"It all seems so random. By chance, Cecil and I came in here to discuss our arrangements for tomorrow. By chance, you overheard us. If some other lady had ventured into the library, would you have made the same offer to her?"
Brock couldn’t help it. He caught her face between his hands and kissed her swift and hard. "No. On my honor, no. I knew you were mine the moment I saw you. I’d already planned to pursue you to London. This encounter just presented me with an opportunity I intended to create anyway."
Once she stopped looking dazzled, she looked relieved. "I don’t want you to take my consent cheaply. I said yes too fast, I know, but we don’t have time for games."
That extraordinary tenderness cramped his heart again. "I’m aware of the privilege you grant me."
"You’re so good at words." Her gaze roamed across his face. "Words are easy."
He struggled not to squirm under her perceptive inspection. Because she was right. Words were easy, and he’d used them so often to persuade a reluctant lady of his sincerity, when he intended nothing past a quick fuck.
"If I say I mean it this time, you’ll only suggest that’s what I always say."
Wry humor curved her lips. "And is it?"
"Aye." He lifted her hand and brushed a kiss across the knuckles before he let her go. "You’ll just have to trust me."
She had that dazed look in her eyes that appeared whenever he touched her. He loved that this attraction between them made dissimulation impossible.
"It’s mad, but despite how short a time I’ve known you, despite…"
"My reputation," he said grimly, because he was too aware of what people said about him. He was even more aware that most of it was justified.
The strange thing was that only as he looked into Selina’s deep brown eyes did he feel any shame for his riotous ways, the lies he’d told, the hearts he’d broken. Because he found himself caught in the liar’s dilemma. He told the truth, yet nobody with half a brain would believe him.
Selina didn’t flinch from what he was. He came to realize that she was the bravest woman he’d ever met. When he’d first seen her, he recognized straightaway that she didn’t love that lumbering yokel Cecil Canley-Smythe. Brock was in no position to criticize her for marrying for money. But before tonight, he’d imagined he pursued a woman slightly less principled than she turned out to be.
Now he realized the sacrifice she made for her boy. She was under no illusions about Cecil, but she was willing to pay any price in return for her son’s security. Brock’s mother had been vain and flighty and selfish. Selina’s stalwart maternal love left him in awe.
"Yes, there’s your reputation. But that’s part of your appeal."
Startled, he let out a bark of laughter and stretched one arm along the top of the settle behind her. "The devil you say."
"You’re perfect, Lord Bruard."
Before they were done, she’d call him Brock without thinking about it. "Just who is seducing whom in this scene, madam?"
She smiled, her eyes sparkling. He hadn’t expected this impish humor either. "I caught you in my trap."
"That you have." Many a true word was spoken in jest. "I’m not sure I’ve ever been called perfect before."
That fugitive pink heated her cheeks again. He’d never before found himself so enchanted by the sheer wealth of detail he discovered in a woman.
"Let’s not go too far. I’m not saying you’re perfect for anything except my purposes. But it’s your sins that make you the ideal candidate to share my bed."
"You want to conquer the rake?" He couldn’t contain the cynicism edging the question. And a hint of disappointment. He knew that many women pursued him to discover what all the fuss was about. He hadn’t put Selina Martin in that category.
"I’ve given myself to only one man, and he didn’t satisfy me. I can’t imagine that Cecil will be much better. If I’m to kick over the traces just once in my life, I want it to be with a man who knows what he’s doing. I’ve had enough clumsy fumbling."
He winced at her frank description. What a crying shame that this glorious creature had never found a lover to match her.
Until now.
She went on. "I don’t want a man who asks more of me than I can give. I don’t want someone who sees this as a love affair and who will be hurt or jealous when I leave