It was common currency in the back alleys and the drawing rooms, though she was unable to fathom why people would want to engage in such things. That he should even allude to it didn’t surprise her.
“Is a chaste kiss so much to ask? After that you may go home in my carriage and I promise I won’t even demand you send my presents back.”
She couldn’t break away, not without an undignified struggle. And part of her didn’t want to break away. A wild, reckless part of her, one that she always denied, kept wrapped up tight inside her, cried to escape. “If you truly wanted to kiss me you’d get up from the settee.”
“But I don’t. I have no interest in kissing you, at least not at the moment. I’m not saying that won’t change, but for now I’m much more interested in what would happen if you kissed me. I’m assuming your virginal state only extends below the waist, or at worst, below the neck. Kiss me, and I’ll let you go.”
She looked into his ruined beauty and hated him. Hated him for a thousand reasons, most of which had nothing to do with him at all. Hated him because she wanted to kiss him, wanted those pale, beautiful hands on her body, wanted the wild, wicked things he’d promised. False promises, all of them.
She’d had enough, of him, of men in general, and with a sudden burst she yanked free, falling backward and scrambling to her feet.
He caught her by the door, moving faster than she would have thought he was capable. He took her shoulders and spun her around, pushing her back against the door. “I believe I said you weren’t leaving without a kiss,” he said softly. “I assure you, it’s not such a difficult thing. I’ll demonstrate.” And his mouth covered hers.
It was a shock. The intimacy of it, like nothing she’d ever felt before. Hard and wet and deep, his mouth open against hers, demanding a response she didn’t know how to give. It was a far cry from the chaste first kiss she’d dreamed of—it tasted of sex and desire and dark delight, and for the first time she began to understand why people sought such things.
He lifted his head, looking down at her, and she stared up into his hard blue eyes, half hidden by his ridiculously long lashes. “You survived that quite well, my sweet. Now kiss me back. I know you must have been kissed before—it’s not near so dire as losing your innocence. I want to taste a virgin’s kiss.”
She froze, still trapped against the door by his bigger, stronger body. “Then I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t fit your requirements,” she said stiffly. “You’ll have to look elsewhere.”
“You can’t tell me you’ve never been kissed—I won’t believe it. Paris is not so full of stupid men.”
“The entire world is choked to death with stupid men. I’ve been kissed before.”
His expression would have been gratifying if she was in the mood to notice. “Indeed, it is. I should have tried it this way.” His mouth brushed hers, light, soft, and she rose into it, unconsciously wanting more. He slid his arm around her waist, pulling her up and into his body, deepening the kiss, and his other hand cupped her chin, his long fingers gently stroking the sides of her face as he kissed her with the seductive, leisurely expertise of the devil himself, and when his fingers tugged she opened her mouth for him, wanting him. To her complete and utter shame, wanting him.
A moment later he set her aside, backing away, looking at her with a strange expression on his face.
No one ever suggested that the Viscount Rohan was slow to understand subtleties. There was but the slightest pause. “So you’ve been kissed before but still fail to meet my requirements,” he murmured. “But how delightful for me. If you’re no longer a virgin then there’s nothing to keep you from going to bed with me. I’m even considering unfastening my breeches after all. Or doesn’t your expertise go that far?”
She’d asked for it, she deserved it. For letting him kiss her, for, God help her, kissing him back. In trying to shock him, she’d only managed to degrade herself further.
“No?” he said lazily, turning away from her for an unguarded moment. “Tant pis. I can teach you easily enough.”
She backed away from him, coming up against the table that held the tray and her empty