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“I wonder where she could be?”
He finally turned, giving her another marvelous view of his chest and the hair-darkened legs protruding below the sheet. Emma prayed the fabric’s knot would fail, so she might glimpse the part of his anatomy that was causing the intriguing bulge between his legs, but the fabric seemed damnably secure.
Disappointing.
Kit stalked in her direction. She ducked lower, her stomach twisting in mingled dread and excitement. He was almost upon her, about to discover her hiding place, when she let out a squeal and leapt to her feet.
“Aha!” He lunged forward with a roar and made a grab for her nightgown, but she was too quick. She tossed his shirt and breeches at him, hitting him squarely in the face, and used his momentary blindness to dart past him.
“You little wretch!”
She dashed for the entrance with a strangled shriek.
As she reached the door she realized he wasn’t in hot pursuit. Out of breath from both the sight of his nakedness and the sprint, she stopped and turned, one hand on the door handle. She found him shaking his head with a reluctant smile on his handsome face.
“Andrew said you were always playing tricks on him. I see you haven’t lost the talent.”
Her cheeks were flaming, but Emma send him a cheeky curtsey. “Why, thank you. I aim to please.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw and his knuckles whitened on his shirt. His hot gaze swept her from head to toe and Emma’s skin tingled in response.
“Oh, you please me, Miss Townsend,” he murmured. “You please me very much.”
Emma didn’t know what to say. Part of her wanted to step back across the room, to throw herself against his still-damp body, and demand that he kiss her again. She almost countered with, “Doyouwant to pleaseme?” but she didn’t have the nerve.
She was playing with fire, taunting him like this. She could get hurt so easily if she wasn’t careful. But oh, how she wanted to burn.
An awkward silence descended until he cleared his throat and turned away. “Ahem. I assume you came down here to bathe? If you’ll give me five minutes, I’ll get out of your way.”
Emma nodded. “Yes. Of course.”
She didn’t see him for the rest of the day, much to her disappointment.
Chapter 10
As Kit stared out at the countless faces in the raked auditorium, all of them regarding him with varying degrees of confusion, expectation, and surprise, he felt a trickle of sweat snake down the back of his collar.
He shuffled the copious hand-written notes Emma had given him, and glanced over at the purple flowers bobbing merrily on the table set up just to the right of his lectern. Two of the five plants that had been in his hothouse had failed to flower, but the remaining three were causing a ripple of delighted speculation throughout the room.
He lifted his chin and found Emma in the crowd. She’d taken a seat directly in front of the lectern, in his line of vision, and the sight of her calmed the thunderous pounding of his heart.
He took a breath and willed his clammy palms to stop sweating.He could do this.These men were his peers, not enemy combatants who wished him harm. This well-lit lecture hall was a world away from the airless cell he’d endured with Andrew in Spain.
The reminder of his friend strengthened Kit’s resolve. Just as he’d been determined to return Emma’s locket to her, soshewas determined to name these plants after her brother. Kit could make that happen. He wouldn’t let his fear of public speaking, nor the overwhelming number of people in the room, stop him.
Emma had been allowed to accompany him as his guest, and he’d been amused to see the speculative looks the two of them had received from the other men. No doubt news of their joint outing would reach the ears of the society wives by this evening.
The thought of Emma’s name tied to his own didn’t dismay him in the least, but since she was no simpering debutante and was known to be a law unto herself when it came to playing by society’s rules, he didn’t think anyone would expect them to marry because of the scandal.
He almost wished they would.
He caught her eye again and an immense calm settled over him. The rest of the room blurred as he stared at her; the beautiful green of her eyes, those perfect, kissable lips.
He would pretend she was the only person in the room, that he was speaking only to her. They were back at Ashford Court, in the hothouse, not in this draughty auditorium full of stuffy old men.
His heartrate slowed and his breathing deepened as he relaxed. He concentrated on remembering her scent, the smooth plane of her cheek, the breathtaking beauty of her naked form as she swam in the pool at dawn.
He cleared his throat, and his voice was calm and steady.
