Page 79 of The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes
“Mr. Ransome.” She sat down on the edge of the bench, and he lowered down beside her. He kept a respectable distance between them, which struck her as strange, since the last time she’d seen him, he’d done the most incredible things to her body with his fingers and mouth and... cock.
Her face blazed, as did the rest of her.
“Itiswarm out, isn’t it?” Kieran murmured.
She’d done such a remarkable job of concealment around her family, breakfasting and dining with her father—Dom joining them just once—but she couldn’t hide anything from him.
“Indeed, summer will be here shortly, and the heat will chase everyone to the country.” Inwardly, she grimaced at their banal conversation. For God’s sake, he’d beeninsideher less than two days ago.
Dolly discretely drifted away to a bench clear on the other side of the park, with her back to Celeste and Kieran.
Forget taking off one Saturday. Dolly deservedeverySaturday off.
“I thought—” Kieran began.
At the same time, Celeste said, “It occurred to me that—”
“You go first,” he urged.
“Oh, no, I spoke over you.”
His lips twitched. “Put us both out of our respective miseries and say what you intended.”
After clearing her strangely dry throat, she said, “Tomorrow night’s the Duke and Duchess of Greyland’s ball, one of the highlights of the Season. Every eligible young lady will be there. After the success of your appearance at Lord Hempnall’s recital, I should have little difficulty obtaining an invitation for you.”
“My thanks.” In a slightly gruff voice, he added, “I’ve already received an invitation.”
For a moment, she could only look at him, her face no doubt as blank as her mind. Seeing how he stared back at her warily, she fabricated a smile and hoped her voice was cheerier than she felt. “That’s marvelous.”
“It arrived yesterday,” he said, as if searching for something to say.
Yet yesterday she’d also sent him her note suggesting they meet, and he’d agreed. Which made little sense. He didn’t need her anymore.
If that was the case, there was no necessity to continue on in their bargain. Their daytime outings together were finished. As were their midnight adventures.
Was all of it over? Everything that they’d become to each other might be gone.
She pressed a hand to her stomach, but it felt as though she’d swallowed a millstone. Surely devastation was written across her face, and devastation showed in her eyes. But she couldn’t let Kieran see either.
Celeste managed to push to her feet and smile at him when he also stood.
“I ought to be going,” she said brightly. “I’m due at Madame Jacqueline’s for a final fitting on the gown I’m wearing to the ball.”
Fittings were horrendously dull, but at that moment, she reached for it as if she were a drowning woman grasping at a thrown rope.
“I still need you,” he blurted. When she blinked at him, he said hurriedly, “A lone invitation to a ball doesn’t mean that my reputation has been entirely redeemed. I’ll continue to require being seen with you to assuage anyone’s lingering doubts.”
“Yes.” Relief made her legs wobble beneath her. The sunlight, which had seemed so watery moments ago, now turned everything golden and warm. “Reputations can’t be fully repaired quickly. It’s an ongoing process.”
“At least until the end of the Season. If not beyond.” He nodded solemnly.
Her stomach plummeted again. With Lady Stretton urging the earl to formally propose, the best Celeste could hope for was the remaining month until the Season concluded.
Yet for now, she had these next weeks. Whatever the future held for her, she had this brief time with Kieran. There would be years for her to nurse her damaged heart once he found his bride, and she was shackled to Lord Montford.
Strange to know that she was inflicting a wound on herself that she wouldn’t truly feel until later, stranger still that she saw it happening and didn’t stop. Never had she considered herself the sort of person who enjoyed unhappiness, but here she was, flinging herself headlong into future misery.
“You’ll save me a dance,” he said.
