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“I’ve never been kissed,” she whispered, then wished she could take it back, then decided she didn’t. Then decided Drake LeVeq was making her lose her mind.
He searched her face in the shadows. “Ever?”
“Ever.”
“Not even by your intended?”
“No. I mean, he’s kissed me on my forehead and cheeks. But—”
“Not your lips?”
She shook her head. The candle’s weak light showed his unspoken questions.
“Please don’t think less of him.”
“I don’t.”
She wasn’t sure she believed him but chose to take him at his word. “Cole is incredibly kind and good.”
“You don’t have to defend him to me,cheri.”
“I feel as if I do.”
“You don’t.”
Again taking him at his word, she nodded, adding, “So, here I sit, a fully grown woman who watched your brother give Sable a kiss this morning that seemed to melt her from her spine to her toes, and I know nothing about that. But I feel as if I should, even if society thinks a properly raised girl shouldn’t.” She looked at him. “I blame you and your pirate kin. I was fine until I met your family with all its love and passion.”
He laughed. “Will you come sit beside me?”
She stood and joined him on his side of the table. He draped an arm over her shoulder and eased her close to his side.
“We LeVeqs can be pretty contagious.”
“My parents can barely tolerate being in the same room, but I saw the way Henri held Julianna’s hand during dinner, and it was so touching. This is all so different for me.”
“No two families are alike,” he said.
“Cole’s parents at least like each other, but they don’t hold hands during dinner, nor have I ever seen them act the way Sable and your brother did this morning.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was mad at him for punching a poet in the nose.”
“Ah, the pesky Gaspar Cadet. Rai’s been itching to toss him in the gutter for years, but she didn’t look upset with Rai at dinner tonight.”
“He told her that when they got home from dinner tonight, he’d get down on his knees and apologize, and that she’d be very pleased. Sable’s face turned beet red.”
Drake’s laughter was loud enough to startle the moon.
“I assume that has something to do with what you calledbed games, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And it means, what?”
“I can’t tell you,cheri. That will be between you and Cole.”
She fell back against his shoulder. “Why do men want unmarried women to be so ignorant?”
