Page 23 of The Mech Who Loved Me
Her eyes were wide. "Thankyou."
Kincaid looked away, across the foyer of the guild. "Byrnes didn'tdeserveyou."
And now it was her turn to sound uncomfortable. "Iknow."
He shot her asharplook.
"He had four years to notice what was beneath his nose. He didn't. Clearly he wasn't the right man for me. I'm starting to see that now. Maybe... maybe it was a good thing?" Her words became a little firmer. "His friendship—and Ingrid's—is important to me. But you're right—you've always been right. I deserve more. I deserve better. I deserve someone who is going to love me for everythingIam."
"You'll find him," Kincaid replied, and damn him, but he felt a hot surge of... something flood upinsidehim.
"In the meantime, I am considering other options," sheadmitted.
He didn't like those wordsatall.
"Other options?" hegroundout.
"Well, it's no secret the state of my... ah, experience, is significantly limited. And I was talking to Perry at the wedding about the sad status of my life. She proposed anexperiment."
"Anexperiment?" Was she suggesting what he thoughtshewas?
"Are you all right?" Ava peered up at him curiously. "You keep repeating everythingIsay."
Kincaid stared at her; all those layers of muslin skirts, the way her hair drooped in its chignon, the mass of curls barely tamed by her pins. Trussed up like a porcelain doll, and a thought went through his head: Ava was a pretty pigeon, ripe forplucking.
And some man would take advantageofher.
"Just what, precisely, are you proposin' to set about? An experimentinwhat?"
Despite her confession of gentlemen avoiding her like the plague, there were men out there who'd not hesitate to snatch her up. Men who'd lie through their teeth just to get her in bed, who'd not take the care she needed, and break her heart without a secondthought.
Men who didn't deserve a womanlikeAva.
"Well, you don't have to get angry," she said, looking startled. "I'm hardly going to ruin myself. I'm just... curious. I'm a virgin and a spinster, and I think I would like to relieve myself of one of thosetitles—"
It was exactly what he'd expected. "Are youout ofyourmind?"
Ava stiffened. "Well, that's somewhat hypocritical coming from a man like you. Need I point out you were escorting a rather imposing young woman in the gardens at the back of a house of pleasure when you came upon me suffering a... a hysterical moment? You might think I was born yesterday, but I know exactly what you intended with her thatnight."
"Is this because of the wedding?" he askedincredulously.
Now it was her turn to get angry. "It's notbecauseof the wedding in the way you're thinking. But it made me consider where my life is heading. And do you know what the answer to that question is?Nowhere.My life is heading nowhere. All I can see ahead of me are endless years in a laboratory—which is intellectually stimulating, don't get me wrong—but somewhat lacking in warmth. Do you know how long it's been since someone touched me? Do you know how many years have passed since my last kiss? Which, needless to say was disappointing, to say the least. I want love. I wantsomething else. And if I cannot find love, then why not settle forpassion?"
Jaysus.Kincaid stared at her, the vein in his temple throbbing in time to the heated pulse in his cock. He'd always liked Ava, but to see her temper aroused lit everything inside him on fire. He wanted tokissher.
Righthere.
Rightnow.
Despite the fact they were standing in the middle of theguild.
"Do you have some objection?" Ava demanded, tilting that pointedchinup.
Not an objection, no. Not to exploring her curiosity, and learning what passion felt like. The problem was... where would she look for it? "How do you even know you could trust a stranger? What if the bloodlust overcame you and you went for his throat? And he wasn'texpectingit?"
Ava's lips thinned, pinkness creeping into her cheeks. "I haven't given the idea a great deal of thought, I'll admit, but... in my brief experience with men, I've found one type of lust precludes theother."
"And what is your briefexperience?"
