The Devil!At the mere sight of her, he’d forgotten it.
“Nevertheless.”Sliding the cigar into his pocket along with his tinderbox, he walked to the railing, keeping a respectful distance from her.But close enough to catch scent of her perfume that had teased him during their dance.Something floral that was neither rose, nor lavender, and mixed with orange blossom.
“I owe you a better apology than the one I offered inside, and I’m glad for the chance to try again.”
Miss von Ostenfeld hesitated, but remained where she was.“You apologized adequately, my lord.”
“I apologized poorly, and we both know it.”He looked out over the garden below toward the park rather than at her.He wanted to keep her there, for no other reason than she was stimulating.Probably the most interesting person at the ball.
More than that, he was genuinely sorry to have made a bad beginning with her.
“You deserved better manners than I showed before we were properly acquainted, and I sincerely wish I had guarded my tongue, especially when speaking words that turned out to be so obviously false.”
Hearing her take in a long breath, he turned to look at her.She blinked up at him, remaining silent.Jonathan made certain to keep his gaze fixed upon her face and away from the ample swell above her décolletage, when he added, “I judged you without knowing and spoke without consideration.I am sincerely sorry.”
He hoped his simple, direct words were enough, but she still said nothing, watching him with those bright blue eyes.Clearing his throat, he tried again.
“If I may make a small defense, you caught me at my worst.”
Finally, he’d pierced her stoic exterior.She smiled.“Do you mean I caught you out of character, my lord?Or did I actually catch you being your worstyou?”
“What you overheard was a private conversation between bored, idle men,” he explained.“We were relaxing and speaking for our own amusement.Nothing was meant maliciously, but in jest.Certainly not meant for your feminine sensibilities.”
After a pause, she nodded.“I suppose we females often gather behind our fans and say far worse about the male specimens before us.Judging them harshly for the shortness of their legs, their lack of hair, the too-slender span of their shoulders.”
He felt his mouth open slightly.“Do you?My word!”Then he considered each of her judgments.“None of said flaws apply to me, of course.”
She bit her lower lip —God help him, she was enticing!— before beginning to laugh.An unguarded tinkling like a stream over rocks in the Highlands.
Then she clamped a gloved hand to her luscious lips, sadly stopping the enchanting sound.
“I didn’t mean to laugh, my lord.It’s just your expression was so … so smug yet doubtful at the same time.Regardless, I accept your apology,” she said, before surprising him further with her next words.“And I must offer my own.My reaction was extremely ungracious.”
He shook his head.“Your response was deserved.”
“It was vulgar.I sounded like a merchant’s daughter cataloging my wares at the market.”
His mouth twitched.“If so, they are impressive wares.”
Luckily, she didn’t take offense, nor seem to consider a double meaning beneath his playful words.
“That doesn’t make the hawking less vulgar on my part,” she insisted.
“Perhaps.”How was it possible she seemed to grow more captivating with each passing minute?“Perhaps some of us need to be reminded that not all learning is contained in universities, and not all wisdom resides in London.”
The admission seemed to delight her.She studied him more carefully in the lamplight spilling from the library, and he could only hope she liked what she saw.She enthralled him, stirred him.Miss von Ostenfeld was a fresh, new sensation in an otherwise stale world.Moreover, he greatly wished to lean close and claim her full lips.
What would she do if he did?Scream?He didn’t think so.But it would drive her from the terrace, rightly so, and he didn’t want that, so he kept speaking.
“Of course you know you were correct about the map,” he said.“The Travemünde channel is indeed a fiction.I noticed it on prior visits to the ballroom but have never seen any point in raising the issue with Lord Spencer.”
“Because the map is mere decoration,” she mused.
He thought she might be disappointed in how he showed disinterest in veracity for veracity’s sake.“I will tell Lord Spencer that you noticed the error.”
Sounding a little flustered, she said, “That’s unnecessary, my lord.”
He wanted to tell her to call him by his given name, but that would be nearly as outrageous as kissing her.Although he could ask her to be a little less rigid, perhaps address him asBowen.
