“I have no idea.”
“What do you mean, you have no idea?I’ve seen you charm.”
She tilted her head.“Have you, though?”
He had, because he recalled the leaden feeling in his gut each time he’d observed her doing so.
“I think we can both agree I am not charming in the slightest,” she continued.
“I do not agree.Not at all.I find you endlessly charming.”
She scowled.“Youdo not count.”
Ignoring the sting that she so discounted him, he said, “Charm is nothing more than being yourself, you know.”
“I do not think the Earl of Malvern would be interested in my ‘self’, Benedict.”
“Rubbish,” he said.“Of course he would.”
She rolled her eyes.“If you say it, then it must be true.”Her expression turned thoughtful.“I do not believe I require the earl toknowme.Is it necessary to pleasure that the participants do more than the act?I suppose a bit of conversation is unavoidable, but I do not want to share my deepest secrets with him.”Something flickered over her face.“Have you shared of yourself with your lovers?”she said, almost too brightly.
“I have liked most of them.”Not that there was a grand number of them.Apart from that intoxicating time after his first, he’d been discerning in who he took to his bed.“It is better if there is at least friendship, El.”
She crossed her arms.“I seek pleasure only, Benedict.I do not require anything further from the earl.”
He opened his mouth only to close it again.Why was he trying to convince her to a relationship with the Earl of bloody Malvern?“You are more than capable of attracting the attention of any gentlemen.Indeed, the earl isluckyhe has gained your regard.”That it made his gut clench was of no consequence.“You need only have confidence.”
Her eyes dimmed.“Confidence.Yes.”
Christ, she was going to kill him, one crack at a time.“You have only to signal your interest, El.Men are not complicated.You mademelike you.”
“That was different.We were children.”
“So?How is it any different?”
“Because I am now thirty and you soon will be.”Eyes glittering, she squared her shoulders.“Very well.How does one signal one’s intentions?”
That was his El.“If you wished a gentleman to come to you, what would you do?”
Setting her head high, she tipped her chin.
He frowned.“What was that?”
She mirrored his frown.“That is what I do when I wish your attention.”
“That is not going to work, El.”
“But you always come when I do so.”
Heat rose on his cheeks.Bloody hell, he did, didn’t he?She looked at him in that way, jerked her head, and he immediately made his way to her side.“Be that as it may, it will not work on others.What would you do if you wished to attract a suitor?”
“I have neverwantedto attract a suitor.If a suitor made his way to me, he came of his own volition.You are the only man I’ve wanted at my side.”
Again, another crack in his chest.She was the woman he most wanted at his.Clearing his throat, he said “Well, let us discuss how your fan can signal your interest, your desire to have him at your side, an invitation for an assignation.A whole conversation can be had.”At least, that was what Amanda had told him when she’d bullied him into practicing with her.
“I do not see how a fan can do all that,” she said doubtfully.
“Did Lady C not show you this?I thought it was something every debutante to know.”
