Last Dance in London (Rakes on the Run #1) - Sydney Jane Baily Page 0,88
it seemed.
Julia considered her emotions. After being shocked by the distressed state of Lord Neville, she had been angry with Jasper at first, but then she’d realized her true anger was at herself. She’d known better than to invest even the smallest part of her heart in a rake.
Known better and done it anyway!
After the Stridewells’ dinner party, her anger had doubled — after all, he’d cost her the ring, which she’d heard no more about from Lady Stridewell. Moreover, Julia couldn’t deny feeling miffed at the ease with which he’d moved on to Lady Violet. But that was the very essence of the man.
Now, seeing him in his element, her pettish expression had prompted his charming tilt of his head and his silly question.
“Can you actually be angry at me?”
What a waste of a dashing man! He was like a woebegone dog who stole a chicken from pure instinct yet meant no harm, nor even knew what he’d done wrong. She might as well be angry at the sea for being wet.
“No. I’m not angry,” she lied, at once leaving Mrs. Zebodar, who was busy lining up potential dance partners, and striding away through the next drawing room into a third at the back of the house. Julia knew Jasper would follow.
When he did, she said over her shoulder, “I know I have behaved badly where you are concerned, and you did nothing I didn’t let you do, and freely, too. However, I am still sane enough to feel ashamed of my behavior and yours, for that matter! And I don’t wish to be treated like I do not matter. Like a courtesan.
“A courtesan?” he echoed.
She stopped in front of a window overlooking the garden. He came to a halt beside her, regarding her with his dark-brown gaze with the slightest of frowns upon his forehead.
He still looked infernally dashing. Devil take the man!
“We’ve had a waggish good time, have we not? Whenever we’re together, be it riding or for dinner or whatever else we’ve managed.”
“Yes,” she agreed. How many more good times had he experienced with other women in the past few weeks?
“Ah, I see.” His frown disappeared. “You’ve missed me, and it’s put you into a case of the blue devils.” His face broke out in a sensual grin that made her stomach twinge with yearning.
She had missed him, but she wouldn’t tell him such. Besides, it seemed terribly hypocritical of her to be annoyed that he’d take up with other women and done the honorable thing by leaving her alone.
A rake’s honor, to be sure, one that suited his fickle way of life!
Jasper leaned close, causing her to take a step back, eventually pressing herself flat against the gold-and-green wallpaper. He put a hand up beside her head, standing most inappropriately, holding her captive in the corner of the room.
Bending down, he nuzzled against the side of her face and then lower, placing a searing kiss just above her collarbone.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since I helped you into my carriage with your ridiculous excuse for a chaperone.”
She’d been wanting him to do that and more, not that she would tell him so.
“I hope I can bring you out of your melancholy,” Jasper added and took her mouth under his.
They were being terribly risky. In his company mere minutes, she was already letting herself be compromised in a deserted drawing room. And willingly.
As he deepened the kiss, she moaned, hearing him growl in response. With her pulse beating at the apex of her thighs, she was floating, light-headed, tethered only by his arms around her. When he finally drew back and looked into her eyes, his own were dark, his pupils dilated. He looked almost surprised by the passion flowing between them.
“God, I have missed you,” he confessed.
Again, she had to bite her tongue from saying the same. It was all right for a confirmed rogue to speak such words to a woman for whom he’d not declared himself or made any promises. But it would not be wise to give him any more power over her.
“Mrs. Zebodar will be concerned. I had best return to the ballroom.”
“True, you should. She looked positively thunderstruck when you walked away. I told her not to worry, that I would find you.”
“Did you?” Julia couldn’t see how Jasper, with his reputation, telling her chaperone he was going to find her would put Mrs. Zebodar’s fears at rest.