Page 41 of The Rogue's Last Scandal
She went silent. She was no longer shaking, and her hands had warmed. He slid his fingers higher under the loose cuff of the robe, stroking her silky skin with his fingers. Her robe had slid open a bit at the throat, but he couldn’t see much. Like last night, he had no idea what she wore under the heavy dressing gown.
His shaft stirred. He silently cursed the darkness.
“He was courting her?” she asked.
“No. It’s a long story, but he rescued her, and she spent the night in his bachelor lodgings unchaperoned. They married to salvage her reputation.”
She clucked her tongue. “How foolish. Forced marriage because of society’s judgments—I do not believe in that nonsense.”
He could only agree. “Bakeley is the heir. He, more than any of us needed to be sensible. He had to marry sooner or later, and Sirena was an Irish earl’s daughter, not goodtonas they say, but she suited well enough, and he liked her.”
“How very practical.”
“You do not approve.”
The thrumming started up again—his heart, her heart. The very air around them quaked.
Good God, what was wrong with him?
“You require a love match,SeñoritaKingsley?”
He could almost feel her chest rising and falling as she gulped deep breaths. His thumbs reached the tender creases of her elbows.
She pulled away and stood. “Señorita, am I now? Yes, yes, you look at me and say ‘Here is a foolish pamperedcriolla, a colonial Spanish girl who is all passion, no intelligence.’ You say, ‘Let me h-hold her hand. Let me stir her with my tender touches. You think with your pretty hair and big shoulders you are more convincing than all thecaballerosI’ve encountered in my life. And you are all seduction because you know I do not care about your society rules, and because you think I’m only a stupid, stupid girl, already, as you say,ruined.”
Pretty hair and big shoulders—he squelched a laugh. She moved into the light and he rose to follow her. With her eyes flashing, her head tossing, her shoulders squared, she was magnificent. She didn’t notice her robe had slipped further, revealing creamy skin and the disappointing lace of a nightrail.
“Love.” She sliced a hand through the air. “What does love matter, Charley Everly? Love I feel for...for Reina, for my f-father.” She took a breath that sounded like a sob. “It is foolish for a woman to love a man. They are such unfaithful creatures. Between a husband and wife there must be respect and honor. The rest—so common for a man—is merely the physical urge required for mating. A woman who settles for mere love must expect a life of sorrow and regret.”
A pain started up in his head. She thought he had no honor.
Or…maybe this wasn’t about him. Maybe someone, long before Lord Kingsley and Carvelle, had hurt Graciela.
And indeed, she was trembling again. He reached for her hand, surprised when she allowed him to take it. “You sound like one of the fellows at the club.” He made his voice bland and dredged up a smile. It wasn’t so difficult since her lower lip protruded like Reina’s had earlier. “They decry love until one or the other falls head over ears for some actress or opera dancer and gives her a house and a carriage and carte blanche at the modiste.” He’d never speak of such things to an English maiden, but Graciela was no ordinary girl.
Her gaze narrowed. “You have done such?”
“Not I.”
“You have not been head over ears then?”
His head swam and the air around them crackled.Not until I met you.
He laughed. He was being ridiculous. “No. Nor do I have the funds for such. And as well, I have been on the Continent a good deal of time.”
“You are not rich? But I thought your family was wealthy.”
“Bakeley is wealthy. Bink has a very comfortable income. Perry and I live on allowances.”
“But that doesn’t seem fair.” She frowned. “So, you both must make your own fortunes, or marry them?”
He suspected that a comfortable income would come when he married, just as Bink’s had. Which, in his case, would be never.
“Perry will marry and bring a rich dowry. I plan to make my own fortune.”
“How? As a spy? Is spying a profitable trade?”
He laughed. “Not as a spy.”
