Benedict's Challenge - Carole Mortimer Page 0,32
I visit her before dinner.”
Chloe nodded. “Thank you.” Her gaze became rueful as she looked at his jaw. “Do you have something you might apply to help ease your discomfort? A bruise is already forming, and it looks painful.”
He gave a wince after gingerly touching that abused flesh. “My other guest has a powerful right hook.”
She eyed him teasingly. “How do you know this guest doesn’t too?”
“Would you like to put it to the test?” he drawled ruefully. “Where you are concerned, I feel I should give you license to take at least one free hit,” he acknowledged softly.
Chloe’s cheeks became suffused with color. “I could never physically harm you.”
“Is that because I am so kind and honorable?” he bit out self-disgustedly.
She raised her chin. “I know of no other gentleman who would have taken me in when I collapsed on your doorstep, and who has also continued to protect and care for me since then.”
He flinched after tightening his bruised jaw. “I have also made love to you—twice!—when I have absolutely no right to do so.”
The color deepened in her cheeks. “As I recall, you did so with my full and enthusiastic cooperation.”
“After which, the second time, at least, I rejected you in a harsh and insulting manner.” That knowledge sickened him every time he thought of it, and yet at the time, he had thought he had no choice but to try to put Chloe at a distance.
But perhaps now that Beatrix appeared to be becoming more social, he did have a choice, after all.
Chloe’s gaze became searching. “Do you push people away from you because of your deep love for and the responsibility you feel to care for your sister?”
Benedict drew in a sharp breath at her astuteness. “Most in Society believe Beatrix perished in the accident with my parents, and those who do not are very close friends of mine and feel as protective of Beatrix as I do. I could never—will never—force her to show herself in Society when she has no wish to do so. Nor will I willingly subject her to how hurtful others can be, by even the possibility of exposing her to their thoughtless cruelty.”
Chloe looked troubled. “Do you believe I am capable of being cruel to her?”
“No, of course not,” he dismissed impatiently.
“I believe Jimmy—James, as I am now inclined to agree with you in regard to his having lied about his having originated from the slums of London. I believe his consideration toward your sister to be genuine rather than contrived for any nefarious reason.” There was a gentle rebuke in her tone.
Benedict felt a wave of shame, similar to the one he’d had earlier, in having even voiced such an accusation to the younger man. It was, as Jimmy so rightly said, as insulting to Beatrix as it was to him.
He looked down at his feet. “I believe so too.”
“Then you owe both James and your sister an apology.”
Benedict glanced up at her. “There are not many women—anyone at all, in fact,” he corrected dryly, “who would dare upbraid me in the straightforward manner you do not hesitate to do.”
She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “I do not mean to overstep.”
“And I was not criticizing you.” He sighed. “I know I am guilty of sometimes forgetting to be considerate of other people’s feelings.”
“And I believe most are intelligent enough to realize it is a defensive action rather than deliberate cruelty on your part.”
Benedict eyed her admiringly. “You really are one of the nicest and kindest young ladies I have ever met.”
Chloe chuckled. “I am both nice and kind?”
“Very much so.” He nodded, knowing he had never liked any woman as much as he did Chloe.
Although, perhaps like was too lukewarm a word for how he felt whenever he was with or even thought about Chloe. The hardening of his cock from just being alone with her again was evidence of that.
She smiled at him warmly. “It is very pleasant to be conversing with you like this again, Benedict. Not that we have not met at dinner every evening and talked politely together then,” she continued hastily. “But—”
“But we were never alone and so could not be completely ourselves,” Benedict murmured huskily as he stepped closer.
She looked at him shyly. “I have missed you, Benedict.”
“And I you.”
“Do you—” Chloe broke off with a frown as someone knocked on the door.
“Yes?” Benedict prompted tersely at the interruption.
The study door swung open. “Now, is that any way to greet