Page 25 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

“Er, Jane,” he said, his deep voice startling her.

She blinked twice. “What is it?”

“Get into the carriage,” he instructed her with a laugh. “I believe you’re drawing attention to yourself.”

“I’m drawing attention?”

He smiled into her eyes. “Yes. Perhaps you should get into the carriage.”

She shook her head, trying to break the spell. “The carriage.”

He looked amused. “Is something wrong?”

“Well, it’s just for a moment I thought . . . I thought . . .”

He pretended to look shocked. “Don’t tell me you thought I was going to kiss you right in front of your own house?”

She drew her breath, mortified at his perception. “I never once—”

He brushed his gloved finger under her chin. “You are a lady, Jane, and I am trying to restore your good name. If you really wish for me to kiss you, however, I shall be happy to oblige you inside the carriage.”

The fact that he was making fun of her in no way weakened the quiver of pleasure that his touch sent through her system. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

He made a sympathetic noise. “Shame.”

“Yes, you’re the shame,” she retorted, finally regaining her composure. “Why are those people across the street staring at me like that?”

He crooked his finger at the footman. “I don’t know. Perhaps they wish they could kiss you, too.”

She made a soft choking sound as she felt his large hand nudge her impertinently up the folding step. Too embarrassed to react, she glanced at the pair of footmen who flanked her like stone statues, apparently used to their master’s evil ways.

“No one has ever kissed me in public before,” she whispered over her shoulder, determined to make the matter clear. “I did not wish for you to do so.”

“Well, if you change your mind . . .”

She fought a horrible urge to laugh. “If Simon hears this conversation, he will certainly take you to task.”

The glitter of deviltry in those blue eyes should have warned her. She climbed into the spacious carriage and stared in despair at the inert male body sprawled across the opposite seat. Some chaperone there. Her brother lay sleeping off the excesses of the evening. Utterly oblivious to her dilemma. Dead to the world except for the random snore that erupted from him like a wild boar.

“That’s not a chaperone,” she exclaimed. “That’s . . . a corpse.”

Grayson gave her a gentle shove onto the seat, his mouth quirking at the corners. “He serves his purpose.”

He watched in amusement as she attempted to position herself beside her brother’s sprawled body, realized it was impossible, then finally gave up, sitting down next to Grayson in flustered resignation. He was beginning to feel rather off balance himself and couldn’t figure out why.

He had enjoyed his fair share of comely women and had never felt this unsettled in their company. Perhaps he was unbalanced because the role of white knight seemed unfamiliar to him. Or perhaps it was because for the first time in his life he had to contemplate every step he took. Which brought him back to the matter of Jane herself. What was he supposed to do when he knew she found him appealing? Pretend he was not flattered? Squash all his familiar male instincts?

Yes, indeed, he would have to watch his step. Not merely for public opinion. God knew he had been the object of gossip often enough in the past. It would serve the scandalmongers right if he tricked them. Malicious talk had injured his family more than once. He would be damned if he’d let Jane suffer more indignity than she already had though.

Jane wriggled against him, and the sensation brought him immediately out of the mental realm into the physical. Conspiracy or not, he suspected his aspirations to chivalry could not last forever.

Walking the sunlit path of respectability did not come naturally. . . . Dancing in the darkness was another matter altogether.

Jane was right. He had wanted to kiss her in the street, but he doubted that even her imagination could dream how far beyond a kiss he would like to go.

Chapter 7

“I have decided something,” Jane remarked a moment later as the carriage set off down the street.