Herneeds. Brought on by her stupid stupor.
She turned her attention back to the gardens because it was too painful to look at a man who knew she’d had to prod someone into kissing her.
“You didn’t return to the club.”
“No, I—” She stopped. Blinked. Considered, then faced him. “How did you know?”
“Because I did.”
“Why?”
“I was hoping to make things up to you, to give you a kiss that wasn’t so boring it put you tosleep.”
A sharp edge cut through the last word, and she realized he’d been insulted by her drifting off. She would have felt the same. She smiled wryly. “You didn’t. It was the absinthe. I drank too much, gathering up my courage to request the kiss.”
She had the sense that he was acutely studying her, striving to determine how much he could pry. After all, most couples knew a great deal about each other before they kissed, while she and he were doing it all backward. Arse over tit she’d recently heard someone say, and it seemed to apply here because she felt as though she was tumbling down a narrow tunnel, not knowing what was waiting on the other side.
“She was wrong, your mother, regarding you not being a great beauty.”
“You don’t have to flatter me just because of the... time we spent together.”
“It’s not in my nature to render false flattery. Your passion, Miss Garrison, that night as well as when you were just discussing your writing machine caused you to fairly glow, brighter than any streetlamp. Beauty that comes from within is always preferable to that which comes from without.”
She’d never had anyone, other than her father, offer her a compliment. While she attempted to take it in stride, she suspected she was glowing not like a streetlamp fighting off the darkness but the sun bringing light to the world.
“The night we met, I was impressed with how youknew what you wanted and asked for it. I know too many women who weigh their words carefully, afraid they’ll be judged or found lacking.”
“I wasn’t trying to impress. Honestly, I didn’t care what your opinion of me was as long as you delivered.”
He grinned. “I failed there, didn’t I? You nodded off.”
“As I said, that had little to do with you.”
“Do you remember our time together then?”
Oh, she most certainly remembered it. “Some of it is a green haze.”
But she didn’t want to rehash it, was slightly disappointed that he hadn’t returned because he’dwantedto kiss her again, that his return had been instigated by his conviction that he owed her or his need to demonstrate he could keep her engaged to the point she’d stay awake. “I apologize for my mother’s earlier inquisition and impertinence. She can be quite forceful when she sets her mind to it.”
“I could say the same of you. I recall you issued a few orders.”
“I wanted to ensure my expectations were met.”
“Were they?”
Rook inwardly cursed himself for the asking, cursed again when she averted her gaze. She obviously wasn’t quite comfortable discussing what had transpired between them. And yet it was almost a physical presence. “You don’t have to answer.”
“If you must know, you exceeded them. I suppose you’ve kissed a lot of women.”
“Not as many as you might think. I’m quite particular.” He was a man. He had needs, but he kept them ona tight leash as much as possible, determined to never leave any bastards in his wake.
“Except when it came to me,” she said. “You knew nothing at all about me.”
“I knew enough. You were eager, unafraid, daring, bold.”
Her soft laughter arrowed straight into his soul. “That was the green fairy. She dominated.”
The light from the library window cast a halo around her, although he couldn’t envision her as an angel. An angel wouldn’t kiss with the enthusiasm and wild abandon that she had. He didn’t think her fervor had been the result of the absinthe. Liquor might, on occasion, serve to unleash one’s inhibitions, but it certainly didn’t alter the very fabric of a person, wouldn’t cause them to do something that wasn’t in their nature. It couldn’t change a leopard’s spots. But if she needed to blame what happened on the liquor, he wouldn’t argue, although he was damned tempted to show her at this very minute that it wasn’t spirits that had guided her.
