“You kissed my hand a moment ago.”
“Are you telling me you won’t, exactly, kiss my hand?”
“No.” Mercy stepped closer to him, his cravat spread out in front of her. “I’m telling you I won’t, exactly, kiss your mouth.”
“Of course you won’t. Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding was that you rejected my proposal a momentago.”
“CorrectmeifI’mwrong, but I told you I wanted to see if our spark could burn a little before I accepted your offer.” She smiled haughtily and held his cravat up to his face. “It just so happens that I have come up with the perfect compromise.”
She covered his mouth with his cravat then leaned forward wrapping her arms behind him and tying the cravat it in a knot at the back of his head. “You see,” she said after she stepped back away from him. “I won’t exactly kiss you, but I may kiss that cravat of yours.”
He furrowed his brows and tried mightily to not dwell on the brief seconds she’d been pressed against his chest as she tied his cravat. Mercy was playing with fire, and she knew it. Did she think having a thin piece of silk covering his mouth discounted a kiss? He reached up and pulled it below his chin. “If you kiss me with this cravat on my mouth, it is absolutely still a kiss.”
“Really?” Her eyes went wide, but he could tell she was doing it on purpose. Acting innocent again. She knew. She knew the affect such a thing would have on him. She had to. “Well then, I’ll just remove it, and you can absolutely kiss me without it.”
“We have no understanding.”
She ignored him, stood up on her toes and placed her arms on his shoulders. She pressed against his chest again, and her fingers went to the knot that had fallen to the base of his head.
She fumbled with the knot in one way and then another. She took a deep breath and then pursed her lips together in what was obviously mock concentration.
“Having a little trouble with that knot?” His voice came out low and pained.
Her eyes met his, and she nodded solemnly. “I am.”
He closed his eyes, and the world went black except where Mercy’s body touched his; those points burned like brilliant spots of lights, visible even through his eyelids. He should ripoff the cravat and storm out of the room. He should return to speak with Mercy and her parents after the ball, engage her hand in marriage, and only spend time with her in short increments, with chaperones standing nearby.
He should do a lot of things, but instead he simply stood there, waiting to see what Mercy would do next.
She. Did. Nothing. Her fingers were still on the knot at the back of his neck, but they weren’t even pretending to untie it anymore.
“What are you doing?” he finally asked. His voice sounded like he had been swallowing rocks.
“You said I couldn’t kiss you, so . . .”
“So you are waiting for me to kiss you?”
He opened his eyes to find her gazing up at him. Trusting, not at all calculating, just simply hoping he would kiss her. “Don’t you want to?”
Didn’t he want to?What kind of question was that? Banked coals, ones he was certain he’d snuffed out long ago, roared into life. Proprietary be hanged. He was a gentleman and not the kind of man to leave a woman waiting. “Fix that blasted knot,” he practically growled at her.
“You mean untie it? I’ve done something strange back there, and I can’t quite—”
“Tie it back up. I’ll play your games today. And then, when you are ready, I hope you will join me in being serious.”
Her fingers slid from the back of his neck to his face. She replaced the cravat over his mouth, the coolness of her touch grazing his lips, and then, before he knew it, she was tightening the cravat with a quick tug.
She gazed up at him, innocence and curiosity mingled in such a tantalizing package. How had he ever thought he could resist her? He was doomed from the first word she’d spoken to him in the corridor. And by the gods, it was time he accepted his fate.
Then her mouth split into a grin, and a short strangled laugh escaped her lips.
“What?” he managed to bark thought the linen.
“It is just that you look positively... frightened, as if I have taken you prisoner. I can’t look you in the eye, not seriously.” She tipped her head to one side. “But I think I know how to fix that.” Mercy’s hands dropped from the sides of his face to his shoulders. She tugged on him, bringing him lower. “All I have to do is close my eyes.” Before he had any more time to accustom himself to the idea, her eyes had fluttered closed and her lips were on his.
Or rather, they were on the thin fabric that covered his. Which meant basically the same thing.
He closed his eyes and folded his arms around her.
