“Thank you for easing the tension in the space—”
“You think I jest?”
“Of course you do—”
“I do no such thing.You’re more intelligent than most men.You’re determined.Principled.Passionate.Loyal.And one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“You must stop, Soren.”Her heart rammed up against her chest and her feet curled in her slippers at the thought of the most handsome manshe’dever met calling her the most beautiful womanhe’dever met.
“I cannot.”
“You must.”
It was too much to bear—that slim slice of hope he offered.So when he leaned closer, bringing his fingers to her hair, she cut him off.“Why do you say that she showed you your purpose?”
He leaned back and shrugged.“It’s what I’m best at.”
“Other than being a duke?”
“Other than that?”He shrugged again.“Perhaps even better than that.”
“There’s more to you than giving pleasure, Soren.”
His eyes pinned her in place, and she thought this time he might actually reach out and touch her.Instead, he said, “We’re here.”
And for some reason, those words meant something so much more than a declaration of their arrival.
Chapter 16
Pru
“Maybeweshouldn’thavecome here,” Pru whispered to Soren at her side on the settee.
“Why do you say that?”
“You don’t feel the tension in the air?”
Casually, Soren looked around the empty parlor room and then focused in on the tea tray that had been placed before them.“There’s no one here to create any tension.”
Well, her heart puffed up a little at those words.That he felt entirely comfortable in her presence.But if she had felt waiting outside her sister’s front door an interminable awkwardness, this was so much worse.Waiting in the parlor.Servants checking in on them.It had been forty minutes of waiting already.Surely if Fidelia wanted to see her, she would have rushed her preparations and shown up already.
“Enjoy the petit fours, Pru.”He offered her a little treat between his thumb and forefinger, and she wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it.The confection was moving closer to her mouth.Was she supposed to eat it out of his hand?
“That’s it,” his soothing tone almost sounded patronizing, “open up and take a bite.”
So that was a yes on eating out of his hand then.
Feeling a bit like a puppet on a string that he somehow controlled, she widened her mouth and took a bite out of the treat.
It was delicious.Perhaps one of the best desserts she had ever had.More so because she had just tasted his fingers alongside it.A furious blush stole into her cheeks.
She could feel his eyes on her when he murmured, “I think I like feeding you, Pru.”
Her blush deepened and her leg started to shake, which caught his attention.When his eyes took in her nervousness, it only increased.But it wasn’t just nerves.So her hardened nipples would attest.No, she was aroused.
In her sister’s parlor no less.
“Soren—”
