Page 36 of The Scholar's Key
She laughed, although there were nerves within it. “I was just as involved as you from the start. Besides, I do not mind.”
A flutter of hope burst through his chest. “You don’t?”
“Not at all,” she said. “If that is the little bit that I must do to help, then I am happy to do it.”
“Very well,” he said, relieved that she did not seem overly concerned. “I did ask that she not share the information, so hopefully you shall be protected.”
She nodded as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and he guessed she was likely waiting for his ideas on the next steps.
“There is only one thing to do now,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“I must return and steal the necklace,” he said resolutely, trying to convince himself as much as share the information with her. “Even though I would prefer not to, for I actually rather highly regard Mrs. MacNall.”
“Y-you do?” Percy said, her eyes wide and worried, concerning him.
“Yes. She was understanding when I told her that I could not follow through with our… liaison.”
A smile stretched across Percy’s face, but it was gone so fast that Noah wondered whether he had been seeing things or not.
“You didn’t go through with it?”
He shook his head, knowing that he shouldn’t be speaking of such things with her, but she had asked, and somehow she needed to understand that he hadn’t.
“No,” he said. “I told her that… it would not be true to the woman I was courting.”
“To… me?”
“Yes.”
“I see,” she breathed, stepping closer to him, and every nerve ending on his body seemed to light up at her closeness. “That is very loyal of you.”
“I couldn’t follow through,” he said, his breath quickening. “It didn’t seem right.”
“Of course,” she said, dipping her head, and Noah couldn’t help but remember what her pillowy lips had felt like under his, as he longed to feel them once more.
“We should be getting back,” he said as their heads neared, her breath as quick as his.
“We should.”
“I am glad I had the chance to talk to you privately.”
“As am I.”
“Tell me the truth,” she said, raising her face to his. “Why did you leave Mrs. MacNall’s?”
“Because,” he said, their lips only inches apart. He shouldn’t tell her the truth. It would change everything between them, and they had so much more to do together. “I could not stop thinking about you.”
That was when he dipped his head, closing the space between them, his lips moving over hers. It was everything he had remembered and more. Her hands reached up, her fingers clinging around the lapels of his jacket as she pulled him closer and his arms wrapped around her back, skimming over the soft fabric of her dress. He had wondered if she had been acting before, but there was no need for her to do so now.
Did she feel something for him? It was hard to believe, and yet… here she was, closed in a parlor with him and not Lord Stephen, the man she was supposed to be courting, who had been selected for her by her parents.
Which reminded him that their time was limited, and soon enough the rest of the party would come looking for her, and would likely notice that he was also absent. She might be interested in him enough for a kiss but certainly not enough for a lifetime.
When he broke the kiss, she leaned back, although her fingers were still gripping him as she breathed heavily, her eyes stroking up and down his body incredulously.
“Noah, I—I…”
