Page 52 of Teach a Rogue New Tricks

He prowled behind her. “I’ve got a hack waiting down the street.”

“Very good.” She spilled out of the shadowed alley into the growing dawn of the open square, and he stepped beside her.

They walked in companionable silence, and she closed her eyes and breathed, feeling free.

“You’re smiling,” he said. “You do know we’ve already tempted fate too much. If we are caught, you will be ruined. Or forced to marry me. Both. They are the same thing.”

“Dire warning, indeed.”

“Yet you do not sound warned.” He sighed. “I continue to warn you, and you continue to ignore me. Soon, I’ll turn governess while you turn rogue.”

“Do you think? That might be enjoyable.”

“For you, perhaps,” he grumbled.

She skipped ahead. The sun shone brighter. The birdsong trilled sweeter.

“Wait up, Ada.” More grumbles.

“Is that it?” She pointed at the hack, then turned back to him.

He nodded and rushed ahead to help her up. Very accommodating, this rogue of hers.

They settled on opposite sides of the hack, and she could not decide where to settle her gaze.

“You seem different today.” He doffed his hat and rested it on the bench beside him. “Like you might bounce up into the sky and never return.”

“I feel different today. Braver.”

“And you’ve not felt brave before? My God, what will you have the courage to do now? Conquer some continent, no doubt.”

She leaned forward, attempting a serious mien. “Show me the way.”

His eyes sparkled with humor, and his lips twisted into a grin he hid behind his hand. He wore no mustache, thank heavens. Hopefully it the mud of Berkley Square buried it deep. She wanted to stroke her fingers down his jaw, just to feel again the stubbled softness of his skin.

Wicked thought, that. But… She undid the pearl button of her glove at her wrist. She tugged at the fingertips until it slid from her hand, then repeated the gesture with her other hand, focusing on her task. When her hands slipped free, she opened her reticule and placed the gloves inside before lifting her gaze to her companion.

His entire body vibrated, rigid, his eyes on fire.

She slipped across the hack and sat next to him.

He scooted away, stuffed himself into the corner and crossed his arms over his chest like protective armor. “You stay over there.”

She wiggled into the opposite corner of the bench they shared. “As you wish.” But did he wish it? His eyes raked over her, lingering on her naked hands, the swell of her bosom under her pelisse.

“Will you warn me off again?” she asked. “With a kiss?”

“Will you tempt me to do things I know I should not?”

His words hit her like swords, and she blinked back into reality. Just because she finally savored a taste of freedom did not mean he could. He still wore his guilt tightly about him, a hair shirt for eternal punishment. He still wished to reattach himself to his family, and she’d made sure she could leave hers.

She loved them. But she would pack her trunk and see the world with her own eyes.

She returned to the other side of the hack. “I’m sorry, Cass. I purposefully baited you.”

“I know.” He sniffed.

She lifted a tremulous smile to him. “You were a perfect gentleman, the picture of control.”