Page 27 of The Rake I Wished For
She glanced over at Mrs. Clemens.
Harlow followed her gaze. “Apparently all that knitting did the poor girl in,” he murmured.
The laugh that rose up in her throat felt like a nervous giggle and she swallowed it down. They both turned away from the older woman whose light snores now replaced the clicking of her needles.
He was standing close, the heat of his body somehow warmer than the fire.
They were alone, for all intents and purposes.
He tilted his head to the side. “Why did you want a rake to kiss you?”
Her lips parted and all of her wits seemed to see the opening. Her thoughts fled like cowardly rabbits. “I…I read too many novels, that’s all. The heroines always experience one romantic kiss that sweeps them off their feet, and I…I suppose I was curious.”
He nodded slowly. “It doesn’t surprise me that you’d be curious, Jo. You’ve always been too curious for your own good.”
She looked away but he cupped her cheek gently and drew her face back so her gaze met his.
“You’re so intelligent,” he said softly. “Which is why I cannot understand why you’d risk everything for a kiss.”
Unlike his other chastisements, this one didn’t make her feel small and childish. In fact, it didn’t seem like a chastisement at all.
It felt like…like he just honestly wanted to know.
“I know that romance is not in the cards for me,” she said. “I’ve always known that. And I’m fine with it.”
His brows arched slightly. “You don’t know that. After all, if Liam could find Rose—”
“I don’t want it.” Memories she didn’t want to touch threatened to rise up and she shoved them back down. “So, you see…I will not marry a man I love.”
He blinked once. Twice. “I see.”
He didn’t. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not curious as to what the fuss is about.”
“The fuss.”
She shifted from foot to foot. What a fool she must sound like to this worldly, experienced man. But he wasn’t laughing as he waited patiently for her to explain.
“The fuss about romance.”
“Mmm.” He rocked back on his heels. “Jo, you do know…there’s a difference, isn’t there, between romance and love?”
She pressed her lips together, an ache in her chest forming before she could stop it. “Well. It doesn’t matter now. You were right to call me a silly child. I have no need for either romance or love. It was just a foolish wish, you see. I made a wish when I was feeling sentimental and…”
Oh good grief, she was babbling. She trailed off when he hitched up his brows.
“So you’ve given up on this idea of a kiss before the season begins.”
She didn’t answer. And she didn’t know why. The answer was yes. That answer would end this uncomfortable tension between them once and for all.
They could go back to the way things were.
She could go to the country and form her plan for how she’d snare the perfect husband and…
“Jo.”
She blinked. Goodness, how long had she been staring at his lips like that?
Heat stole up her neck and into her cheeks.
