Page 56 of Some Like It Wild
He cocked his head to the side. “There’s always music. Can’t you hear it? Why, I hear it every time I look into your eyes.”
“Perhaps your ears are still ringing from when we bumped heads on the stairs.”
Crispin grinned and withdrew his hand, curiously relieved that she wasn’t to be so easily charmed by his flattery. But her next words sobered him abruptly.
“I know why you really came here tonight.”
“You do?”
“You came here to seduce me. You thought, ‘Oh, the pretty little maid is all alone. Think I’ll sneak into her room while her mistress is gone and give her a tumble.’” She arched one silky eyebrow, challenging him to call her a liar. “Am I wrong?”
He slanted her a glance from beneath his lashes, struggling to look abashed. “I’m afraid not. I’m an incorrigible scoundrel and you’ve no choice but to send me on my way with a scathing rebuke and a hearty slap.”
“What about a kiss?”
He jerked up his head, believing he’d heard her wrong. “A…a…awhat?”
“A kiss. I’ve no intention of letting you seduce me, but I might be persuaded to send you on your way with a scathing rebuke and a kiss.”
He drew closer to her, his nostrils flaring at her sleepy, feminine scent. “And how might I best persuade you?”
“Well, first I’d have to deliver the rebuke.”
He waved a hand at her. “Be my guest.”
She rested her hands on her slender hips, glaring daggers at him. “How dare you sneak into my room at such an indecent hour? Just because you’re a handsome, wealthy gentleman with women throwing themselves at your feet, that doesn’t give you the right to force your attentions on a helpless servant. I may be only a maid, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a lady as well and don’t deserve to be treated as one!”
“Very impressive,” Crispin murmured, still beset by the eerie sense of having played this scene before. “I’ve never received such a brutal set-down. My ears will be stinging for days!”
“As well they should,” she agreed with a feline little smirk.
The wariness returned to her gaze as he reached to cup her cheek in his hand, stroking its downy softness with his thumb. “Perhaps you’ll allow me to make amends by proving I can treat you like a lady. By convincing you that I would be satisfied with nothing more than a chaste kiss from your lips.”
Crispin was lying through his teeth. He knew such a kiss would only whet his appetite for more. He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers—the broadsheet forgotten, his cousin forgotten, everything forgotten but that tender rose of a mouth blooming so sweetly beneath his.
That chaste kiss soon turned into a lingering caress. By the time Crispin lifted his head, they were both breathing hard.
She backed away from him, an enchanting blush coloring her cheeks. “You’d best go now. If my mistress returns, I can promise you she won’t be very happy to find you here. I wouldn’t want her to…send me packing.”
“Nor would I,” he confessed, pressing a palm to his chest. “I believe it would break my heart.”
She grabbed his elbow and steered him firmly toward the door. “You should be ashamed of yourself! You’re doing it again!”
“What?”
“Trying to seduce me! Those flowery words may charm the weak-willed women of your acquaintance, but I should warn you that they have no effect on me.”
“Are you so sure about that?” he asked, daring a devilish grin.
Her answer was to throw open the door and shove him backward into the corridor. “Don’t bother coming back…” She cast a guilty glance over her shoulder, then whispered, “…unless you know my mistress is out of the house.”
She flashed him a brief, dazzling smile before closing the door in his face. Crispin rested his brow against it, chuckling when he realized he had failed once again to acquire the maddening creature’s name.
“What have you done, Crispin?”
His heart lurched as he wheeled around to find his mother standing at the end of the hall like some ghostly white lady from one of his nightmares.
She glided toward him, the hem of her dressing gown rippling behind her. Holding out her hand, she said, “I know why you came here. Did you find what you were looking for?”
