Page 56 of The Mysterious Miss Lydia
He nodded, joy and pride, and gratitude, and something unbearably sweet making words difficult. His voice was too gruff. “I know the feeling. You’ve had a similar effect on me.”
Her brows hitched up in disbelief. “Have I?”
“Mmm.” His thumb stroked her cheek, and his heart felt like it was swelling to double its size in his chest. He ached to lower his head farther. To kiss those lips, to call her ‘mine.’
“You strike me as a man who’s always been brave,” she said.
A smile tugged at his lips. “In some ways, I suppose. But no one is without their weaknesses.”
She nodded slowly as she considered that, and then her gaze grew heartachingly earnest. “I don’t want to die without ever having lived.”
His heart thudded, his gut twisted...blast, everything in him reacted to that statement. It was how he’d always lived his lifeand to hear her say it back to him. To know he’d helped her conquer some fear...
It was humbling. And it made him want to be the man she thought he was. The man who encouraged her and made her feel stronger and braver.
That was a worthy purpose in life if he’d ever known one. Being one woman’s hero—thiswoman’s hero—put all the rest of his daring deeds to shame.
He straightened, shaken by the thought, and forced himself to move away from temptation.
He started to drop his hand, but she caught his wrist and pressed her cheek into his palm.
And he couldn’t breathe for the intimacy of the moment. It put any other encounter with a woman to shame. Anything he’d thought was desire or attraction before had been nothing compared to this raging fire that burnt him all the way to his heart.
“Kissing you was the first real risk I’ve ever taken,” she said. Her eyes glittered with pride and excitement and a passion to live which made her the most beautiful creature on earth, he was sure of it.
“I hope it’s not your last,” he said.
“It’s not.” Her lips curved up in a smile that he caught in the palm of his hand. Her eyes glimmered with mischief now and he narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
“Did you have something specific in mind?”
Her smile was radiant as she repeated his earlier words back to him. “I thought you’d never ask.”
16
It was scandalous.
She, Miss Lydia Baker, was a scandal!
She’d kissed a man, and she could hardly believe it. But there was no time for reflection, because while her heart still raced, there was work to be done. And who knew when they’d have another opportunity like this one.
Kitty still slept in the corner, and while servants and no doubt Miss Farthington, bustled about in the rooms beyond, Lydia was still blissfully alone with Lord Galena.
Luke.He’d told her to call him Luke when they’d sat together side by side on the settee to pore over the passage.
Well, he pored over the passage while she flipped through the pages of her novel to find the right spot. “Here it is, Lord Gal—” She stopped short and caught his flinch. “Er, Luke. My apologies.”
His easy smile made her warm all over. “Do not apologize. It’s I who have the odd abhorrence at hearing that title. But I suppose it’s high time I got used to it.” His smile never faltered but her heart felt a pang at the pain she saw deep in his eyes.
“I’m sorry about your brother,” she said.
She caught a flicker of surprise in his eyes at that. “Thank you. I...” He cleared his throat. “I grieve, of course, at the loss of him. But to be completely honest, it’s mostly regret that I feel now that the initial shock of losing him has faded.”
She tilted her head to the side, a silent show of encouragement to continue. For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t. But he started speaking again so quickly, as if the words had been there, on his tongue just itching to escape.
She understood that feeling well.
“We were never close growing up. Not because we didn’t respect each other,” he said, his gaze growing distant and a little frustrated, like he was searching the past to pinpoint their relationship. “It was more that we were treated so differently by our parents. I know they loved us both in their own way, but he was the heir, and I was the spare, and never the twain shall meet.” He ended with a rueful smile that didn’t quite cover up the hurt he’d experienced.
