Page 24 of The Lady Was Lying
Confusion clouded his voice when he asked, “Then why did you want to kiss me? Did you know who I was last night?”
She remained silent, allowing him to assume without outright lying. Miscommunication had never bothered her. In fact, she frequently used it to her advantage. It didn’t matter that incorrect conclusions were being drawn. For whatever reason, her conscience stayed quiet as long as the words that left her own lips were true.
“If you were aware of who I was…” He shifted in his seat. “You weren’t in the receiving line. I suppose that when I stumbled upon you in the garden, you had no idea that the countess had noticed my resemblance to her father earlier in the evening.”
“Emmeline and Sebastian were far too busy during the ball to share any such revelations with me.”
“And this morning?”
“I learned of your connection to Emmeline this afternoon.”
“But you weren’t intending to join us for dinner. Emmeline said…” He stopped as if realizing the contradiction that her sudden appearance revealed. “You weren’t aware of my identity last night, were you?” How had he realized the truth? Had she lost the ability to hide her emotions? “But now that you know, you’re…” Narrowed eyes studied her.
“I’m what?” she challenged.
“You hid in my carriage.” He tapped his fingers on his knee. “Once you figured out who I was, you realized you want to be a duchess so…now that you know…you’re trying to trap me. You want to punish me for not kissing you.”
She snorted. Was he jesting?
“Trap you? No one knows I’m here, and we’re completely alone. How would I trap you?”
“We’re alone,” he echoed. “Isn’t that enough? If your brother found us or someone saw you, you’d be ruined, and then I’d be honor bound to offer for your hand in marriage.”
She could tell he was serious. If they were caught, he would offer to marry her. No other man had ever made such an offer, even though her brother had caught her with other men more than once.
Suddenly weary of arguing, she sighed. “If you offered for my hand, I would refuse. I would never trap a man into marriage. I have honor too.”
“You do?” He sounded skeptical.
“Of course. You have my word that I will not agree to marry you no matter what anyone says about me.”
She couldn’t tell if he believed her, but he let it drop and instead asked, “If you don’t want to marry me, why are you so insistent that we kiss?”
How could she answer that question without sounding like a lunatic?
“Because we almost did, and I don’t like unfinished business. You’ve been on my mind, and when I saw you tonight, I thought I’d offer again. You wanted to kiss me even though you didn’t go through with it, and I thought…”
“Do you kiss everyone who wants to kiss you?”
When he asked it that way, it sounded foolish. “Not at all.” She was more discerning than she seemed. Not much, but a little. “I kiss everyone that I want to kiss.”
“But why?” he asked. “Courtship is not meant to start with a kiss.”
His naivety shouldn’t have been charming. “It isn’t courtship I seek.”
“Then what?”
She shook her head. They were so far from where she’d intended to be, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to lead them back.
“You cannot make someone kiss you,” he stated when she stayed silent.
“Obviously. If it was possible, you would have kissed me already.”
He snorted. “As if you could force me.”
Insulting her was not the best way for him to get her to leave him alone. It only managed to spark her competitive nature. Running her tongue along her top lip, she said, “Maybe you haven’t seen my best yet.”
“Are we truly going to argue about whether you could seduce me?”
