‘We were formally introduced last night,’ he said eventually. ‘And I enjoyed our conversation so much I decided I wanted to see Miss Eastway again today.’
Although Lizzie knew that wasn’t quite the whole truth she was glad he’d silenced Harriet’s mocking before it had started.
‘How absolutely delightful,’ Aunt Mathilda said. ‘Now, Harriet, why don’t I show you that thing I was talking about earlier?’
Harriet looked blank but allowed her mother to usher her out of the room. Aunt Mathilda pulled the door behind her but left a chink between the wood and the frame for propriety’s sake.
Lizzie knew she would have to turn and face the earl, but she was finding it hard to summon the courage. She didn’t want to see the disappointment on his face, she didn’t want to hear him utter some made-up excuse to escape as soon as possible. For she knew he would be disappointed. Last night he hadn’t known who she was, she was sure of that. He hadn’t realised she was the woman who had caused so much havoc in the street just a week before. That woman he had dismissed without a second look, but last night he had treated her as though she were the most desirable woman on earth.
Lizzie’s heart started to sink. Maybe it had all been engineered, maybe her perfect fairy-tale moment had actually been nothing more than a fortune hunter making a naïve young girl feel attractive. She glanced briefly at the earl. He didn’t look like a fortune hunter, but she knew they came in all shapes and sizes.
‘I should apologise for last night,’ he said as he caught Lizzie’s eye.
She waited for him to actually apologise, but he was not forthcoming.
‘But I find myself unable to regret my actions.’
‘Why?’ The word was out before Lizzie could stop it. She berated herself immediately. She needed to get control of her tongue.
‘Why?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘Why did you kiss me?’ she whispered.
He regarded her silently for a minute, then looked away. She wondered if he were concocting a lie, trying to find something flattering to say.
‘It was rather magical last night, wasn’t it?’ he said eventually. ‘The warm summer’s evening, the faint echo of the music from the ballroom. Then a charming young woman comes and crashes into me and I just couldn’t resist.’
Lizzie found herself nodding. It had been rather magical. Not the part where she’d fallen down the stairs, or winded him so badly he hadn’t been able to breathe for a few moments, but afterwards. The caring way he’d helped her up, the feel of his touch on her skin and the moments they’d spent sitting on the bench side by side.
Then they’d stood up and Lizzie had felt him move towards her and she’d known she was about to be kissed.
‘It was not gentlemanly,’ he said seriously, but then broke out into a smile. ‘But I don’t regret it.’
She tried to believe him, tried to believe that sitting here he was not regretting the moment from the night before, but she wasn’t sure she could. Self-consciously Lizzie brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Ordinary brown hair, framing an ordinary face with just a few too many freckles.
With a glance at the door the earl stood and moved towards Lizzie. She found herself staring up at him, trying to control her breathing.
‘I really did enjoy our time together last night,’ he said, sitting himself down beside her.
Lizzie found herself nodding again. She’d enjoyed it, too.
‘And I really would like to get to know you a little more.’ His voice was low and a little seductive and Lizzie knew hundreds of women had fallen prey to him before.
She wanted to ask him why, wanted him to confess he was only interested in her for her supposed dowry, but she found her words had deserted her. His body was just that little bit too close, his thigh pressing against hers, and Lizzie knew she wouldn’t be able to construct a coherent sentence.
‘I think last night might have been the start of something special,’ he said.
Lizzie made a small murmur of agreement, even though she wasn’t sure she agreed. She felt mesmerised by him, completely under his spell, and even though her mind was screaming out that it wasn’t her that he wanted, it was Amelia, Lizzie found at this moment she didn’t really care.
She felt him studying her, his eyes flicking from her mouth to her cheeks to her hair, but always back to her mouth. Involuntarily she felt her lips part ever so slightly and she realised she wanted him to kiss her. Right then it didn’t matter why he was doing it, just that she wanted him to. She wanted to be lost once again in the oblivion of a kiss, wanted to feel the explosions within her body as his lips met hers.
Slowly, as if building the anticipation, the earl lowered his lips to hers. He started out gently, barely touching her. Lizzie felt the tension mounting and a soft moan escape her lips. She wanted more, needed more.
As if responding to her innermost thoughts he pressed his lips more firmly on to hers and deftly flicked his tongue inside her mouth. Lizzie’s eyes closed and she was lost. She didn’t care why he was kissing her; all she wanted was for it not to end.
She felt her body melting into his and relished his touch as he looped an arm around the back of her head, pulling her closer towards him. She wanted his hands all over her body, wanted him to touch her in places no one else had ever even seen.
Just as she felt the kiss couldn’t get any better suddenly the earl pulled away. He was smiling, but Lizzie could tell something was wrong. She wondered if she’d inadvertently done something terrible, something that would make him want to run from the room.
Suddenly Lizzie felt very self-conscious and raised a hand to cover the lips he had been so thoroughly kissing just moments before.
‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured. ‘I just couldn’t seem to help myself.’ He sounded a little puzzled and Lizzie could see a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
‘You are just so tempting,’ he said, tracing a pattern on the back of her hand.
Immediately Lizzie crashed back to reality. She knew that was a lie. She straightened up, pulling away, and gave him a forced little smile.
‘I’m sure my aunt will be back in a few minutes,’ she said pointedly.
The earl looked confused, as if no one had ever rejected him before, but took the hint and moved back across the room to the chair he’d been sitting in before. An uncomfortable silence followed and Lizzie found herself blinking the tears away from her eyes. This was cruel and unnecessary. Up until very recently she’d been quite content with her lot. She’d known she wasn’t a great beauty. Combining that with her lack of fortune, she’d never expected to make a good marital match. In fact, she’d been quite convinced she would never be a wife, just a spinster all her life. Now here she was being utterly seduced by a handsome and charming man, knowing all along it wasn’t her that he wanted at all.
Daniel wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. He knew he’d just kissed the young woman sitting across the room from him. He just didn’t know how to classify his reaction.
He’d been thrown when he realised he’d met Miss Amelia Eastway before last night. He’d hardly taken any notice of the unassuming young woman who had stepped in front of his horse. She’d seemed so ordinary, so normal. Not like the woman in the garden. She had been intriguing and almost mystical. Daniel had found himself drawn to her, attracted and aroused despite his years of experience.
Then when he’d