Page 45 of Rogue Lyon

“See them to purchase?” Mr. Delaware asked.

“That is for me to know and you to find out.” Jules chuckled.

“I suppose you are right.” Mr. Delaware nodded at Meredith. “I bid you goodnight, Mrs. Habsburg.”

“Thank you, and you too.”

He looked at Jules. “You are a lucky man. Not only is it a beautiful Parisian night, you have a beautiful young woman to keep you company.”

“Oh, I know I am blessed with luck. I do not deserve her. I am sure she is merely tolerating me.” Jules smiled.

Meredith laughed, the sound giving him gooseflesh. It was such an adorable, little tinkle that lit up the room and a few others turned to admire her. “You may be correct there, Mr. Delaware,” she said.

Mr. Delaware made his exit and Jules waited for Meredith to sit before he did. “I am sorry.”

“For what?” she asked.

“That he presumed you to be Lady Eloise.”

She shrugged. “Rumors swirl around you, Jules, like bees to honey. It is to be expected that people would presume.”

“But you must know that she means nothing to me. I barely know her, wouldn’t recognize her from across the street.”

“That much you have told me.”

“And you mean so much to me.” He looked into her eyes, desperate for her to believe him. “That is a truth.”

“And you mean a lot to me.” She touched the ring. “Even though this is not real.”

He didn’t speak. What could he say? She was right; it wasn’t real.

“And now rumors will start that you are married to a mysterious woman named Meredith, spotted in Paris, a possible elopement,” she said.

“Let them talk. Words can’t hurt us.”

“Now you know that isn’t true. Especially for me as a woman. Gossip could set my world on fire, make it impossible for me to ever marry.” She huffed. “If I even get offers after this. I shouldn’t have told him my even my first name.”

Jules didn’t like the thought of other men trying to woo his Meredith into marriage. “Shall we just forget about the ton, about Paris, about other people’s penchant for tittle tattle and poking their noses where they don’t belong, just for one night?”

“What do you mean?”

He took her hand and stroked his thumb over the ring. “Shall we try marriage on for size? See if it fits?”

She raised her eyebrows and her lips parted, but she didn’t speak.

“I want you, Meredith. My body craves you, but my heart also demands to be near to you. To hold your nakedness in my arms, feel your flesh on mine, our heat sharing.” He paused as his cock responded at the thought of taking her upstairs and ravishing her. “I have never felt like this before.”

“Not even in all of your years as a rake?”

“Late-night parties might be full of debauchery, but they never truly satisfy. The one magical element that hits the spot is missing…does that make sense?”

“I may spend time at the Lyon’s Den, Jules, but I am a virgin, so how could it make sense?”

He lifted her hand to his lips and inhaled the sweet scent of her flesh. “I would never take you to such a party. You are too refined, too elegant, and I wouldn’t want any other man looking at you in that way.”

“You wouldn’t?”

He kissed her knuckles, his lips lingering. “No, and please do not judge me for that, but I want you to myself.”