Page 18 of Ruthless with a Rogue
Interesting.
She cleared her throat.“No, those are my father’s.The books, I mean.”She let out a soft laugh, but it was forced.“Obviously, he didn’t eat the biscuits.Those are mine.Were mine.There is quite a bit of math involved in astronomy.”
He studied her beneath his lashes.She squirmed, hands strangling the fabric of her yellow skirts.Why so uncomfortable, little mouse?
“Your father’s…yet your father is not here.”
Her blush deepened, highlighting her delicate high cheekbones.“I…I brought them with me for…for comfort.”Her voice grew stronger.“It makes me feel as if he is here.They are sentimental.”
He scoffed and shot her an incredulous look.“That may have been the worst lie I’ve ever heard.Let us pray you won’t need to tell any falsehoods while navigating society.”
She huffed out a breath but didn’t speak.
“Admit it.”
“Pardon?”She fluttered her eyelashes at him, doe-eyes wide and innocent.
He tried and failed to hold back the roll of his eyes.Did she think he was an idiot?He waved the book in front of her.“Why won’t you admit the books are yours?”
Her gaze shot heavenwards.“Fine,” she said with a low hiss, glancing around the room as if afraid someone would overhear.“They are mine.”
He arched a brow at her.“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?By your hesitance, I would have thought you were hiding a third arm, not the fact that you have a brain.”He clapped his hands once.“Shall we get on with this?”
She nodded slowly, her gaze wary as she studied his face.She obviously didn’t trust him.And she shouldn’t.But not because she had an apparent like for mathematics.No, she shouldn’t trust him because he was going to seduce her.And she was going to love every second of it.
The wooden floors under the threadbare rug creaked as she strode over to the desk.“I have a plan to improve my reputation.And it’s all laid out right here.”
He barely suppressed a groan when she bent over and grabbed a bundle of papers and some rolls of parchment, the curve of her arse mere inches from him.His hand flexed.
Don’t touch, Derek.It’ll only set you back.
That arse would be his soon enough.
She scooped up her papers and marched over to the settee, all the while glaring at him.She settled herself on the far end, placing her pile of things on the table.
He pressed his lips together, staving off a laugh.“Trying to stay as far away as possible, are we, darling?”
Her eyes narrowed into slits, and he couldn’t prevent his dark laugh that time.He sat deliberately near her, his thigh pressing into hers.Her mouth pinched, and he grinned, something heady buzzing through him at her ire.He had warned her.If he was to seduce her, he would need to touch her.What did she expect?
Miss Forester ignored him and unrolled the parchment and organized her papers, placing the math text and abacus on the curling corners.He leaned forward, their shoulders bumping together, and squinted, studying the parchment.
He blindly reached for his pocket and drew out his spectacles.He slipped them on, and his eyebrows shot to his hairline as the blurred scribblings snapped into focus in front of him.
A soft intake of breath wrenched his gaze away to a seemingly dazed Miss Forester, if her softly parted mouth and faraway look were any indication.Her lips curled around a silent word, and he followed the movement.Spectacles?He grinned.She liked his spectacles, did she?How advantageous.
He casually pushed them higher up the bridge of his nose.And her mouth went flat, golden brows lifting in a way that made it clear she knew what he was doing.Well, it had been worth a shot.
He glanced back at the map.Because that was the only way to describe what lay in front of him.It was a map.Of society.It was brilliant, really.His attention darted back to Miss Forester.Her chin jutted toward him, plush lips pressed tight together, and her delicate nostrils flared.She dared him to speak down to her with that look.Heat went straight to his groin.How ruthless she was turning out to be.
“Just to clarify, are we navigating society…or going to war?”
One pale blonde eyebrow winged up.“Are they not one and the same?”
He barked out a laugh before he could catch himself.Indeed.“All right, Wellington.Lead on.”
Her lips twitched.He sat a little taller, the beast inside of him liking very much that he’d almost made her smile.And he immediately hunched again.What a fucking daft thought.
“Here we have a diagram of society.At the top, we have the leading matrons, the ones who are most influential and important in achieving my goal.”She turned to him, her blue eyes a fist to the gut.Every.Bloody.Time.“I must be admitted to Almack’s.That is paramount to my success.”
