colorless gown she wore.
At first glance, she did look like a little, grey mouse, and since most would not grant her another look, they quickly dismissed her as someone insignificant and utterly boring. Oh, how wrong they were!
Pierce couldn’t help but smile as his gaze swept over her face for he knew well what to look for. His eyes sought that teasing curl of her lips, the slender column of her neck, her chin raised in resistance, before moving to those deep blue eyes that sparked with a strength he’d rarely encountered. Despite her disguise, Miss Caroline Hawkins knew who she was and what she wanted.
And so did Pierce.
Now more than ever.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked, her blue gaze narrowing in suspicion as she watched him move closer, a hint of alarm coming to her posture.
Pierce grinned. “Are you all right?”
“I am perfectly fine.”
“He did not hurt you?” Another step brought him closer still.
She exhaled sharply, exasperation coming to her eyes, and her arms dropped to her sides. “Of course not. I can take care of myself, you know?” A hint of accusation, a challenge clung to her voice, but Pierce refused to allow her to distract him.
“You’re well then?” he pressed, his gaze locked on hers as he stalked closer.
“Did I not just say that?” his little mouse demanded sharply, feigning annoyance when, in truth, he could see the pulse hammering in her neck. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as he moved closer, his steps not slowing even as he drew near. He could see the desire to retreat spark in her eyes as uncertainty and suspicion swirled in her mind.
“You’re not dizzy or somehow unsteady on your feet?”
A shuddering breath went past her lips. “Not…not particularly,” she all but whispered as no more than an arm’s length separated them. “Why?”
“Good,” was all Pierce said in reply before he could no longer restrain the desire to reach for her, to feel her again.
A sharp tug was all it took, and she stumbled forward into his arms. His hands found her waist with unerring precision, pulling her closer against him as his mouth claimed hers in a kiss he’d been waiting for for far too long.
Her response was delayed by no more than a second before she overcame her initial shock and returned his kiss, her hands slipping up over his shoulders and sinking into his hair.
Utter longing for the woman in his arms simmered in his blood as though she were an ocean away and not right here. She was warm and alive and he could feel her heart beat against his own and, in that moment, Pierce wondered if he could ever win her.
If her heart could ever be his.
She was here with him, yes.
But her heart was not his to claim.
Not yet.
Perhaps not ever.
Pierce had been blind not to see it before. Now, however, he knew that the only reason his little mouse insisted on her unfortunate attire was to frighten off London’s gentlemen. With sharp claws, she clung to her freedom to come and go as she pleased, to do what she deemed right. Pierce admired her for her convictions, for her determination and ingenuity to see her plan succeed. Still, he could not help but wonder what she would look like with her hair down and shining in its natural color. How a feminine dress might hug her curves in all the right places. How her eyes would sparkle without those hideous spectacles.
What would she look like should his little mouse ever decide to forgo her disguise and dress as she liked and not as she thought she needed to?
All of a sudden, she stilled as though time had slowed and then stopped. Her hands were still entangled in his hair, and her lips still rested against his own.
Then her eyes opened, and she pulled back, an odd mix of confusion and recognition coming to her face as she stared at him as though she’d all but forgotten what he looked like.
“Are you all right?” Pierce whispered as his hands moved up and then down her back without thought.
Inhaling a sharp breath, his little mouse extracted herself from his embrace, the look in her eyes not changing, only intensifying. She took a step back then, and her gaze swept his face before her jaw tensed and her lips thinned. “I need to go home,” she said all of a sudden, moving in a wide circle past him and toward