Sterling closed his eyes and clasped his hands behind his head. “Do you honestly believe that I enjoy tea that much that I’ve spent three years drinking gallons of it with you?”
Silence.
He dared to open an eye.
Edwina stared at him as if he was a complex equation she wasn’t quite certain how to answer.
He unleashed a steady breath. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I adore the way your nose wrinkles when you’re studying a book you don’t agree with. I could listen to you for hours when you’re expounding on your thoughts behind the complex ramifications behind runic structure. I love your mind. I love the way you argue with me all afternoon, even when you know you’re wrong. I love your horrific spinster caps. I want to pluck them from your hair and kiss my way down your neck. I could stare at your eyelashes for hours. I am besotted, Edwina. Utterly and stupidly besotted with you. And you haven’t even noticed.”
Her pretty pink lips parted on a whisper. “What?”
He pushed to his feet. “It’s been you. For three years you’re all I’ve been able to think about, and yet, I might as well be invisible. And then you kissed me. You kissed me, and then you were gone, and all I had was a bloody resignation letter. I am not done with this. I am not done with you.”
“Besotted?” Her eyes were very round. “With me?”
He couldn’t restrain a wry smile. “Why else do you think I tolerate looking at that abomination all day?”
He gestured to her gown.
But there was no familiar scowl. No roll of the eyes. It appeared he’d caught her utterly by surprise.
His throat felt inexplicably thick. “Yes, besotted,” he said, circling the table toward her. “How else is one to feel when one’s secretary is batting away an infestation of spriggans with a broom? What else am I able to think when she is bandaging my arm and chiding me most vociferously for doing battle with a necromancer? And all I can think about is how much her lips resemble the crushed petals of a rose, or how her hair is all awry and there’s ash on her cheeks, and her spectacles are missing in the rush…. And how much I want to kiss her in that moment.”
Edwina blinked up at him as he paused right at the circumference of her skirts.
“You have ruined me,” he said, “for all other women. Because when I behold you, I am filled with the utmost awe and wonder.”
Edwina blushed. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything at all.”
Capturing her face between his palms, he bent down and brushed his mouth against hers.
Once. Twice.
A thrill lit through him as her fingertips came to rest on his chest.
And then she leaned into him, kissing him back.
He’d never trembled in his bloody life, but he swore he’d have given the greenest lad a run for his money in that moment.
Her hand slid to the back of his neck, her thumb stroking through his hair. Sterling groaned, capturing her mouth hungrily.
And a sharp rap came at the door?—
They broke apart hurriedly, Edwina putting three paces between them as the serving maid bustled inside. “A message from Lord Willoughby, my lord.”
Sterling curled his fingers into a fist. “Excellent.” Timing, at least. He was half tempted to strangle the man.
He plucked it from the servant’s fingers.
“Are you done with the dishes, my lord?” The serving maid gave them both a bland look that was suspiciously knowing.
Sterling rubbed at his lips, shooting Edie a look. She was studiously staring out the window, but he could see the color in her neck. “Quite, thank you.”
“Well?” Edwina murmured, as the door shut behind the serving maid.
She didn’t dare brush her fingers against her flushed lips, but she saw Sterling’s gaze drop to them as he tapped the letter against his thigh.
