The Girl is Not For Christmas - Emma V Leech Page 0,36

you infernal creature. I ask you… what is a man to do when you use such underhand tactics?”

“I didn’t mean to,” she said, with more of her usual asperity. “I tried very hard not to. Only I suddenly saw how ridiculous I was being and… and one doesn’t like to consider oneself entirely undesirable, no matter all proof to the contrary. It was rather a blow to my pride.”

“What proof?” he demanded in outrage. “What possible proof can you have for such a statement when you’re stuck out here in the back of beyond, with hardly a soul for miles around, let alone a red-blooded male with enough sense to see what’s right in front of him?”

“Oh, King,” Livvy said, feeling a little dazed. “I do believe that was a compliment.”

King frowned and let her go. Livvy staggered without his arms to hold her up, and was dismayed to realise she regretted the loss of his touch. A shiver ran over her. It was suddenly much colder without the warmth of his body against hers.

“Nonsense,” he said briskly. “I was merely pointing out how idiotic you were. Nothing complimentary about it in the least.”

As he seemed a little touchy about it, Livvy just gave a meek nod of agreement. There was no sense in upsetting him when he seemed to have resigned himself to helping her, kissing her. And that had been a compliment, and the way he’d kissed implied he wasn’t just saying it. She was not undesirable after all. Oh, no doubt she didn’t compare to his usual companions, but as they were all the way back in London and she was here… well, she may as well take it for what it was.

“So, you’ll help me, then?” Her heart gave an erratic and hopeful thud in her chest.

King sighed and gave her a narrow-eyed glance. “Frankly, I’m not the least bit convinced you need the help.”

“Oh, but I do,” she said at once. “I could never have been so dreadful as to kiss anyone else, but you don’t matter.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Sensing she’d offended him again, Livvy hurried to explain. “I only mean that… that you don’t like me, and I don’t like you, and so… it doesn’t signify if you think I’ve done something outrageous, because you already think me a dreadful creature.”

“Hmph.” He folded his arms and glowered at the sea.

“If you were a man I wished to ask to marry me, I could never be so direct. He’d think me a strumpet or… or a fortune hunter. I suppose he’d be right,” she mused before shaking her head. She’d not think of that. “The point is, I must recognise that he wants to kiss me, at least. Then I say… no, not before we’re married, and there we have it.”

“Do we?” King muttered, sounding unconvinced.

Livvy nodded, hoping to encourage him. “I assume I must flirt with him, and perhaps even imply I might invite such liberties, but frankly it always seems like dissembling and I’m no good at that.”

“You astonish me.”

She tutted at his dry remark.

“I am being honest with you, so you understand the difficulty.”

King pinched the bridge of his nose and drew in a deep breath. She wondered if he was counting to ten like she did when her patience was being tested.

“Very well,” he said. “I shall help you, but we’d best get back before you’re drenched for the second time in as many days. Those clouds look ominous. If you can slip away, you may come to my room this evening, and we shall discuss it further.”

“Oh, thank—”

“Don’t. I haven’t finished. You will be discreet, damn you, and if we are discovered, you will tell your brother you knocked me over the head, drugged me, and forced yourself upon me. Are we clear on that point?”

“Perfectly clear,” she said soothingly.

“Hmph.”

He looked so disgruntled she thought she ought to make him feel better. “You are very kind to take the trouble, my lord.”

“No, I am not,” he retorted at once. “I’ve sunk beyond reproach, lower than a worm’s belly, to consider… to think of… with you. With an innocent… Oh, damn me to hell. I’ll see you later.”

Livvy watched him go, admiring his long legs as he strode away from her. She knew he did not wish for her company in his present state of mind, and she did not wish to jeopardise their imminent rendezvous. So Livvy let him go and did not follow until he was out of sight,