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A muscle in his jaw twitched. She wanted to run her fingers along his stubbled cheek, but her arms were trapped at her sides.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

His shoulders trembled. “Stop this, Portia.”

The warmth that had swept over her curled in her belly. She squeezed her knees together. He had never called her anything but Miss Demming before. The way he made her feel, like every inch of her body was being caressed by silk, was fascinating and deserving of further exploration.

“Show me, then,” she said. “You cannot expect me to know what manner of man to avoid if I am unaware of their motives.”

“You do not understand what you ask of me.”

She blew out her breath in a huff. “Yes, I do.”

His head jerked up. “What?” He loosened his grip on her arms. “Portia, tell me you have not…”

“No!”

Her cheeks heated at the implication. First, he shoved her against the wall, then he accused her of ruining herself. She had never met such an infuriating man.

He needed to be taught a lesson.

She squirmed, causing him to curse and back away. That gave her the perfect opportunity to enact her punishment. She launched forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, then brought their mouths together.

It was like kissing a statue.

His lips were unmoving, and the muscles beneath her fingers were still. A cold hollowness formed in the pit of her stomach.

Perhaps he wasn’t the right man, after all.

Then he tilted his mouth against hers. She gasped, and he slid his tongue between her lips. The cold place inside her burst into flames. She clung desperately to his shoulders, not wanting the moment to end.

“M-Miss Demming!”

One second, Portia was floating on a blissful cloud.

The next, she was plummeting back to Earth.

Her guardian drew back but kept one arm curled around her.

She rested her forehead on his chest. If she refused to acknowledge the other person in the hallway, perhaps they would disappear.

Then she wouldn’t have to face the consequences of her actions.

Ruined by her guardian. The ton would be scandalized. Her aunt would be furious.

Finally, she stepped away from Edward and faced the man who had interrupted them.

Lord Martin’s cheeks were redder than her gown, and his eyes all but bulged out of their sockets.

He grasped at his sloppily tied cravat, as if the scrap of fabric was trying to strangle him.

Then, without warning, the man lunged forward.

A whoosh and a thump later, he was laid out on the floor, gasping for air.

It was Portia’s turn to gape at Edward. It had taken him less than a second to dodge the incoming strike and put the earl on his back.

Lord Martin scowled from the ground. “I didn’t know I could think less of you until this moment, Mr. North. You are truly a blackguard.” His lip curled. “She is your ward, man!”

Edward’s whole body stiffened. Before he could speak, Portia stepped between the two men, hands raised.

“I can assure you, my lord, this is not what you think. We were only…” she searched her mind for some excuse that would send Lord Martin away.

If only she had paid more attention to her aunt’s gossip, then she might have something to use against him.

“Miss Demming and I were celebrating our betrothal,” Edward said.

She felt as if someone had dropped a bucket of ice water over her head. She jerked her head toward her guardian, prepared to deliver a scathing retort, only to utter a startled sound when he closed the distance between them with a single step.

“Be silent, Portia,” he whispered, his voice hard. “If you wish to escape this situation unscathed, you will let me handle this. Do you understand?”

She gulped. “Yes.”

He had every right to be angry. She had goaded him into chasing her.

She had kissed him. It was her fault Lord Martin had caught them.

If she had obeyed his instructions and remained in the ballroom, she might still be sitting next to her aunt, considering which eligible man she might approach next.

Edward turned his back to her and held out a hand to the man he had knocked off his feet. “I apologize, my lord.”

Portia tensed, expecting Lord Martin to slap her guardian’s hand away, but the earl only chuckled before accepting Edward’s assistance.

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” Lord Martin said, when he was upright again. “Even if this arrangement is highly unusual.”

She ignored the taunt. Nothing she could say would change anything. She was only grateful it was Lord Martin and not their host or Mrs. Violet who had caught them. The former would likely have fainted. The latter would have immediately raced away to spread the news to anyone willing to listen.

“As to that, my lord,” Edward said. “Perhaps you could forget this incident.”

Lord Martin crossed his arms. “Highly unusual.”

Edward copied Lord Martin’s posture. “Name your price.”

Five minutes of negotiating later, Lord Martin left, looking significantly more cheerful. Knowing what she had cost her guardian made her nauseated. Lord Martin had extracted from Edward a sum larger than her dowry.

Judging from the pinched look on Edward’s face, he was in a black temper. So, when he turned to face her, Portia immediately tucked her chin to her chest and stared at the gleaming black leather of his shoes.

“There are no words strong enough to express my regret,” she said.

“I-I never intended to trap you.” The words bubbled out of her throat before she could stop them.

“I only wanted to show you I can take care of myself. Everything else that happened”—she swallowed the saliva that accumulated in her mouth—“I never intended…”

“Portia,” Edward said. “Stop. All is well.”

His voice was unexpectedly calm.

“Why are you not angry?” she asked. “You were nearly forced into marriage.”

He chuckled. “Would that truly be so terrible?”

Portia stared at him. Was he saying he would not have minded being her husband? It was so far from the display of anger that she’d expected that she didn’t know how to respond.

Edward offered his arm, which she took. Then they walked back into the ballroom as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t had his body wrapped around her and his tongue inside her mouth only moments before.

Her guardian, it seemed, was far more interesting than she’d expected.