Page 53 of Teach a Rogue New Tricks

“I know.” A half smile popped into being then skittered out of existence once more.

She dropped her gaze to her lap. “Well done, you.”

He sighed and dropped his arms to his sides. “Do not apologize, Ada. But what has come over you?”

Tell him? Why not? He’d helped her come to the realization, after all.

She took a deep, steadying breath. “Yesterday, I penned a letter to my suitor in the country. Lucas.”

He turned sharply to the window. “Ah. A love note.”

“No. Quite the opposite. I told him I could not marry him.” No matter the circumstances. It might mean she could never wed. No man would ever accept a woman like her, experienced in the ways between men and women, for a wife. She did not mind. Marriage would shut all those newly opened doors she craved to take a peek into. “And before you add this to the pile of guilt you carry about, you great big… guilt ox, know I feel no shame over yesterday’s kisses. They are not why I did it. I did it for me.”

He nodded, returning his gaze to her. “You’re happier now?”

“Yes.”

He moved across the hack to sit next to her, angling his body so their knees almost touched. “Then I’ll not take on your guilt.”

Her hands danced in her lap. “I’m going to travel.”

“Perfection.”

“And learn every language I can.”

He reached out, stilled her hands, and folded them in his own. “As you should.”

“But first, I’m going to Astley’s.”

He squeezed her hands. “And I’m honored to go with you.”

“You are not worried I’ll ruin you?”

He threw his head back with a laugh. “Ruin? I’m turning more proper by the minute. Talking you out of clandestine kisses.Humph. I’ve turned into a damned chaperone.”

“You’ve not quite learned the trick of not cursing, though.”

“My only remaining solace.”

They still held hands, and Ada felt no compulsion to end the embrace, simple yet intimate as it was.

He stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankle.

She’d never consorted with a man like Cass before. He’d kissed her yesterday, and now he held her hand. What did he want from her? What were they doing? He did not wish marriage. No more did she now that she’d freed herself.

Why, then, worry of such matters? Instead, she’d enjoy the simple delight of his hand entwined with hers. No need to worry about why they held hands. Best to simply live in the present and do it.

* * *

Cass clasped his hands behind has back as they walked toward Astley’s Amphitheatre. If he did not hold on for dear life, he’d hold on to her. And holding would lead to other things, and he’d not obeyed her command to attend her visit to Astley’s in order to indulge inother things. He’d come to protect her. An oddly altruistic impulse that felt not only right but necessary.

If he succeeded, if he protected her body, her reputation, and her soul this day, perhaps it meant he had reached a milestone in his reformation; he was ready to speak with Bax, ready to return to the familial fold.

He pulled Ada to a stop, tugging on her arm with his fingers and tugging on her attention with his words. “Ada, may I ask you a question.”

“Yes.”

“I think I might be ready to speak with my brother.”