Page 13 of A Kiss Gone Wylde
She stopped then, aware that her voice had risen slightly. Not to the point of causing a scene, but certainly to the point of arousing curiosity. She continued, “I am normally good. I do not often break the rules.”
“No. Not all the time. Not even most of the time,” he conceded. “If that was your normal behavior, you’d have been ruined long before we ever met.”
The urge to disagree was there, but even though she disliked doing so, she had to concede there was some truth to it. “I do typically follow the rules. But sometimes… I don’t even know how to explain it. I just feel trapped by it all. Does that make any sense at all?”
His expression inscrutable. And after a long moment of silence, he replied, “More than you could ever imagine. I too follow the rules most of the time. And like you, on rare occasions, rebel.
“When? When do you feel that urge to defy everything and everyone?” Benny asked, somewhat breathlessly.
He gave every appearance of considering his answer carefully. Then he said, “I imagine the impetus for that is similar for both of us, as well. When it feels as if the strictures placed on us by society, by our families, by the responsibilities we take on and the expectations others have of us—sometimes you must break from all that and do what you want… as I certainly did last night.” The last he murmured in a very low whisper, close to her ear, so that no one else would overhear it. It was the sort of thing a courting couple would be seen doing, but it also served a purpose. He didn’t want her miserable and unhappy at the prospect of marrying him just as he did not want to dread their coming union.
While they might have been at odds for part of the evening, there were elements of their encounter that had not been unpleasant. They had been the very opposite, in fact. And it was those things he chose to focus on. They might not be marrying by choice, but they could attempt, he hoped, to make the best of it. “Such as when I kissed you.”
Immediately, her cheeks bloomed with color. She turned her head very slightly, looking up at him from beneath her dark lashes. She wasn’t intentionally flirting. He was fairly certain, in fact, that Benny did not know how to flirt. She was too direct. Too forthright. And he imagined that had a great deal to do with her empty dance cards. Forthright and bold women who would not be cowed were certainly not every man’s cup of tea. For himself, they were very much becoming an acquired taste. One in particular.
“You should not say such things!” she admonished.
“Why not? Everyone else in Hyde Park is talking about it. We should hardly be excluded.”
It was an irrefutable argument, so she simply looked at him again. That same little furrow was forming between her delicately arched brows. “I hardly know what to think of you. One minute I am being scolded, the next I am being praised. And just when I think I know what tack you will take next, you turn it all on its head by flirting with me. We are already engaged, sir. There is no question now of securing my agreement. Flirting is hardly necessary.”
“It is not your agreement I wish to secure, Miss Wylde… but your anticipation. We will be married in two and a half weeks. We have that time to discover if we might actually like one another well enough to make a go of it.”
She shrugged. “Even if we do not, we are well and truly stuck.”
“We are,” Payne agreed. “But the question remains whether we will be stuck together, peacefully and, one would hope, happily—or if we will be living separate lives as far from one another as can possibly be managed while both of us are on English soil.”
“How will we ever discover in only two weeks what some people cannot determine with any degree of accuracy after years of acquaintance? Especially in the very limited way in which we can interact with one another. Surrounded by dozens if not hundreds of people, all of them looking at us as if we were about to… well, I don’t know what they think we are about to do.”
He knew. “Are you suggesting an assignation then? Some sort of secret rendezvous?”
“No!”
“May I suggest it then? Tonight.”
She stared at him as if he were positively off his head. Then she glanced past him to her aunt who was conversing quite animatedly with Charity, giving the pretense of dozens upon dozens of invitations pouring in for them. Finally, she nodded. “When and where?”
“You be in your aunt’s library at midnight. I’ll come to you.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Recalling the words he’d said to her the night before, he replied, “It’s quite simple really… I would very much like to kiss you.”
Slowly, a smile spread across her face, her perfect rosebud lips parting softly. Then she replied, “I think, my lord, that I would very much like to be kissed.”
7
Benny had been quiet through dinner. She’d been quieter still, afterward. Gathered in the drawing room with her aunt, Delia and Charity, no one had very much to say. Their social position hovered on the brink, after all. The only thing worse than being a wallflower at the ball was not to be invited to the ball, altogether. And that day, the number of invitations delivered to them for events had ben cut by half or more. No doubt, it would decrease sharply over the next few days from a trickle to a standstill.She had done that.
“Charity, Cordelia… run along to your rooms. I need a private word with Benedicta,” Marguerite murmured softly. While her tone quite dulcet, there was certainly steel within. Immediately, the other girls got up and walked out of the room.
Alone with her aunt, Benny said, “I know it’s bad. I’ve ruined their chances.”
“Not entirely, no. I thought we could do this properly. Have the banns read, plan a lovely wedding at St. James’ Church, and all would be set to rights. But if we wait that long… the season will be well underway. Guests lists for every event will be finalized, and your sister and cousin could well wind up being marked a wallflower in London as well as in Bath. I suppose there is always Brighton or Edinburgh. I suppose I could take them to one of the northern spas along the coas—.”
“What would you have me do?” Benny asked.
“Special license. As soon as possible,” Marguerite stated very bluntly. “I planned to send word to Davenport, but that won’t be necessary will it?”
