Page 27 of A Scandalous Proposition
She hastily dropped her eyes, only to find them confronted by a narrow waist covered with a dusting of hair that disappeared below his breeches. Another scar, angry-looking and jagged, started below his left nipple and skirted round his side, finishing somewhere on his back. She wanted to ask him how it had been inflicted but the words stuck in her throat. She gulped, only to blush deeply when she became aware that her eyes had drifted lower still and that he was observing her.
‘You appear embarrassed, Florentina,’ he said. ‘I can’t help wondering why. You must see many men in a state of semi-undress in your line of work.’
She hadn’t, of course. The only other naked chest she’d ever seen was her husband’s. The thought that she hadn’t been nearly so fascinated by his was disloyal and she quickly dispelled it.
Florentina lost concentration and a few hands later was obliged to remove her gown. To her astonishment, she felt little embarrassment in doing so and threw a defiant glance his way as she stepped out of it. She resumed her seat, wearing only a flimsy chemise and her equally thin petticoats.
She was acutely conscious of his eyes traversing her body. As she met his gaze, a maelstrom of conflicting emotions churned deep within her. She detected appreciation and desperate-seeming passion in his expression and knew that their roles had been reversed. She might have discarded most of her clothing but was now the one in control. She gloried in her temporary hold over this annoying tyrant and smiled innocently at him.
‘It’s your play, sir,’ she said, moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue.
He watched her and abruptly threw his cards down. ‘Enough!’ he said, standing up.
‘What are you doing? We haven’t finished the game.’
‘I’ve lost my appetite for it.’
‘Because I was starting to win.’
He conceded the point with a brief nod. ‘Because of you, certainly.’
‘You can’t bear to think that a mere woman might outwit you, I suppose.’
‘In your case, that’s a situation which would never arise.’
‘Huh, you think me incapable of playing a foolish game of cards.’
‘No, sweetheart. I think you underestimate yourself. There’s nothing mere about you.’
‘Oh.’
Florentina wasn’t sure what he meant but his words were enough to take the fight out of her. The smouldering expression in his eyes stripped away the remnants of her embarrassment. Never had he appeared more handsome, or more desirable.
Her body flooded with longing as he pulled her into his arms. She went willingly, putting up no protests. His fingers circled a nipple through the fabric of her chemise so gently that at first she thought she was imagining his touch. She sighed and instinctively pushed herself closer to his hand. Her sensitised nipple hardened to his touch, at which point his fingers stilled and then fell away.
‘What am I going to do about you, sweet Florentina?’ he asked in a voice rendered thick with passion.
‘Whatever you wish.’
‘No.’ Abruptly he released her, his face rigid with determination. ‘I don’t think so. Not tonight.’
‘You don’t want me?’ Florentina could hear the regret in her own voice.
‘I want you very much indeed.’ He kissed her but this time seemed determined that their bodies wouldn’t collide. ‘But not this way.’
‘Then how?’
‘We shall see.’
Florentina felt she deserved to be miffed. His rejecting her so comprehensively was most insulting. It was one thing for her not to have wanted to be put in this position but another entirely for him to dismiss her like some applicant for a position within his household who didn’t pass muster.
‘But we had an arrangement. What will happen about my situation with your mother?’
‘That’s perfectly safe for the time being.’ He was smiling again and by now Florentina was totally confused by his lightening changes of mood. ‘It pleases me to know that she has someone beside her upon whom she can depend.’
‘It does?’ Florentina wondered if he’d been imbibing that evening. Wasn’t overindulgence supposed to render gentlemen incapable? What she’d felt through his breeches hadn’t indicated any incapability on his part. But still…
‘Absolutely. And I shall see you both tomorrow evening at the Court for Philippa’s damned soiree, I assume.’
