Page 40

She nodded. “Quite.”

He spun her again and then pulled her close to him. “I must admit again that you have sufficiently charmed me, Miss Burlow.” He smiled. “If I were any other man, I would be asking for your hand.”

But he wasn’t any other man, so he would not be asking for it. The thought would have stung if he were on her rapidly growing list of prospects.

The music came to a close, and she clapped like everyone else, waiting for her heart rate to slow.

“Meet me in the gardens,” Richard whispered in her ear suddenly.

His voice was barely audible above the din, but she heard him, and before she could turn around or ask why, he was gone.

She looked around to see if anyone had noticed them, and seeing no one, she stepped off the makeshift dance floor, wondering if it would be too risky to follow him.

Why she was even considering it, she didn’t know.

It wasn’t as though she was unaware of what happened in secret meetings, and considering everything that had already happened between her and Richard, she knew she had to put a stop to it. But the intrigue of doing something so utterly scandalous for the first time in her life had her crossing the double doors into the gardens.

He found her before she had to go far, and saying nothing, he led her deeper into the darkness.

Catherine wondered how often he’d done this, for he was so sure-footed as he moved. She prayed with each step she took that she didn’t fall and make a fool of herself.

When he finally stopped, the gravity of their situation dawned on her. They were well and truly alone, and if he wanted to, he could ravish her thoroughly and no one would be the wiser.

“Why are we here, Richard?” she asked warily, wrapping her arms around her middle to fend off the chill in the night air. “If you wanted to speak, we could have done so in the ballroom.”

She couldn’t see much of his face in the dim moonlight, but she heard him chuckle and step closer to her.

“Tell me, Miss Burlow,” he purred, his voice dangerously low. “Would you rather I kiss you here or in front of everyone?”

“I… I’m sorry, what?” she stammered.

He brought her outside to kiss her. Why?

“Before you get too worried, I only want to see if you’re also lacking in that area,” he added, disappointing her.

“Oh.”

“It wouldn’t do for you to be a sloppy kisser now that you have a serious suitor.”

She glared at him even though he couldn’t see it in the darkness. “And you would be the judge of that?” she sneered.

“Of course,” he answered smugly. “There are enough testimonies to support my legitimacy.”

“Out of the mouths of two or three witnesses.”

“I like that you know your scripture.”

She rolled her eyes. “It truly can’t be that difficult to kiss someone, so there’s really no need to?—”

His lips were on hers before she could finish her sentence, and she was glad that it was dark around them. Her eyes were wide open in shock, but when his lips moved over hers, they fluttered shut, and a moan escaped her lips.

Richard kissed like he was claiming her mouth, and his muscled arms, which she’d dreamed of touching several times, wrapped around her and pulled her up for better access. Her fingers dug into the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling softly, and he groaned into her mouth.

Pride surged through her that she was able to coax such a guttural sound from him even though he’d kissed and been with far more experienced women than her.

His teeth nipped her bottom lip, and she gasped in a mix of pain and pleasure. He wasn’t her first kiss, but he was the first to kiss her so thoroughly that she didn’t know how to breathe.

Finally, he slowed his kiss to playful nips, and then he pulled away from her, composing himself.