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“I expect not,” she admitted, peaceful with that decision. “I am enormously fond of my grandfather, and I shall live with him until he passes away. Luckily for me, I have no need for a husband’s support, as my mother and grandmother both endowed me with funds.”

“You enjoyed kissing me.”

Her eyes flashed to his face, but he didn’t look annoyed, just inquisitive, as if they were discussing a preference for Ceylon over Assam tea. She cleared her throat. “Kissing you is pleasant.”

“For me—” Giles stopped and started again. “For me, kissing you is one of the most sensual experiences of my life. In fact, it is probably the most erotic thing I have ever experienced.”

“If I were inclined to further intimacies, I would—” She ran out of words. The right words. “But I am not.”

Giles took her hand and turned it over, tracing a circle in her palm with his forefinger. “You might choose me under certain circumstances?”

“Kisses are not sufficient for marriage.”

His lips curled into a faint smile. “They could be.”

Yasmin blinked at him. “What are you saying?”

“I would happily just kiss you, if that is all you would allow.”

Her palm was tingling, so she pulled her hand away. “Nonsense! You need an heir for your title and all the rest of it. I am not a fool. A woman has no choice in such matters within the bonds of marriage.”

The look in his eyes made her falter. “You think that I would force you—would force any woman?”

“No!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then?”

“You could talk your wife into doing something she didn’t want to do.” She didn’t know how to explain that a mere look at him made her melt, as if she wouldn’t mind leaning backward on this settee, just as she had yesterday—but no.

No.

“What if I promised never to engage in intimacies that you didn’t directly request?”

Feelings were cascading through Yasmin: embarrassment, mortification, irritation . . . desire. He was so irritatingly desirable, especially when he fixed his eyes on her face.

“It’s more than that,” she said, summoning up conclusions she had reached during the night. “I don’t think you want to marry me. Frankly, Giles, you don’t even like me! Desire is not enough, and it would eventually destroy us.”

He glanced down at their linked hands. “You’re wrong, Yasmin. I do like you. I won’t marry any woman, if not you.”

“You—you have danced with me only once a night for the last months,” she pointed out. “I have surmised from your frowns that you find me improper, empty-headed, and prone to chattering too much. You told me that you need to bind yourself to virtue, and my past will always be between us.”

“I danced with you only once a night because that’s all I would allow myself.”

“You certainly weren’t courting me,” Yasmin stated.

“No.” Giles’s lips curled into a smile again. “I didn’t think I could have you. But then I realized that if a duke could marry you, why not me?”

Yasmin bit her lip. “So you only realized I was marriageable once Silvester offered competition?”

Giles nodded. “I had told myself that I had to marry a woman of obvious moral fiber.”

“I think we’ve talked enough,” Yasmin said, jumping to her feet. “No matter what you think of me, I consider myself a good person.”

He stood. “It wasn’t you. Just the circumstances.”

“Bollocks! I was not good enough to be your countess when I was a dissipated creature beneath your notice. But when you realized I might become an immoral duchess, you decided I could be an immoral countess!” Her cheeks were hot, and tears were pricking at the backs of her eyes, but she kept her head high. “I would not marry you, not if you are the last man who ever proposes to me. I think better of myself, even if you don’t!”

“I’m not making myself clear. I was thinking of children, of the children I may have someday.”