“You are an arse,” Benedict said sourly.
His friend grinned.“So no marriage?”
“Of course not.”
“Ah, well.Maybe next year.”He stretched his arm on the back of his chair.“I have been meaning to catch up on Lady Eleanor’s quest.She must be quite put out Malvern got himself affianced.”He shook his head.“Still cannot wrap my brainbox around that one.Surprise of the millennium, that’s for damn sure.”
He would not react.Keeping his expression impassive, he said, “She has changed tack.I believe she has set her sights on someone else.”
Daughtry’s gaze sharpened.“Really.And who has Lady Eleanor chosen?”
“She has yet to share that with me.”Benedict held his friend’s gaze and gave nothing away.
His friend studied him.“I find it hard to believe Lady Eleanor has not shared that with you,” Daughtry finally said.
Benedict shrugged.“Believe what you want.”
“So you remain her friend only?”
“What else would I be?”
Daughtry shook his head.“What else indeed.”His gaze slid past Benedict.“Speak of her and the lady herself appears.”
“Where?”He fairly wrenched himself out of his chair turning around.
As if magic, the crowd parted and he saw her.El searched the crowd with her gaze and he watched her, just as he had at the opera.His heart sped, his hands clenching.He wanted to go to her side.He wanted to sweep her into his arms and kiss those pink lips he’d kissed a hundred times.He wanted her hands in his hair and her smile all for him as the world faded around him.
She met his gaze and a luminous smile lit her face.Christ.That got him in the chest every time.
“Yes.Friends only,” Daughtry murmured.Rising, he clapped Benedict on the shoulder.“I shall leave you to your friend, Stapleton.”
He barely noticed Daughtry’s departure.Christ.She was so beautiful, so much he ached.Then he remembered how long he’d had to wait for her and scowled.
Her smile brightened as she joined him, taking the seat Daughtry had vacated.“Why do you glower so?”she teased.
“Because you have taken forever.Did you wait until the opera was over before leaving?Only you do that, you know.”
“I like to watch the players take their bows,” she said.“Besides, Vauxhall is ridiculously popular this evening.It took an age to make my way through the crowd.”She glanced about them.“Is there anything of true interest that I simply must not miss?”
“Only me, El,” he said grandly.
“We are not apart long enough for me to miss you,” she retorted.Then she frowned.“Although that is a lie.I do miss you when you are not with me, Benedict.”
Christ.That stabbed straight in his heart.He missed her when she was not with him, too.
He drifted his gaze over her.Her low-cut gown displayed her breasts, the soft globes rising and falling with every breath.Her necklace nestled into the valley made by her breasts, and his mouth watered as he recalled the taste, the little hitch of her breath when he captured her nipple with his teeth.“Is that dress new?”
“Do you like it?”Curls brushed her neck as she arched slightly, displaying herself for him.He couldn’t tear his gaze away, and even though he knew the taste of her skin, had kissed and licked that spot, he wanted to reacquaint himself with her flavour.
He lowered his voice.“It makes me think of what you look like without it,” he said, a rasp to his words.
Her breath caught.“I only bought it so you could take it off,” she confided.
He went instantly, painfully hard.Christ.He wanted her.Now.“El, do you wish a lesson?”he ground out.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
