“‘English,’” he replied with a tilt of his lips.
“And before that? What was that phrase?”
“‘Your mind is a wonder.’”
She looked down to where he still held her hand in his, her long ebony lashes shielding her eyes from him. He knew he should release her, every fiber of his common sense told him to do so, but she didn’t seem to mind. She shuffled another step closer to him and met his eyes once more.
“Teach me something simple.” There was no denying her anything when she looked up at him like that. “How do I say, ‘My name is Juliette’?”
“’S e Juliette an t-ainm a th’ orm,” he translated and then proceeded to guide her through every sound with deliberate slowness. He explained how to move her lips and tongue to form the unfamiliar words. It felt unexpectedly relieving to be speaking like this to a woman. The rest of the world melted away and he could almost believe she accepted him just as he was at his soul.
She was innocent.
She was naive.
And Ian would be damned if he knew what drew him to her like some ill-fated moth to the deadliest of flames. The way she watched his lips as he spoke; the way, as she leaned closer to better hear his hushed tone and pronunciation, he could feel the warmth of her body, drove him mad.
So mad, in fact, that Ian closed the gap between them and captured Lady Juliette’s mouth with his own.
She released a startled squeak and stiffened.
And Ian knew he’d just destroyed his entire career, his life, for an idiotic impulse. And that realization would forever color this moment in his memory.
He tore himself away from her petal-soft lips and released her to stumble backward several steps. It still didn’t feel like a safe enough distance. His heartbeat was deafeningly loud in his ears as the organ hammered against the inside of his ribcage. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Not even a pitiful sound.
Lady Juliette looked nothing short of dazed and confused.
Until she closed the gap between them and Ian braced himself for the slap he knew was coming. She raised her gloved hand and…cupped his cheek a moment before her fingers slid back to the nape of his neck to tangle in his hair. She stood on the tips of her toes and pulled Ian’s head down to meet hers once more.
Their lips met and Ian groaned at her taste, freely given. She was sweet and tentative, obviously unskilled, but he didn’t think he could have possibly enjoyed the kiss more.
He rested a hand at her waist just before the point where it swelled to the delicate slope of her hip; his other hand moved beneath her chin and a crooked finger gently tilted her head. He guided her and, as he suspected, she was a ready pupil. He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue and she sighed, leaning further into his arms. He could have gladly kissed her for hours, but a burst of masculine laughter seeped through the cracked door leading back into the study. Ian and Lady Juliette flew apart as if by electrical shock, both their chests heaving.
He was tortured by the dazed look in her eyes and the fingertips she pressed to her rosy, petal-soft lips.
“I…no one has ever done that to me before…” she murmured, though he could not be sure if it was to him or more to herself. Even in the shadows, he could see the bright pink coloring on the soft apples of her cheeks.
“My sincerest apologies, Lady Juliette.” Ian tried to sound contrite, but a twisted part of him enjoyed the fact that she would always remember him as her first kiss; he would have this part of her even as she went on to marry a great lord and bear his children. “I should not have taken such liberties with your person.” She quickly shook her head and held up her hand to forestall any further apologies from him.
“I should thank you.” This stunned Ian into utter silence; his mouth snapped shut in shock. “I admit I’d been rather curious about what it would be like to be kissed…and to kiss…and now I don’t have to wonder anymore.” Surely Ian couldn’t believe his ears? It took everything in him not to pull her to him once more and plunder her mouth like a feral beast. “My brother usually keeps such a careful eye on me, I’m not usually allowed into a situation where this might occur.” She began to ramble and then caught herself. “So, I suppose, I am trying to thank you. For the enlightenment. Again.”
She then quickly ducked back into the doorway to the parlor, the edge of her skirts disappearing just as the earl came out onto the veranda to find a very bemused Ian staring toward her retreat.
∞∞∞
Juliette returned to the parlor, her pounding heart deafening in her ears. She commended herself on handling her recent interaction with such decorum and nonchalance when her knees and insides felt less substantial than an undercooked pudding. She could scarcely believe Dr. McCullom had kissed her, and it took everything in her power to not draw attention to it by pressing her fingers to her tingling lips. He’d tasted of warmed brandy and honey. Sweet and seductively sensual.
“You look a little piqued, dear,” Lady Sommerfeld took notice of her return and addressed her from the sofa. “Are you well?”
Not trusting her voice, Juliette could only nod and cast down her gaze to her trembling fingers.
There was a slight pause before the viscountess spoke again. “The men should be joining us shortly for cards.”
Juliette’s head snapped up. She wasn’t sure she could face Dr. McCullom just yet; or her brother, for that matter. She could feel her cheeks warming and silently prayed it would stop before it became too obvious. Before she could pluck a decent response from her jumbled mind, Lady Sommerfeld leaned her red head close to Juliette’s and spoke in a quiet, reassuring tone, placing a conspiratorial hand over Juliette’s trembling one to steady it. “I promise not to tell if you won’t…as long as you don’t get up to too much mischief.”
Juliette rapidly shook her head in denial. “I don’t—that is…I am not—”
“Calm yourself,” Lady Sommerfeld whispered and smiled warmly, remarkably adept at disguising her words with a benign presentation. “Both you and I were raised in similar restrictive situations. Think of this as the opportunity to have the exciting, flirtatious girlhood we never had.” She nudged her shoulder against Juliette’s. “And what is youth without a little intrigue and forbidden romance?” Juliette’s cheeks flared an even deeper shade of crimson, but an incorrigible smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I promise to feign ignorance if your brother catches wind of anything and set him on another path. Just promise me you will be cautious; there is no harm in some stolen kisses with an honorable man, so long as you are smart about it and careful not to lose your head.”
