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She grinned at that. “You plan to kiss me dizzy, is that it?”

“You make me dizzy,” he said. He leaned forward and licked her bottom lip. “Your mouth is absurdly sensual. When I first entered the drawing room for tea, I couldn’t breathe for a moment. You shouldn’t do that to a man without warning.”

“Sensual? Me?” Her voice squeaked because, yes, there had been that moment when she stood in front of the mirror and Joan said she looked . . . and Aunt Knowe said . . .

But she had spent four years carefully looking at the feet of whichever man was bowing in front of her. The conviction that she was ordinary couldn’t be abolished by a swipe of lip color.

“You’re driving me mad, Viola,” he said huskily. “I’m having a difficult time remembering that you’re a proper young maiden and I can’t shut the door. Yet courtship should include privacy.”

The look in his eyes made her breath come in a little staccato gasp. “Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps no one would mind if the door was closed briefly. Very briefly.”

His eyes flared, which made her want to do something mad, part her legs and allow him to ease forward in order to—

Heat flooded up her bosom and into her throat. His eyes flickered. “I’m holding on to my gentlemanly credentials by a hair,” he said, his voice gravelly. “Now I’m going to say something unforgivable.”

Viola met his eyes and decided that nothing he could say would be unforgivable. “All right,” she said.

“Your breasts, Viola, are meant for worshipping. How can you possibly have thought that you are ordinary?”

She squeaked with laughter. “That is unforgivable! You mentioned a part of my body that gentlemen are allowed to gawk at, but never name.”

“I loathe that pretense,” he said. “The idea that gentlemen aren’t males, like the rest of the sex.”

“Dukes? Are dukes men like anyone else?”

He was silent for a moment, thinking that over. “I gather you would say yes, grouping dukes with the rest of the eyebrow-raising male population?”

She nodded. Right now, perched on the back of a sofa, she felt such a strong wish to throw herself into his arms that she was having trouble concentrating.

Right.

Dukes versus men.

He bent just close enough that she took advantage and kissed him. It was all she could think about, to be truthful. The way Devin’s mouth felt, firm and sleek. The rough sound he made in the back of his throat.

It couldn’t be catalogued, that sound. But after only five kisses, she already knew it. It did something to her knees and stomach and all those parts that ladies aren’t supposed to mention. They turned hot and tingling.

They—all those heated parts of her—made her head swim. When he pulled her closer, the only thing she wanted to do was yield, open her lips.

He pulled back when voices echoed in the corridor, and their eyes met, suddenly alert. His hands landed on her hips, ready to pull her to her feet.

But the voices receded, another door opening somewhere else.

“They surely have realized we are nowhere to be seen,” Viola whispered.

“Quite likely.” Devin cleared his throat but left his hands where they were. She didn’t wear panniers under her walking costume, and his fingers were curling around her hips.

“What were we talking about?” she asked, dazed.

“We were discussing whether dukes are different from other men, and whether you are ordinary, and whether your breasts are the most beautiful thing that God put on this earth.”

Viola gaped at him and then clapped her mouth shut.

Devin bent his head and nuzzled her cheek. “That can’t be a surprise to you.” His eyes were very clear, not stormy now. They were the color of twilight just before night falls.

Her smile was entirely unplanned; it flashed out of somewhere along with words that she couldn’t believe she spoke aloud. “I like my breasts,” she admitted. “I—I think they are very . . . nice.”

“Nice!” Devin shook his head. “You truly have spent too much time with your siblings, who are all very fine, but since we’re on this topic—and gentlemen really do make comparisons, Viola, it’s part of the nature of the beast—your stepsisters are beautiful, lanky creatures. Thank God, you are not.”