Page 17

S hay was on the edge of wakefulness and an enjoyable nap when Thea startled him awake.

“Have you kissed a lot of women?”

For a moment Shay thought he’d conjured the question, but when he looked over at the desk, Thea was waiting expectantly for an answer.

Shay set down the pages in his hand, deciding how he might answer.

“Pardon?” he asked, though he’d heard her question clear enough. He only wished to give himself some extra time to consider his answer.

“How many women have you kissed?” she rephrased the question making it even more specific.

“I can’t say I know the number exactly,” he tried to be vague but the way her brows raised made it clear he’d answered incorrectly.

“So many you can’t recall the number?” she said, shocked.

Yes. Though none of them were you , he thought to himself glad he hadn’t said that out loud.

“I would say several.” Dozen. “Is there a reason you’re asking?”

“I wonder if a man can tell the difference between one woman and the next by her kiss? In this book, I planned for the hero to kiss the wrong woman in a darkened room and realize he’d kissed the person he and the heroine were chasing.”

“So the person who stole the golden feather is a woman?” he asked.

She waved a hand. “She may work for the man behind it. You don’t know yet.” He sometimes wondered if she even knew yet. “So can you?”

“Can I?” He always felt a few steps behind when he spoke with her about her stories. She jumped around from topic to topic so quickly. It was enthralling, intriguing. It was… Thea.

“Can you tell the difference from one woman’s kiss and another?” she asked with a slight bit of peevishness he enjoyed as well.

“Oh. Aye, I would say they are different. Likely similar to kissing men, each have their own set of skills they employ.”

Thea’s cheeks heated and she looked away. “Thank you, for answering. That is all.”

But it wasn’t all.

“Thea?”

“Hmm?” she said not looking at him.

“Have you kissed more than one man?”

She was not a young debutante. At her age, she may no longer be considered marriageable by the ton’s ridiculous standards, but at least it would afford her the opportunity to explore something as innocent as kissing.

As usual, Shay found himself wondering as to who she might have kissed. He didn’t know who this man may be, but he wanted to find him and give him a firm shaking for not marrying her to save her the fate of her brother’s plans.

“No,” she answered quickly. But the way she kept her gaze on the page rather than look at him made him think he’d asked the wrong question.

“How many men have you kissed?”

“I just answered you. Less than two.”

“So you’ve kissed one man?” Did her head just bow even lower? Soon her forehead would be resting on the paper. “Less than one man?”

She nodded just once, confirming his suspicions. It was a crime that this woman had never been kissed. Before he had a chance to say so she seemed to erupt with excuses.

“I never had a come out. My brother’s friends are all louts, so I’d never consider kissing any of them. The only other men I am in any contact with are Mr. MacLain, a happily married man, and…” She waved a hand in his direction. Him .

He couldn’t help but smile. For she’d clearly thought of kissing him if she’d curated such a list of men in proximity for kissing.

He recalled the shorter story he couldn’t stop reading each night when he was alone in his room. This explained the abrupt ending he’d wondered about.

He stood and came closer to where she sat at the desk.

“Thea, should we kiss for the sake of research? Even if I answer your question about whether or not I could tell one woman from the next, you won’t be able to describe the kiss unless you’ve tried it yourself. Like boxing and horse racing.” It was practically criminal the way he’d grasped onto this excuse to be allowed to kiss her without attaching any of the emotions to the act. But he was not above doing disreputable things for the sake of survival. He’d stolen so he could eat.

Perhaps this was not the same thing at all, but at the moment he felt like kissing Thea was crucial for his survival.

“For research only?” she asked quietly when he’d expected her to turn him down cold. She was considering it. He took a step closer, eager to persuade her, when he knew as a gentleman he should do the opposite.

“I would be pleased to assist you. To make the book more believable, of course.”

She stood and stepped out from behind her desk.

“Yes. I think it is necessary. So that I might continue on.” She cleared her throat before adding. “With the story.” She stepped closer still and looked up at him.

He’d cataloged all the many colors of brown in her eyes when he’d seen them from a distance, but this close, they were stunning. So much gold and amber sparkling in the dark warmth.

“Very well, then, I shall kiss you now,” he said formally as a final warning. But Thea didn’t back away from the challenge. There was nothing to do but lower his head and press his lips to hers in the way he’d been dreaming of for longer than he cared to admit.

*

Thea thought it normal to close one’s eyes when kissing. She may not have kissed anyone, but she’d seen it done and both times the couple closed their eyes.

But she found as Shay grew closer she didn’t want to cut off such a vision. Seeing him so close was indeed a treat. The blue in his eyes, normally sparkling like the surface of an icy pond, grew darker.

And then, when his lips touched hers, she couldn’t keep her eyes closed any longer. She seemed to melt into the kiss, allowing just the sense of heat and touch between them.

It started out as just a firm press of his lips—softer than she’d expected—against hers. But then he’d moved them and placed them again and again. Each time they reconnected, the flames in her body rose higher.

She gasped at the sensation and when her lips parted, Shay invaded her mouth with his tongue. She’d never expected this, but it felt as if tongues were invented for this purpose alone and tasting things and speaking were added on later.

Her thinking was confirmed when her own tongue as if on some instinct reached out to stroke enticingly against his. Later she might write about how fascinating the feeling was. Not in the book of the golden feather of course, but in a story just for her. So she might revisit it and remember every detail. But at the moment her mind was a muddle of feeling everything at once.

Eventually he pulled away, his breath heavy against her damp, swollen lips. She realized her own breathing was not normal either and wondered at why it would have sped up when they’d not moved.

She blinked realizing the sunlight was still coming through the windows when she’d expected it to be night with the hazy glow of chandeliers above them.

But this was not her story. This was real.

She had just kissed Lord Flemming. No, she had just kissed Shay.

He blinked and then smiled. When she planned to move her lips into an answering smile she found they were already pulled up of their own accord.

“I’m afraid there was a flaw to our research,” she said.

“What is that?” he asked, still so close she felt his breath as he spoke.

“I now have some idea what kissing is like with one man, but no way to experiment with another.”

His brows came together in what she could only describe as a proprietary sneer before it faded back into a smile.

“I might kiss you again with a different technique. Perhaps a few different techniques so you might know what modifications exist.” He was suggesting they continue kissing.

“Yes, please,” she all but begged.

*

Shay first believed the overwhelming pleasure he felt when kissing Thea had been because of the illicit nature of it. Afterall, didn’t things feel better when they were forbidden?

But when she gave him permission to kiss her again and again, he had to acknowledge it was something else.

They fit together perfectly. His lips seemed to be made for hers, and their tongues meant to find each other. To properly show her all the many facets of kissing he’d allowed his hands to rest lightly at her hips, but this time he slowly moved his palms back and slightly lower so he might pull her closer to his body where he needed her.

When that kiss melted into the next and the next he wanted to drape her back over her desk to trail kisses down her throat and into her gown. Instead, he pulled back, giving them another moment to catch their breath.

“I’m not sure I detected a difference in that kiss from the first except maybe in the depth of your tongue.”

He laughed at her innocent evaluation. Most likely she hadn’t noticed a difference because he’d not changed the technique at all. He’d simply kissed her again in the way that was most appealing to him. In fact, he’d forgotten about the research entirely.

“You didn’t notice the slight twirl to my tongue that time?” he grasped onto something that might have been minorly different. “Shall we try again?”

“Yes,” she said, breathlessly and reached up for him. This time he allowed her to control the kiss and enjoyed the way her fingers played with the longer hair along his neck. When he pulled her closer yet again, her fingers clenched tighter causing a delicious sting across his scalp.

He gripped her arse tighter, knowing if he weren’t careful he might cause marks on her skin, but finding the idea appealing rather than appalling. He’d never marked a lover in the past, but he’d never wanted any other woman to be his in the way he wished to claim Thea.

She gasped again and he pulled away, even taking a step back to make sure he didn’t reach for her again.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know that I’m doing a fair job of displaying the multitude of characteristics involved in kissing.”

She looked up at him with a dazed expression and smiled with lips swollen and red from his kisses. “Should we try again?” she asked.

With a growl he nodded. “Aye. I believe we should.”