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He shouldn’t want to impress her but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. His life might be slightly dull and predictable now, but it wasn’t always that way. In his early twenties, he’d been a hedonistic rake, indulging in every way known to man to obliterate thought, to dull the pain.
If she’d known him then, he would have been everything her thrill-seeking heart desired.
“No, really. I was bad. Thoroughly disreputable.” He moved away from the heat of the fire and closer to the laughing glow in her eyes. She didn’t look all that impressed. “I was dangerous to a lady’s reputation. Ask anyone who knew me then.”
Still not impressed. He summoned the smoldering, half-lidded gaze that used to send ladies’ hearts audibly pitter-pattering. “I owned this town. When I walked into a room, you could hear hearts shattering like glass struck by a bullet.”
Her oval face tilted to one side and her sparkling silver eyes assessed him. “I, for one, can’t quite picture it, Your Grace.”
And there was a challenge if he’d ever heard one.
And a clever, blazingly pretty woman in his bedchamber issuing the challenge.
But he couldn’t be goaded into losing control. He’d only kissed her earlier because he’d still been half asleep and she’d launched a surprise attack. And then he’d decided to scare her into leaving. He’d thought that if he kissed her thoroughly enough, he might find the cracks in her bold and brazen façade.
He was the cracked one. Fatally flawed. His mind scrabbling for higher ground.
Something about this woman wrecked his hard-won control.
When she’d stared at his bare chest earlier it had slayed him, absolutely devastated him. He’d had the forbidden desire to lift her in his arms, show her how strong he was, use his strength in the service of her pleasure.
The forbidden desire was back, and more powerful than ever.
“It’s all in the past, MissPenny. I’m not the man I used to be.”
“And I’m only interested in present amusements. I want to see what I’ve been missing since I left London when I was a girl. The city’s growing in fits and bursts. New people arriving every day, ships disgorging goods from across the globe.”
“London has a squalid side,” he cautioned. “People live in abject poverty. They only have thin gruel to eat. Made from oats boiled in brackish water. Lumpy and nearly tasteless.”
MissPenny stared at him with a puzzled expression. “It almost sounds as though you speak from experience.”
“It’s time I escorted you home.” He mustn’t indulge forbidden desires or wallow in nightmarish memories. And he certainly shouldn’t be attempting to impress her.
She crossed her arms. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk about this.” Her fingers dipped into her bodice.
He swallowed. MissPenny’s breasts, delectable as they were, equaled one giant headache, not an earthly paradise he’d do anything to explore.
She handed him the rolled-up letter.
“How did you find this?” he asked. “I hid it away.”
“In the hidden compartment beneath the desk in the study. I assumed you had seen it, because it must be the reason that you’re here in London, otherwise you would have stayed in Cornwall forever. Am I correct?”
“I was planning to come to London at some point to see my family and find a bride, but yes, you’re right. The note forced my hand.”
“You don’t know who wrote it, as I heard you question your brother on the subject. I may be able to offer you some assistance in the matter. I have an interest in the discernible relationships between handwriting and writers. I’ve already formed some opinion about the person who wrote the note.”
The smile she flashed him was warm and guileless. She truly wanted to help him.
“I don’t want to involve you in my family troubles, MissPenny.”
“I’m already involved, Your Grace.”
Drew got the feeling that MissPenny never backed down. And if she did have some manner of expertise in handwriting, she could possibly shed some light on the letter. “Very well, MissPenny. What have you surmised?”
She carried the note to a small table and laid it down next to a lamp. “The strokes of the letters are close set, heavy, and slashing. There is nothing open or soft.”
He bent over her shoulder as she illustrated her points with a slender fingertip.
