“I fully admit I felt an attraction to you when we met in Surrey. You are a beautiful, desirable woman, of that there is no doubt.”
Regina swallowed. “Why do I feel as if the next word you’re about to say ishowever?”
Daffin leaned forward and arched a brow. “However, I solve cases for bounties. I don’t accept money for pleasuring my lovers.”
She winced. The part about the money hadn’t been in the best taste. She should have stuck to her original plan and offered that only as an incentive if he seemed hesitant, but her blasted nerves had got the better of her and she’d blurted it out. She might as well be honest with him.
“I’m sorry. I’d heard that gentlemen sometimes pay for the service when they lose their virginity; I assumed the practicecouldapply to both sexes given the right… circumstances.” She winced again. No. Definitely not helping.
He shook his head, but the hint of a smile still played across his lips. That was encouraging. Perhaps he wouldn’t order her from his office. “It seems you’ve confused me with a prostitute, my lady. Ishouldbe angry with you. But as you’re obviously a novice at such exchanges, I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
Oh, dear. She’d insulted him. Of course she’d insulted him. But his words about giving her the benefit of the doubt caused hope to flare in her chest. “The offer to pay you was ill conceived, I admit. My apologies, but will you at least… consider it? Without money changing hands,” she hastened to add.
“No.” He pressed his lips together.
Hope died a quick and humiliated death. She slowly lifted the brandy glass to her mouth and drained the contents in onegiant, supremely necessary gulp. At least her throat was numb. She barely felt the liquid burn its path to her belly. “Why?” She hoped her voice sounded calm and reasonable, not petulant.
Daffin crossed his arms in front of him on the desktop. “For two reasons. First, you are the cousin to two of my good friends, and I make it a practiceneverto become involved with ladies related to my friends. It’s a certain way to ruin a friendship.”
“But Mark doesn’t—”
“Second, you’ve told me that you’re about to become engaged, and as tempting as you are, I’m not such a blackguard that I’m willing to cuckold a future bridegroom, even if you aren’t particularly keen upon marrying him. Cheating is not my style.”
Regina blinked at him. “But it’s not cuckolding if we’re not yet married.”
Daffin arched one brow. “Be that as it may, I have my standards.”
Regina sighed and glanced away. He was too honorable to bed her. Drat. She’d been afraid of this. He’d turned her down with two perfectly reasonable excuses, but that didn’t make it less embarrassing. She wanted to sink through the floor and be swallowed up by Bow Street. Instead, she forced herself to meet his gaze and nod slowly. She’d mustered the courage to make him the indecent proposal. She had to remain courageous during his refusal of it. She slid the empty brandy glass onto the desk. She could argue with him, but it would just make his refusal more excruciating. Wouldn’t it?
“Don’t you want to… think about it at least?” Very well. She couldn’t help one last desperate attempt.
He slowly shook his head. His teeth tugged at his bottom lip in a way that made her want to cross her legs.
“Tempting, but I’ve made my decision.” He stood and crossed to the door, opened it, and with a swipe of his arm, gestured for her to leave. “Good day, Lady Regina. Merry Christmastide and happy birthday. I wish you luck in your future marriage.”
At his curt nod of dismissal, Regina bit her lip to keep her tears at bay. Then she solemnly stood, slid her hands back inside her muff, and stepped toward the open doorway.
As she passed him, he said softly, “Don’t worry. I will not mention this to anyone. Your reputation is safe with me.”
“Yes, butsucha pity.” She sighed before slipping out the door.
CHAPTER FOUR
Daffin closed the door behind Lady Regina, walked back to his desk, grabbed his brandy glass, and knocked back the rest of its contents in one gulp. He groaned and pushed a hand through his hair. Damned ifthatwasn’t a first. Of all the mad, absurd propositions. He’d thought the woman wanted a job. Turned out, she’d wanted to hire him for one. The hint of a grin touched his lips. A completely indecent one.
He supposed he couldn’t blame her. She was an aristocrat. With their connections and money, members of thetonoften thought they were entitled to anything and everything. He’d learned that lesson well during his childhood, hadn’t he? Of all the situations he could have imagined his next encounter with Lady Regina Haversham would entail, her waltzing into his office and asking him to make love to her was the last thing… the absolutelastthing he would have guessed.
He liked her. There was no denying it. Their connection in Surrey had shown him she was practical and easygoing. She hadn’t put on airs or acted entitled, unlike some of the pampered ladies he’d worked for on various cases through the years. A lady of thetonhad caused him the greatest hurt in life. He’d been wise to be skeptical of them.
But Lady Regina had been fresh and funny and willing to laugh at herself. She hadn’t looked down her nose at him. She’d also been a help to their investigation. She and Nicole had truly been the ones to solve the thing. When they’d questioned the killer, they’d recognized a jilted debutante, something Daffin and Grimaldi knew nothing about.
Regardless of his undeniable attraction to her, Daffin wasn’t about to bed Lady Regina Haversham. For precisely the reasons he’d told her. He didn’t need to discuss it with Grimaldi to guess his friend would disapprove and he greatly valued his friendship with Grim. They’d been mates for over a decade. As newly appointed Secretary of the Home Office, Grimaldi’s first order of business was to implement a police force in London. The city sorely needed it. Daffin and Grimaldi met weekly to discuss the plans.
Daffin had no intention of becoming one of the officers. The bounties he made were much higher than the wages that would be paid to the men who were given the jobs as police officers, but he recognized the need for such a force, given that poor people had little recourse to the law since they couldn’t pay for their own investigations. Grim was a good man who did good work. Daffin had no intention of jeopardizing their friendship over an ill-begotten affair with Grim’s betrothed cousin, no matter how beautiful and desirable she was.
The second reason Daffin refused to bed Regina was that while everyone knew thetonwas full of liaisons and marriages based on many factors besides love, he’d been honest with her when he’d said cheating wasn’t his style. Besides, starting up an affair with a soon-to-be-married woman hardly seemed prudent. What if their lovemaking resulted in a child? No. He would never put a child of his in such a situation, and it wasn’t as if he and Regina could marry. They were from two different social spheres. Her uncle would never allow it.
Daffin leaned back in his chair and stared broodingly at the empty snifter she’d left on the edge of his desk. The scent of apples still lingered in the office. He had turned down her proposal, not because the idea of bedding her wasn’t tempting. It was. Quite tempting. In fact, he’d spent a fair amount of time fantasizing about just such a scenario over the past months. In his baser moments, he might have pictured her spread out beneath him on his desk, his papers wiped away by a swipe of his arm, as he hiked up her skirts and freed himself from his breeches and buried himself deep inside her. He’d like nothing more than to use his handcuffs on her. Make her beg him for leniency.
