Page 28 of A Rogue's Rules for Seduction
She did, too, and that worried her. It felt different now, spending time with him. It was so unlike the way they used to circle each other back when they were courting. She’d never been fully at ease around him, always talking and laughing too loudly, as though she’d been trying to prove something. And he was looser with her now, less on edge.
It felt...nicewas too gentle a word. Because these spinning, sparkling sensations along her skin weren’t soft and soothing. She felt more alive, more aware, simply by being near him and sharing these fraught moments.
How could she trust that? How could she trust herself, when she’d been hurt so badly—by him?
“Knowing my meddlesome brothers,” she saidwith forced breeziness, “they’ll start making very wrong assumptions about the fact that you and I are both absent. Best to curtail those suppositions.”
Expression opaque, he rose slowly when she got to her feet. As they walked toward the parlor where the others had gathered, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something important had slipped from her fingers, but she feared the thing she grasped at as much as her body ached with wanting to hold it close.
As soon as she and Dom entered the room, a servant pressed an embroidery hoop into Dom’s hands. Another servant presented Willa with a handsome wooden box that contained a row of cheroots.
“Ah, you’ve joined us at last,” Mr. Longbridge said brightly from the other side of the room. “I was waiting for you to announce tonight’s entertainment: we’re reversing the sexes. What the ladies do after dinner, the gentlemen will now attempt. Likewise, the ladies get to partake in the men’s typical post-meal indulgences such as tobacco and brandy.”
Startled laughs rose up from everyone. If they were back in England, and at a more typical house party, there would be absolutely no chance that women could take spiritsortobacco, and certainly not in front of men.
More embroidery hoops were handed out to themale guests, while other servants gave glasses of spirits to the women.
“Are the gentlemenseriouslyexpected to embroider?” Cransley asked their host when he, too, was given a tambour.
“Ladiesare expected to,” Celeste answered, and sipped at her brandy with a practiced ease.
“Show me the art of it, love,” Kieran coaxed, shaking his embroidery hoop like a tambourine.
“Only if you show me how to suck on a cheroot.”
Giggling, Kieran and Celeste sat down on one of the sofas, and after a servant presented Kieran with a needle and floss, she began to demonstrate the proper way to thread a needle.
“Will you guide me?” Finn asked Tabitha.
“I know more about thetheoryof embroidery rather than the praxis,” she replied, studying the fabric stretched in the wooden hoop. “It’s a bit of a terra nova for me.”
“Let us explore the new world together,” Finn gallantly answered before they, too, found a cozy corner, and were soon laughing and whispering to each other.
Willa eyed the cheroots uncertainly.
“Ever smoked one before?” Dom asked. When she shook her head, he said, “I can give you some help—if you want. Nobody wants a man giving uninvited opinions.”
“Whatever guidance you can provide would beappreciated. I can never resist the opportunity to do something forbidden.”
He raised a brow, and only then did she realize how provocative her words had been. But she pulled back her shoulders and hoped that her cheeks didn’t turntoopink.
“They all look prime.” He gestured to the box. “Picking any one is a good choice.”
“Now what?” she asked after taking a cheroot. She rolled it between her fingers and the rich scent of tobacco rose up.
“It’s not like a cigar—the ends are already clipped.” He nodded at a servant, who approached with a lit taper in a candlestick. “You don’t want to put it in your mouth before you burn it, so put just the tip over the fire.”
“Just the tip?” She arched her brow.
He started, looking at her with disbelief. “How the hell—?”
A laugh leapt from her. “I have varied reading tastes.”
“Remind me to look at your library.” He shook his head, collecting himself. “When you’re burning the cheroot, roll it between your fingers over the flame so everything stays even.”
She did as he instructed, the scent of burning tobacco growing stronger. “Oh! It’s glowing.”
“It’s ready. But don’t gulp the smoke down, otherwise you—”
