She touched her fingertips to her lips. They felt bruised, instead of cherished. Battered, not bewitched.
“Kitty—” he panted. “That was?—”
“—quite enough for me to make a decision,” she finished quickly. “Thank you, Charles.”
Confusion clouded his eyes. “Decision? About what?”
“About whether or not we would suit.”
“Well of course we?—”
She sent him a commiserating smile but shook her head. “I’m afraid not, Charles.”
He looked both astonished and crestfallen. “But?—”
“I wouldn’t make you happy. And I don’t think you could make me happy, either.”
Charles caught her shoulders again. “You don’t like my kissing? I can do better. It takes a while to learn what another person likes. You can’t expect to be immediately compatible with?—”
Kitty disengaged herself from his grip and stepped backward onto the path.
“I do expect it,” she said, and realized it was the truth. “And I also expect the man I marry to love me, and for me to love him back. That isn’t going to happen with us, Charles. I’m sorry.”
With that, she turned and hurried down the short path that led out of the maze.
As she rounded the final towering hedge the sun hit her face and she let out a deep sigh. Oh, why couldn’t things be simple? Why couldn’t she have found just as much passion in Charles’s embrace as she had in James’s?
Still, she’d proved one thing; even if she had to remain a spinster for the rest of her days, she wouldn’t settle for anything less than real, unfeigned passion.
Chapter Seven
As she neared the house, Kitty saw James out on the terrace with a number of the other guests. Her steps faltered. He looked as handsome and as forbidding as ever, in a dark blue jacket, buff breeches and boots.
Her heart pounded against her ribs. He had no idea that she’d guessed his identity last night. How was she going to act as if nothing had happened when her whole world had been rocked on its foundations? How could she forget the way his lips had felt against hers, how his hands had shaped her face?
She tugged the shawl around her shoulders more tightly and summoned a bright smile. “Good morning.”
His gaze searched her face, and she struggled to keep her composure.
“Good morning. I trust you slept well.”
“Extremely well,” she lied.
Ariadne Cushing was standing next to the Earl of Somerton. The scrape on his cheek looked slightly better today.
“We were about to take a walk down to the village, if you’d like to join us, Miss Worth?” Ariadne said. “Bocka Morrow isn’t very far. Just a stroll through the woods.”
Kitty glanced sideways at James. Perhaps she could get him to admit he’d been in the tower with her? She had to know why he’d done it. Quite why it was so important, she didn’t know, but it seemed ridiculous not to discuss it.
“That would be lovely,” she said. “Let me just tell Aunt Stella where we’re going and get my purse. Gwyn said there’s a new bookshop in town, and I’d like to see what they have.”
“What’s this?” Lady Snaresbrook’s ringing tones interrupted them. “Did I hear someone planning a walk?”
The older woman had been eavesdropping shamelessly from where she hovered at the edge of the group.
“That sounds like a marvelous idea. Cecily and I will accompany you.” She glanced over her shoulder at her companion. “Won’t we, Cecily?”
“Of course, that would be delightful,” Cecily murmured, shooting a helpless, apologetic smile at Ariadne. She, at least, appeared conscious of the fact that her employer had just invited herself along. Kitty felt a wave of pity for the poor girl, having to put up with a dragon like Lady Snaresbrook.
