Page 17 of The Study of Seduction

She gulped some, obviously having discovered its power to help one forget, and he took the glass from her. “Not too much; you’ll make yourself sick. And I don’t want to have to carry you out in my arms and cause a scandal.”

“No, though that would probably convince Durand of our engagement.” She stared off across the room, her eyes distant.

“Better now?” he asked, fighting the urge to seize her and hold her. She wouldnotappreciate that.

“I’m fine.” She forced a tremulous smile. “Really. He merely . . . took me off guard is all.”

Edwin might not be good at reading people, but he knew one thing. She wasnotfine. “Perhaps I should call in your mother.”

“Don’t you dare!” A bitter laugh escaped her. “Mama wouldn’t be any help. And anyway, she’s the reason I ended up in here in the first place. A servant told me that she was ill and needed me in the drawing room, so I came.”

“He lured you here, in other words.”

Rubbing her arms as if to bring warmth to her chilled blood, she nodded. “I can’t believe I fell for it.” She was silent for a long moment. Then she started, and her gaze shot to him. “Edwin, I didn’t let him kiss me, you know.”

“I didn’t think you had.”

As if she hadn’t heard him, she went on hastily, “When I wouldn’t fall into his arms, he . . . he . . .”

“Pushed a kiss upon you,” Edwin said tightly, wishing he’d torn the man off her by force.

A haunted look crept into her eyes. “I should have . . . slapped him or scratched him or something, but I . . . froze. I couldn’t fight, I couldn’t do anything. I—”

“You were afraid. He had you trapped.”

“Yes!” The gratitude in her eyes fairly slayed him. She rose to face him. “He mistook my rigidity for acquiescence. But it wasn’t. And I didn’t encourage the kiss. I truly didn’t!”

“I believe you. I can tell when a woman is avoiding a man.” He approached her. “And this incident proves that he’s still obsessed with you. Disturbingly so.”

She began to pace in short, quick steps that matched her short, quick breaths. “I had hoped the blackguard would have forgotten about me by now.”

How could anyone forget about Clarissa? She was vibrant, alive. Everything most men wanted in a woman.

Most men. Not him.

Liar.“Clearly he has not.” He gazed steadily at her. “Was he always like this?”

She shook her head. “Not at first. He simply courted me like any other gentleman. I—I suppose he took my flirtatiousness for encouragement.”

“No,” he said firmly. The words reminded him too much of his mother’s for comfort. “A gentleman always proceeds with caution until he’s sure of his reception.”

“He’s French. Perhaps he doesn’t know how to behave.”

Edwin snorted. “He was born and raised here, was he not? He knows the rules. He simply chooses to ignore them. You cannot possibly think that bribing a footman to lie about your mother being ill and then accosting you alone, with no chaperone, is considered acceptable behavior anywhere, hereorin France.”

“No, I suppose not. Though when he proposed and I refused him, he accused me of leading him on.” She lifted her gaze to Edwin. “I swear I did not.”

“Of course not.” He hesitated before raising a delicate subject. “Whydidyou refuse him, anyway, if he’d behaved honorably up until that point?”

She worried her lower lip with her teeth. “He kept trying to get me alone, and he sent me private notes. I don’t like that sort of . . . behavior. He always had something, well,offabout him. Not quite normal, you know?”

“I do know.” Edwin had known another man like that. The one who had ruined his mother’s life. “Which is why it’s imperative that you not go off alone again for any reason. Take me with you if you must venture out. It’s best to err on the side of caution, since the man is obviously behaving irrationally.”

An anxious frown crossed her brow as she whirled on him. “True, but you shouldn’t have told him we were engaged. I have no intention of marrying you.”

He stiffened. “Of course not.”

As if she realized what she’d said, she winced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it—”