“Hmm.” For someone who purported to disapprove of the aristocracy, she did imperious so well. “Then you told me to plead guilty to a crime I did not commit and got me a criminal record.”
“But I got you safely out of that prison unmolested.”
She waggled her ring finger with his slim gold band on it. “Then you turned the constable against me and I ended up arrested the very next day.”
“But I still saved you from a convict ship.”
“Which I wouldn’t have been destined to be on if you hadn’t made me plead guilty to the first charge.”
“Semantics.”
“And today you tried to drown me and destroyed my lovely feathers.”
“Better those awful feathers than your lovely hair.” Leo snuggled closer as they sauntered onto Piccadilly. “And you missed one because I seem to recall that I also managed to rescue you after you got yourself impaled on my wall.”
“Because that ended so well.”
“It did right up until you had a conniption about me being a duke and ran away. Before that, we were all over each other. Tearing at each other’s clothes and seconds away from—”
“Gracious, haven’t we wandered far from our original topic? When I was supposed to be telling you about Kitty.”
That missish outburst made him chuckle. “Coward.”
Her lips twitched but other than that she was determined to ignore him. “As much as the unromantic cynic in me wants to hatewhat Kitty writes, I actually really enjoy it. She might be the world’s most useless timekeeper and unreliable governess, but Kitty Blackstone certainly knows how to write a ripping yarn. She sends me her chapters to critique and, as her skills as a salacious novelist have improved over time, I find myself critiquing less and waiting impatiently for the next chapter to arrive in the post so that I can find out what happens to her knight and damsel next.”
“I would like to meet her. She sounds like fun.” More importantly, she sounded like an ally.
“She is and I know she is keen to meet you too.”
“You’ve told her about me?” He didn’t expect her to tell him why she had been compelled to start that essay with Kitty’s name in the question, but he suspected her friend understood better than anyone why Portia’s heart was wary.
“Nothing good of course, seeing as I disapprove of all dukes on principle, but enough that she has annoyingly started to refer to you as my knight in shining armor.” She frowned as if thoroughly disgusted. “She is going to adore you.”
“What’s not to adore?” Leo grinned just so that he could show her his dimples, seeing as he knew she liked them so much. “It’s a wonder you can resist me.” Then he nudged her playfully with his elbow. “Not that you just did, of course, and not that I am complaining. Feel free tonotresist me with impunity whenever the urge arises again, because I guarantee that I shall always be game if you are.” To prove that, he tugged her closer and quickly kissed her and then, because that was nowhere near enough, indulged in a more lingering one as well while they were still walking.
Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you suddenly flirting with me so outrageously?”
“It seems like the right thing to do at this time.” He sighed, ready to be honest, seeing as the stakes were so high and time was running out. “And because I am tired of us arguing and being angry at each other when we have both been in the wrong while trying to do right.I want things to be like they were when we were friends.” He stopped and tugged her to face him. “And because I want to.”
“And if I don’t want you to?”
He hauled her close and thoroughly plundered her obviously willing mouth. “You are just going to have to suffer it for as long as we last.”
Chapter
THIRTY-ONE
They took a convoluted walk back to Berkeley Square through the empty backstreets and quiet parks, chatting amiably about everything and nothing and stopping to kiss more times than was wise. Each time that he tugged her closer, Portia tried to tell herself that she was playing with fire, and each time that sensible voice in her head fell on increasingly deaf ears. Leo seemed determined to seduce her and she seemed just as determined to let him.
By the time they climbed the steps at the front of the house and he kissed her again before a footman opened the door, she was riper for the picking than she had ever been in her life. Kitty’s incendiary words about enjoying the benefits of marriage while they lasted were ringing in her ears while something decidedly wanton was happening to all the nerve endings between her legs.
He led her to the foot of the stairs. “Shall I send up a maid to help you out of that wet dress?” They both knew what he was really asking.
“I would rather you did.” Portia barely recognized her own voice. It was so needy and willing.
His blue eyes instantly darkened with desire. “So would I.”
His hand rested on the small of her back as they climbed thestairs, and he laced his fingers in hers at the top of them. Neither of them spoke as he led her along the landing and then into his room. Words seemed unnecessary. Especially as she didn’t want either of them to say anything that might inadvertently shatter the spell they were under. This truce was too new to risk testing it.
