.
“Did you enjoy the races?”
“I did,” she said. “Lord Payton placed a bet for me, and my horse won.”
Blasted Payton!“That’s wonderful. You’re no longer completely out of blunt.”
She pursed her lips. “There’s not enough for a hotel room if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“No,” he said at once. “I wasn’t thinking of you moving out at all.”God no!She had become the only joy in Brighton. “I’ve come to appreciate our arrangement.”
“Whatever can you mean?” she demanded.
Why was she being so prickly over everything?
“I simply mean it’s nice knowing I’ll have company at the meals and someone with whom to take a stroll. I missed you at breakfast.”
That seemed to infuriate her, and he thought she was going to get up and walk out, but she remained where she was, making some sort of fizzing noise, like an angry bee. James was most glad when the maid reappeared with the tea tray and large slices of golden sponge slathered in raspberry sauce. If that didn’t win her back, nothing would.
Slightly mollified, Glynnis leaned forward and poured them both tea, and he knew he should be grateful she didn’t toss it in his face. After stirring in her sugar and taking a sip, all of which fascinated him as never before, she set down the cup and saucer before helping herself to one of the plates of cake.
With the silver fork, she took a goodly sized bite, seeming to relish the very first morsel of sponge cake.
“Mm,”she murmured approvingly, and her gaze, appearing more friendly, finally returned to him. “The cook here knows her business.”
For his part, James couldn’t speak nor even swallow. A small smudge of raspberry glaze remained on her perfect upper lip, and he waited to see her rescue it.
However, when her pink tongue did make an appearance, she merely licked the crumbs off her lower lip, and he groaned before he could stop himself.
Again, her eyes locked with his. She said nothing, merely continuing to eat. Finally, when he’d stared at her for a full minute and through her consuming half her piece of sponge, she spoke again.
“Aren’t you going to taste it? It’s divine.”
Nodding, he picked up the other plate and forked in a bite. Somewhere in his lusty brain he knew it was delicious, but it might as well have been horse feed.
Then he raised his tea to his mouth and drank it down without milk and sugar, just the way he hated it, all the while obsessed over whether the tip of her tongue would make an appearance.Would its velvety tip stroke her upper lip?
Finally, when she set her empty plate down and wiped the corners of her exquisite mouth while leaving the bead of sauce behind, he had to act. Leaning forward across the narrow low table between them, James reached for her.
She froze. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just...,” he trailed off while leaning closer.
She pressed her head into the high-backed sofa.
“Your lip,” he explained softly.
With a final stretch, he managed to wipe off the luscious red sauce from her even more luscious upper lip before losing his balance and falling onto the table, upsetting the tray and the dishes —and the hot tea! —under him.
Worse, he had to brace himself by his outstretched arms on either side of her thighs, with his head landing most fortuitously in her warm lap.
“James!” she shrieked.
“Glynnis,” he said onto her thighs, hoping he could catch her womanly scent before he did the only gentlemanly thing he could do. Pressing himself up and away from her, most ungracefully, he floundered a second on the table before managing to return to his seat.
Too late!He had tea and raspberry stains from his chest to his lap. He’d also knocked the teapot to the floor where the handle had broken, creating a brown stain on the rug, and he’d smashed one cup and saucer to pieces.
“What under God’s heaven has come over you?” she asked, eyes wide while her hands brushed at her lap as if she could still feel him there. “You don’t own any of this, do you? You’ll be charged extra for the dishes and for cleaning the rug.”
