Page 5 of The Rake is Taken
The shift was noticeable, to him at least, that rough tumble into a deep green sea.
Something,some damn thingabout this woman simply made his heart stutter.
She was reaching, and he was acquiescing, his lashes lowering to hide his desire when he felt the touch. Modest pressure as she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, her thumb seeking his racing pulse. A tiny shock hit his senses, not altogether pleasant, and for one moment, he lost thought. Then everything came rushing back like an enraged tide whipping the shore.
A struggle as hedraggedit back.
“What did you just do?” he asked hoarsely and grasped her arm as she tried to scoot away. With a muttered oath, he was around the desk in two strides, his thoughts still bouncing off one another in a scramble to right themselves.
She turned her head when he reached her, chin digging into her shoulder, presenting the delicate curl of an ear he would like nothing better than to torture with his tongue and teeth until he had her on her knees.
“I ask again, Lady Hamilton, whatwasthat?”
She hesitated with another press of those astounding lips, thinking through her story.Oh, no. His sister-in-law, Piper, had provided far too much experience in dealing with duplicitous women for this one to get away with anything. “A parlor trick,” she finally said and traced the toe of her slipper along a silver thread in the carpet, avoiding his gaze. “Just this little”—she flicked her fingers in the air, a whimsical, inane gesture—“hidden talent.”
He cupped her cheek, tilting her face into the light, that delectable freckle winking at him. Now menacing instead of charming.Gorgeous goddamned trouble. “What usually happens when you unleash this trick?”
He thought she wasn’t going to answer, then she whispered, so low he had to crowd in to hear her, “People forget.”
Like gossamer, a scene from one of his dreams floated into his mind: her fingers slipping around his wrist followed by a smooth fade to black, a door clicking shut on a lampless room.
He stole thoughts, but sheerasedthem.
“It’s nothing,” she stressed and wrenched from his hold with a stumbling step.
He let her go but held her gaze.
He’d wanted answers. Well, now, he had them.
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” he said with a weary sigh. “It’s everything.”
Chapter 2
She knew she had a guardian angel.
Or imagined there wassomebenevolent spirit, a deceased relative, Grandmama Cecelia or Cousin Harold, who’d helped her escape quite a few calamities in a stomach-dropping pinch this season. Two occurrences came to mind without much effort behind the examination. Three, if she included the muddle with Lord Kellerson at the Epsom Derby.
She’d simply never guessed her angel was the man reputed to be the most beautiful in all of England.
“Cor, you foolish girl, the Blue Bastard’s door you think to knock on,” Agnes hissed with a shiver and a sniffle. Her maid’s nose ran when she was nervous, something Victoria recognized because Agnes had arrived in her father’s household while Victoria was still in nappies.
She’d heard that sniffleoften.
Victoria ducked her head but, woeful truth, it was hard to hide from a person who’d wiped your bare bottom and witnessed every dreadful decision since.
“Trust me,” she whispered. “Just this once.”
Agnes snorted. “How many times have I heard that in my life?”
Victoria tugged her collar past her chin until only her eyes were visible. A drunken shout and the shatter of glass on the main thoroughfare had Agnes bumping against her until they were huddled in the gaming hell’s side entrance like cornered animals. She felt cornered by Finn Alexander and his blasted presumption. The ridiculous invitation had arrived this morning and was burning a hole through her cloak.
Or maybe the heat was just anger.
She raised her hand, took a breath. Glanced at her feet, her slippers now splattered with grime. Moonlight registered as a slimy wash on the cobblestones beneath them, but just barely, and the smell—
She grimaced behind her gloved hand. No need to inventory the aroma.
A part of London her brougham typically increased speed upon entering for sound reason.