AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I suspect they were not love matches and passionless.”
The intimate nature of his statement stole her breath, and she snapped her gaze to him.
He lifted a brow. “I am merely recalling our earlier discourse and the look that had been in your eyes.”
She flushed, tightening one of her hands on the swing's rope. “And pray inform me of what look that was, my lord?”
“Loneliness, perhaps.”
The strength seemed to have left her knees, and she was glad she was already seated.
“And also a woman who had never tasted passion and wondered if it was real.”
She scoffed, hoping to hide her shocked embarrassment and the way her heart pounded. Lucinda stiffened as an angry feminine voice reached their ears. She breathed a silent sigh of relief, for the interruption saved her from replying to the wretched man who audaciously peered too close into her heart, leaving her feeling exposed to his intense regard.
Canting her head, Lucinda realized behind the large shrubberies before them, a couple argued fiercely in what sounded like Italian. A man’s voice joined the lady, and the beautiful language tempestuously flowed between them.
“She is accusing him of ogling Lady Westcott’s décolletage,” the earl murmured. “Worse, she suspects it was also the Baroness’s bed he went to last night and not hers. An unforgiven sin even if they are not married. She vows to keep him for her bed for at least three months and promise her retaliation to be…well, the threat is enough where I am tempted to cover my own manhood.”
A horrifying sound of humor slipped from Lucinda, and she slapped a gloved hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. “You are shameless, my lord!”
“I could keep what they are saying to myself.”
She glanced at him to note he was staring at her. Warm light from a distant open terrace door cast a faint illumination on his features, and his silver eyes gleamed with rich humor.
“I do not indulge in gossip,” she murmured, unable to look away from him.
The earl regarded her with leisurely intensity, a faintly insolent smile on his lips. “Do you plan to tell all to the rest of the guests?”
“Of course not!”
“Then enjoy the drama.”
She laughed. “You are incorrigible, my lord.”
His silver eyes rested for an instant on her mouth. “What is the fun in being all proper, hmm?” Smoke curled around them as he inhaled the cheroot. “He is swearing his undying love.”
Lucinda pushed the swing with the earl’s assistance. “And what did she say?”
“That he could die now, is a lying cur, a gutter-snipe pretending to be a gentleman.”
“Those curses are rather inventive.”
“Ah, there’s more. He is also a maggot. She is cursing his carcass. Ah, he is also a jackanape.”
A choked sound came from Lucinda as she stifled her laugh.
“He swears he was not tupping Lady Westcott but was playing cards with myself, Raymore, and the duke.”
“Is he telling the truth?”
“Yes, we played until about four in the morning.”
“Is she mollified?”
“No.”
They shared a smile, and Lucinda glanced away when her heart did a curious flip.
