Page 10 of The Rake I Wished For
But Jocelyn would definitely be seeing Harlow again tonight, as he’d agreed to attend this small soiree to look after her.
As though she were some child, Jocelyn thought with a huff.
Though…the way he’d looked at her after she’d told him about her desire for a kiss…
She swallowed hard and turned to face the vanity.
The look in his eyes then hadn’t been that of her brother’s best friend gazing at a child.
Not even a little.
His gaze had dipped to her lips, and she’d felt…
Her breath came out shakily as heat crept into her cheeks at the memory.
She couldn’t name what it was she’d felt when he’d looked at her like that. Warmth had flooded through her, so suddenly and drastically it had made her feel quite…desperate.
Jocelyn frowned at her reflection. She and Jane were both lost in their own thoughts as they sat in companionable silence.
Jocelyn wasn’t sure what that feeling had been, or how to interpret his look. But a second later, that heat in his eyes had changed to something far easier to name.
Anger.
She bit her lip, studying her hands as a different sort of heat flooded her.
It wasn’t shame, necessarily. More like embarrassment. She’d never made him angry before, and she didn’t know why it bothered her so.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. Truly, she was tired of thinking about that night. Tired of asking herself the same ridiculous question. Why had she told him about the kiss in the first place?
She supposed it had been for the sheer pleasure of shocking him.
Jocelyn’d always loved getting reactions from her brother’s best friend. He was such fun to tease and laugh with. But telling him about this plan…
Sheer foolishness on her part.
If there was anything reckless about this entire endeavor, it had been that moment right there.
“But, Jocelyn,” Jane said, cutting the silence so suddenly it gave Jocelyn a jolt. “If you are caught by someone other than me or Harlow, you’ll be forced to marry that dreadful man.”
“He’s not dreadful,” Jocelyn argued. “He’s merely a rake. And so is Harlow,” she added as an afterthought. Admittedly, she was arguing this point with herself more than Jane, but she still added, “And as a renowned rake, Harlow has no moral high ground to stand upon when it comes to my plan.”
And this was true, she reminded herself with a nod. Oh, he and her brother tried to shield her from the truth, but she’d overheard plenty of whispers about Harlow over the years.
His name had been linked to plenty of widows and everyone knew he spent his nights gambling and carousing—when he wasn’t playing chaperone to her, of course.
Jane’s arched brows said she begged to differ on whether or not Harlow’s disapproval held merit, but fortunately for Jocelyn, Jane dropped the topic of Harlow. “Dreadful or not, you’ve made it clear you have high hopes for a good match,” her friend pointed out.
“I do.” Jocelyn straightened. “I’m expected to marry well, and I will. I owe it to my family.”
Jane’s nose wrinkled ever so slightly. On this, they tended to disagree.
But clearly Jane would not be goaded into another conversation on a woman’s duty to her family. They’d long since agreed to disagree, anyway. And Jocelyn couldn’t blame her friend for having a differing view, since they came from such different families.
If Jocelyn had been raised by Jane’s parents, she might feel disinclined to honor them with a good match as well.
But Jocelyn had made a promise to her mother, and she wasn’t about to go back on that just because she’d read too many romance novels that had left her curious.
“The plan is simple,” Jocelyn explained to Jane. “I just want one kiss to see what all the fuss is about—”
