“More than I could have imagined.”
“Will a kiss feel different with the blindfold off?”
“I can only assume so. I must admit, I’ve never worn one.”
“Yet you had me wear it,” she said, her ire rising once again.
“You wereit.Not me.”
“Oh, you are impossible!”
“I wish I had time to kiss you now without the blindfold, but we will have to save that for another day.”
“I wouldn’t let you kiss me again,” she said, knowing it sounded childish but unable to stop herself from saying it.
“You should know by now the danger of issuing a challenge to me, Miss Prim. I never decline one.”
“Someday I will get even with you for this.”
“I can only hope that is true, so please make that a promise. And I think the only way for you to get even is for you to put the blindfold on me and kiss me.”
Louisa gritted her teeth. “Did you come here today just to give me a kissing lesson?”
“No, but when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t deny myself the pleasure of your lips.”
“Did you come to see if Saint has missed you? For if you did, I can assure you he hasn’t.”
“Not for that reason either. I came to make sure you knew that I didn’t willfully keep Saint from you and your sisters. I readily admit I’m the lowest kind of scoundrel. I think I just proved that, Miss Prim. However, had I known your uncle was searching for the dog, I would gladly have surrendered him to you.”
She had no doubt he was telling the truth. “I believe you.”
He nodded once. “I hear a small footstep on the top stairs. You might want to put the blindfold back on and pretend you have been looking for your sisters. I’ll see myself out the back door.”
Louisa fell against the bookcase and slipped the blindfold back over her eyes, hoping it would also hide the flames of heat licking at her cheeks. She was amazed at how easily she’d gotten caught up in the magical feeling of his kisses. She’d completely lost all thought of where she was or what she was doing. All that mattered was the way he was making her feel.
She didn’t even know how she could have let him kiss her. Or how she could have enjoyed it so much. Surely it wasn’t natural to enjoy kisses from a man such as the duke. It’s a good thing he hadn’t asked her to propose to him while he was kissing her, because she would probably have been fool enough at the time to do it.
She needed to find a way to get him out of her life, before he found a way to get inside her heart.
If it wasn’t already too late for that.
Chapter 13
Short time seems long in sorrow’s sharp sustaining.
—The Rape of Lucrece
Bray and Harrison rode in silence as they had for most of their three-day journey. It was damned cold, and a light mist fell across the foggy landscape. Bray had hated swirling fog ever since Prim’s death.
Already, Bray was wishing they’d stayed by the dry warm fire in Adam’s cottage. Chilling wind blew moisture down the back of his neck, and even with his woolen gloves and socks, his fingers and toes were growing numb. Adam’s housekeeper, a gentle old woman, had invited them to wait inside for his return. Bray and Harrison didn’t have the patience for that, so they had asked her where she thought Adam might be and went looking for him.
About half an hour away from the cottage, Harrison broke the silence and said, “I’ve been away from London almost two years, and nothing has changed, my friend. The gossip is still all about you.”
“It’s a talent I’m not likely to outgrow,” Bray answered, seeing faint traces of bruises on his friend’s face from his fight a couple of weeks ago. “One of the many good things about being a duke is that people are often afraid to repeat the gossip to me, with the exception of you and Seaton, of course.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were all but betrothed to Miss Prim when we talked the other night?”
Hellfire, he should have known it was only a matter of time before Harrison got around to mentioning her to him. He had hoped that getting away with Harrison would help him forget about Miss Prim and the feel of her warm supple body so willingly locked in his arms, but so far it hadn’t. It certainly wouldn’t help to talk about her.
