could trust him. Fair enough. He was not certain if she ought. Hell, at this point, he was not certain he should trust himself. All evidence pointed to the contrary.
“My excellent taste aside, I hardly intended to conduct myself so recklessly.”
Her prim tone should have cooled his ardor. Instead, it had the opposite effect.
“You regret what happened between us?” he pressed, hoping it was not the case.
She hesitated, and he did not think he mistook the shadows entering her eyes—sadness. “I fear it has given you the wrong opinion of me.”
He took a sip of his tea, studying her, wondering where this shyness was emerging from. “I could say the same. I assure you it is not a regular occurrence for me to make love to my neighbors in my friend’s library in the midst of a ball.”
Her lips twitched. “I am relieved to hear you only infrequently make love with neighbors in your friend’s library, my lord. And always during balls.”
Heat rose to his own cheeks in response. “Touché, my dear. In truth, it was the only such occurrence. I am hardly a rakehell.”
Her blue eyes sparkled with an emotion he could not define. “Am I to find comfort in your revelation? It does not ameliorate my own sins.”
“Need we consider our actions a sin?” he prodded. “Cannot we just be man and woman, finding comfort in each other’s arms?”
“We have already done so,” she said. “We do not dare do so again.”
“Why not?” he challenged, the thought of making love to her once more striking something deep within him. Bringing to life a fierce, abiding need.
The aching chasm Nell had left behind was no longer so empty.
Hyacinth stared at him. “Because…doing so would be foolhardy.”
“What if we were to take our mutual comfort in a different, more circumspect fashion?” he asked. “What if we were to have an arrangement between us?”
What the devil was he saying? She had already turned down his offer once. The moment the words fled him, he wondered if he ought to call them back. But they felt right. To his marrow. He wanted to keep this woman in his life, in his arms, in his bed. If only for a little while. Their relationship could be finite. He could throw himself headlong into it, knowing there would be an end. His heart had already been eviscerated. There was nothing left to lose.
Her lashes fluttered yet again. “An arrangement?”
He wished he could read her. Had he gone too far in asking again? But how could he have? Was she not the same woman who had been hosting raucous parties this last fortnight? Was she not the woman who turned to flame in his arms?
Was she not the siren he had made love to in the library?
“I want you to be my lover, Hyacinth,” he said plainly. “I am not ready to give up just yet. Once was not enough.”
Boldly.
Stupidly, mayhap.
Because her luscious lips parted, moving soundlessly, as if she could not find it within her to form the words. To give voice to her thoughts.
“For one fortnight,” he added.
Just enough time to have his fill of her. To distract himself. To renew himself. To forget all about Nell and the way she had decimated him.
His nose chose that moment to throb. Whether in remembrance or warning, he could not say.
“One fortnight,” Hyacinth repeated, her tone guarded.
“It would be a mutual arrangement,” he reassured. “Naturally, you will be free to sever our understanding whenever you wish. I will see to all the necessary arrangements.”
His mind was whirring with the particulars. A hotel room, he thought. They could arrive separately. It would all be quite tidy and discreet.
And quite delicious. But a hotel could also be difficult. Claridge’s would certainly not hold with assignations taking place within their august walls. His mind instantly flitted to Brandon, who kept a love nest in St. John’s Wood. His friend hadn’t had a steady mistress in some time, which would mean the house was free. Considering Brandon’s urgings that Tom procure himself some feminine companionship, it seemed just the thing. Yes, he would speak to Brandon at once and make all the necessary arrangements.
The thought of being free to touch her, of having her in a bed, of having her all night long… Tom had to take a sip of his tea to quell the rampant burst of need unfurling within him at the notion.
Hyacinth, meanwhile, maintained her quiet for so long, he feared she would deny him once