Page 25 of His Scandalous Lessons
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The cottage glowedwith candlelight by the time Richard arrived. The trees around the place were so quiet that he could hear Anne humming inside as she busied herself with something or other. He couldn’t wait to see what it was. He couldn’t—
Richard paused, just at the threshold.
Not for you.
He suddenly recalled her last rule from the train: after this house party, they would act as strangers. He would pretend not to know her.
Funny how she had carved herself into his life with seemingly little effort, that he counted the hours until they would be alone again. How had she done that? Were he a superstitious man, he would have considered it enchantment, witchcraft. But those were simply words for the sort of longing that felt, at first thought, to be unnatural. But it wasn’t. It was the most natural thing in the world to want her.
Richard must have made some noise, because Anne called, “Richard? Is that you?”
He let himself in. “Yes. My apologies for being late.”
Anne’s smile was so bright that his breath caught. That had been the expression he’d spoken of last night in bed; it could make a man go weak in the knees with desire. God, he wanted her.
“That’s all right.” She held up a garden mallet. “So tell me, how does one go about playing croquet?”
Richard couldn’t help but laugh. “So that’s why you’ve brought me here? A midnight game of garden croquet?”
“Cottagecroquet,” she corrected. “It’s too dark outside and Caroline scheduled a game for tomorrow afternoon. She’s letting us borrow the mallets and balls for practice.”
“You’ve never played?”
“No.” She looked down at the mallet she was holding. “My father did not appreciate games, at least other than political ones. He felt they were a waste of time.”
“Anne.” He closed the distance between them. “You won’t be the only one learning tomorrow. You needn’t have worried.”
She shook her head. “I can’t focus on learning when I need to be charming. Not when—” She pressed her lips together.
“What?”
“If the gentlemen here are interested in finding a wife, it’s going to take more than the time I have to convince them. Montgomery, for his part, was at least upfront that matrimony was the last thing on his mind.”
So that’s what they’d been discussing in the garden. Richard was glad he didn’t have to threaten the earl with bodily injury. That had a way of ruining a friendship. “I’m so damn sorry, Anne.”
She lifted a shoulder. “This thins the herd. Granby, at least, is in the market for a bride. He may not be the most ideal conversationalist, but he’s kind and safe. So I’ll double my efforts there.”
Christ, Richard thought. His heart kicked in his chest at her words.Kind and safe. They were such simple requisites — the barest minimum of how a gentleman should treat a lady — and yet she said them as if they were extraordinary qualities.
Because to Anne, they were. Nothing else mattered to her more than a man who was the opposite of her father.
“And passion? Desire?” Richard couldn’t help but ask. “What of those?”
Anne lowered her gaze. “Not necessary.”
“Not necessary?” He knew he sounded almost angry.
“No. Maybe you need those things, but I don’t.”
Unable to stop himself, Richard reached for her, settling his hand on the back of her neck. Passion wasn’t necessary? That was what she thought?
“You can’t tell me you don’t still think about the gazebo,” he said roughly. “That you don’t still go to bed and dream of me sucking your nipples and licking your cunny and telling you honest vocabulary.”
Her small gasp felt like a confession, forced out against her will. “Richard—”
“You can’t tell me,” he continued relentlessly, “that you don’t touch yourself there at night and wish it were my hand making you come. That you don’t whisper my name in the darkness and wish I’d whisper back.”
