Page 55 of Lady Audacious
She bit her lip and simultaneously shook her head. ‘No, I have not—or at least I cannot remember seeing it. What does it mean?’
‘It means that Smythe, or his cohorts, destroyed anything of interest that they couldn’t take with them. This fragment was ripped from a letter and caught in the corner of the drawer. Most conveniently, it bears an address, or at least part of one.’
Odile gasped, her eyes coming alight with hope. At that moment, Reuben would have given ten years of his life in exchange for this scant clue leading to answers that would satisfy her. Sadly, there were some things that even he, in his capacity as an earl, a man of power and consequence, could not orchestrate.
‘Do you know where it is?’ she asked, bouncing up and down in her excitement.
Powerless to resist, Reuben placed a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head backwards until their gazes met and held. He smiled into eyes that were clouded with confusion, and unless he was losing his touch a modicum of desire too.
‘Oh!’ she said, blinking.
She was curious, sensing the growing attraction between them every bit as much as him and wanting to know where it would lead. Reuben would like an answer to that question too. It was foreign territory for him also, since he had never felt such a strong physical reaction to an innocent female before. He ordinarily avoided the species like the plague, but Odile was unique. Her innate sensuality intoxicated him on a level over which he had absolutely no control, brought about by his fierce physical reaction to her emotional turmoil.
It was as inexplicable as it was inevitable and he stopped fighting against it, acknowledging the longing that swept through him for this enticing, most unconventional, highly individual, damaged and scarred female. He still held her captive with his gaze, aware of the raw, primal desire that ripped through his bloodstream to the point where rational thought disintegrated into pure sensation. Why here, why now in this dingy cellar had he suddenly lost all control?
‘What am I to do with you?’ he asked in a softly seductive drawl.
Without waiting for a response, indeed not expecting one since she seemed as bewildered and incapable as he was of explaining the situation, he decided that actions spoke louder than words. Desire overwhelmed reason as he lowered his head and slowly covered her enticing mouth with his own, feeding from it like a drowning man drawing his last desperate breath.
She uttered a little cry of astonishment as the arm not holding the candle circled her waist and pulled her firmly against him, but no protest was forthcoming and she didn’t attempt to extricate herself from his embrace. Instead, her arms circled his neck and her fingers twined themselves through his hair as her body became melded against his.
Reuben deepened the kiss for one exquisite moment before reluctantly breaking it and releasing her, keeping his arm loosely around her waist as she stumbled backwards on unsteady legs.
‘I would apologise,’ he said, struggling to find his voice as he broke the moment of startling awareness before it became embarrassing, ‘but for the fact that nothing which seems so natural and right could possibly be wrong. Besides, I have been fighting against the desire to kiss you since I first made your acquaintance.’
She turned away from him, compelling him to drop his arm. ‘No apology is necessary,’ she replied in a husky voice. ‘I have often wondered how it would feel to be kissed. Now I know, so I must thank you for furthering my education in that regard.’
Reuben choked on a laugh, convinced she could not have meant what she said.
‘Now, about that fragment,’ she said, turning to face him again, probably thinking that she had her emotions under control. She could not have been more wrong. Her eyes shone with sensual disobedience, her cheeks remained flushed and she constantly ran the tip of her tongue across the lips he had just kissed, as though challenging him to take matters further.
If only!
‘Ah yes, the fragment,’ he said. ‘As you have seen for yourself, there is part of an address. I think I know where it might be. I will instigate enquiries, call tomorrow and let you know what I have found out.’
‘Tomorrow?’ She sounded disappointed, but whether that was because he intended to leave now, while he could still find the strength to walk away from her vulnerability and confusion, or because she wanted to run the address down immediately it was impossible for him to know.
‘I have engagements this afternoon that I cannot postpone,’ he said, smiling at her as he consigned the fragment to the inner pocket of his coat. ‘Come along. It has waited this long so it can wait another day. Let’s get out of here. It’s cold and dirty. You have soiled your pretty gown.’
‘It doesn’t signify,’ she said, preceding him from the room and watching impassively as he closed the door and pushed the cupboard back into place.
‘Best keep this discovery to ourselves until we know what it means,’ he said by way of explanation.
‘Yes, of course.’
She walked with him back to the stables, where Harris had the curricle ready for him.
‘Thank you,’ she said primly, focusing her gaze on the ground beneath her feet as Willow leaned her head against her legs.
She seemed unable to look at him, whether because she was embarrassed or because he had confused her, Reuben couldn’t have said. But he did know that he was to blame, even if he couldn’t bring himself to regret his impulses. He took her hand in his, waited until she met his gaze, then raised it to his lips, turned it over and softly applied his lips to the soft skin on the inside of her wrist.
‘Oh!’ she said, blinking up at him in evident confusion.
‘Until tomorrow,’ he said, reluctantly releasing her hand after a prolonged period, turning away and climbing into his conveyance.
He raised a hand to where she stood rooted to the spot with Willow beside her and didn’t trust himself to turn back and look at her again. If he gave in to that particular temptation, he might never leave.
‘Oh look, there’s Reuben.’ The countess raised a hand in greeting. ‘I was not aware that he intended to come to the village today. Oh bother, he hasn’t seen us.’
