“Good.” With a swish of her skirt, she flounced out the door.
Lucinda was unhappy. She was embarrassed about the champagne. She was lamenting what happened after even more. He could not make himself regret it. If she were his, he would have kept her in his bed for a week, at least.
That afternoon Lucindacould stand it no more. She had to know if the night before last was a fever dream or whether it had actually happened. She found him in his study. He did not look happy to see her. Once fully in the room, she went straight over to his fossil, the one he loved so much.
“Ah, I was going to search you out, but you have found me first. I heard you were sick all day yesterday. Too much champagne maybe?”
How annoying he was. It certainly did not take him long to bring up the demise of her dignity. “You were right. I should have listened to you. I probably would not have drank so much if you had not told me not to.”
“Do you always do the opposite of what you are warned against?”
“You were being boorish and part of me wanted to prove you do not have the right to order me.”
“I suggested you take it easy. I never ordered you to stop.”
“You took my glass away.”
“And you gained another one within a minute, thanks to Dunstan.”
“Why is it that every time Dunstan is around you turn into this… beast?”
“Beast?”
“I get all upset and then I see you the next day. You apologize and all is well, until the next time we see Dunstan. I understand that you do not like him, for whatever reason, but I feel like you take it out on me.”
“I’ll admit that I do not trust him for some reason. I should not take that out on you, but you push and prod at every turn. I do not know how to be a guardian when you blatantly disobey me.”
“And I do not know how to be a ward. I had hoped you would understand my need for freedom after being confined to a school for the last decade. I am still learning my way and you keep standing there… in my way.”
“Do you want to talk about that night?”
“That night?”
“When you came down to the library still half full.”
Oh no. It wasn’t a dream? “Did we… did we kiss?”
“Yes. Yes, we did. You were quite insistent about it.”
“And then I went upstairs?”
“Not exactly. When you straddled my thighs and had me pinned beneath you I was quite… enthralled.”
Enthralled? She closed her eyes for a moment, wishing that when she opened them, she would no longer be in this situation, in this room. When she opened her eyes, he was still there, watching her. “Then… then what did I do?”
“Relax. You did not lose anything of value to your future husband. You did gain some new experiences though.”
She put her hand over her mouth in horror. She remembered rubbing herself against him and then, oh Lord!
“I cannot let you take all the blame. I should have stopped it, but I too was enchanted. We are equally to blame. I too had been drinking but you were a giggling mess, and I should have pushed you away.”
“I am not sure how I should… what I should do now?”
“Lucinda. You don’t need to do anything.”
“But we kissed we… rubbed.”
“It was a mistake in judgment on both sides.”
