Page 24 of The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes
“What am I to call you?” At her questioning look, he explained, “I can’t very well announce to all and sundry that you’re Miss Celeste Kilburn, which would cause a tiresome scandal, so an alias is required.”
“Call me...” Her mind spun with possibilities, all of them tantalizing. Finally, she said, “Salome.”
“The woman who danced for Herod and when he said he’d give her anything she wanted, she demanded the head of John the Baptist.”
“Yes, Salome.” She folded her arms across her chest. “This is my opportunity to name myself rather than be called something that someone else picked for me. I absolutelyloathemy name,” she added dourly.
“Celeste is a lovely name,” he said.
Much as his praise pleased her, she explained, “It’s too precious. Too... celestial.”
“You’d much rather be a woman of earthly flesh, than some ethereal ideal. Salome connotes a woman who brings men to their knees.”
She started. Of all the people to recognize and understand her need to be something, someoneother than who she was—her need to be a woman with power—she hadn’t anticipated it would be him.
When the cab came to a stop, he leaned forward. “Time to experience your first gaming hell, Salome.”
Chapter 6
This is a spectacularly terrible idea, Kieran thought as he climbed down from the carriage in front of Jenkins’s. After the trip in the cramped cab, he tugged the wrinkles out of his favorite gold-and-black embroidered waistcoat.
And yet, for all his misgivings, when he turned to help Salome/Celeste from the vehicle, his skin buzzed with anticipation. Her cloak billowed as she stepped out, revealing peeks of her vividly green gown, and while he’d seen women in far more immodest clothing, the fact thatshewore such a garment made his skin even more sensitive.
True, he’d been entranced by Celeste when he hadn’t recognized her earlier. Perhaps that’s why he now watched the play of emotions on her face. He was still caught in the spell of her masquerade. It had nothing to do with the fact that her eyes glimmered with anticipation, or that the layers of paint she’d applied didn’t hide her eager yet poignantly anxious smile.
He was merely reacting to her disguise.
Still, he found himself looking at her as she stared at the front door of the establishment on Shepherd Street. He wasn’t certain what she expected to see, since the place looked quite ordinary. The two-story structure had a columned portico, reached by a short flight of stairs, and the door was simply painted wood sporting a simple brass knocker.
“I was anticipating something a little more sinister,” she admitted to him. “Demons beckoning us into a mouth of flames.”
“That’s on the inside.”
“Truly?” Excitement vibrated in her voice.
“Not truly,” he said indulgently. “But I shan’t spoil your sense of discovery.”
It wasn’t his responsibility to ensure she enjoyed herself, and yet... She’d insisted that sheneededto take this risk. What caused such desperation, that she was willing to take chances with her reputation? What pressures was she under that drove her toward their mad agreement?
Whatever those burdens were, she’d set them aside tonight, her face brilliant with anticipation.
He’d been to many gaming hells many times, knew them and their pleasures as well as any scoundrel could. Yet, beholding the eagerness in her expression and the way her eyes gleamed in expectancy, something in his own chest lifted up.
“Come.” He offered her his arm.
She put her hand on his arm, and started.
“Something amiss?” he asked.
“It’s merely...” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t expect you to feel so... firm.”
He ought to receive some kind of commendation from Prinny himself for not making a lewd comment in response. But the bigger struggle was keeping his head from filling with thoughts of her softness against his firmness, her fingers brushing over other—unclothed—parts of him.
“You went a little strong on the rouge,” he said as they approached the gaming hell’s door.
Her fingers flew to her cheeks.
“I’m excited to experience my first gaming hell,” she replied. “Areyouwearing rouge?”
