Page 54 of Fit for a Duke
She turned away from him, muttering beneath her breath, and Ezra knew that she was hurt. He ought to leave matters there. Better she remained safe than take foolish risks to ensurehissafety. But something stronger than his own will refused to leave her thinking ill of him. He had to make her understand that he waltzed with her for one reason and one reason only.
He had danced with her because he’d wanted to.
‘You could not be more wrong,’ he said in a softly persuasive drawl. ‘Look at me, Clio.’
She turned her head slowly, facing him with apparent reluctance. ‘I don’t require false assurances,’ she told him. ‘I hope I am not that fragile.’
‘No more would I offer them.’ He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. ‘I waltzed with you because I couldn’t help myself. There was absolutely no one else in the room that any amount of coercion would have persuaded me to stand up with.’
Her eyes clouded over with a combination of passion and uncertainty, and it was suddenly beyond Ezra’s dwindling self-control to leave her in any lingering doubt. He slowly lowered his head and covered her lips with his own. She tasted as sweet as wine and as fresh as summer. Ezra was empowered by her instinctive response and impossibly aroused by it. He slipped his arms around her slender body and deepened the kiss, a man with a point to prove and a passion to slake.
On the verge of allowing his hands to wander over those enticing curves, Ezra somehow managed to prevent them and reluctantly broke the kiss. He was gratified when a small moan of protest slipped past her guard.
‘You always do that,’ she said in a dazed voice. ‘You start things and then break them off when they are on the point of getting interesting.’
Ezra laughed. ‘You are supposed to slap my face for taking liberties.’
‘If I intended to do any slapping, it would have happened the moment you invaded my bedchamber. It’s far too late for that now. If you are found here, everyone will say that I encouraged you. They will be disgusted by my machinations and hold you entirely blameless.’
‘And yet I am the one to blame.’
‘Obviously Iknow that.’
They both laughed and the awkwardness between them fell away.
‘Actually,’ she said in a pensive tone after the briefest of pauses, ‘a disagreement between us would perhaps not be such a bad idea. A very public disagreement at the luncheon tomorrow. I will take loud offence at some remark you make to me and storm off. You will mutter to the other gentlemen about my unreasonable behaviour and how you should have known better than to show any interest in a child barely out of the schoolroom.’
‘For what purpose am I to lose patience with you?’ he asked.
‘Oh, do use your brain, Ezra. It isn’tthatcomplicated.’
Easy for her to say. She was thinking rationally, whereas he was still revelling in the aftermath of one of the most innocent yet incendiary kisses he had ever instigated. It would, he knew, take a significant amount of time for his tumescence to subside.
‘Just tell me how you think that will help and save my poor brain from over-exerting itself.’
‘Well obviously, you will pursue me and the assassin will seize the moment.’
‘Very reassuring,’ he replied, chuckling.
‘Your Mr Godfrey and any other servants you trust will be concealed, ready to disarm the assassin.’
‘I don’t think—’
A tap at the door had them sharing a concerned look. ‘Clio, are you still awake?’
‘That’s Adele.’ A hand flew to Clio’s flushed face and she looked more discomposed than he had ever seen her. She really didn’t want him to be caught here with her, and that realisation melted Ezra’s heart. She was the only female beneath this roof who wouldn’t take advantage of the situation. ‘She will likely come in anyway. Quick, in the closet!’ She gave him a hefty push in that direction.
‘We will finish this conversation later,’ he assured her as he disappeared behind the adjoining door, winking at her before he closed it.
Chapter Fourteen
Ezra concealed himself only seconds before Adele put her head round the door.
‘Oh, youarestill up. Good. I thought it was too early for you to be in bed.’
Adele sauntered into the room and took the same spot on the window seat that Ezra had just quit. Clio suspected it would still be warm and was astonished that her cousin couldn’t smell the duke’s distinctive masculine aroma lingering in the air. She seemed preoccupied though, and turned to Clio with an engaging smile.
‘Yes, I was enjoying the peace and quiet.’ A necessary falsehood on her part, Clio decided. ‘I had no idea that house parties could be so exhausting.’
