little other than your own pleasure.”
“Indeed.” He chuckled, pulling her infinitesimally closer as he whispered, “Tell me more of these opinions you have about my pleasure.”
“You are infuriating.” She tried to pull herself free from his arms. There was no reason she should have to continue to dance with him.
His arms held her tightly, and he clicked his tongue. “If you storm off this dance floor, you shall start rumors about us. I’m assuming, since you loathe me so much you do not wish this to happen.”
She released a pent-up breath and gave him a tight nod.
“Yes, I’m infuriating and lazy. ’Tis remarkable how you charm me, Matilda.”
“You can go to the devil,” she said.
He chuckled and she hated the way the deep rumble vibrated pleasantly through her body. “I suppose I likely will. Does that please you?”
“So you have nothing to say about your slothful ways?” she asked, ignoring his question.
“What is it you wish me to say? Do you wish to hear my side of the story, my explanation or do you have ears only for my brother’s words?”
“You would argue his points?”
“No, because it wouldn’t change your perception.”
Something in his admission pulled at her, making her steps falter, but she couldn’t decipher the meaning.
“My behavior isn’t that much different from any number of men in this room. I am a viscount, which means it is frowned upon for me to have a paying position. I am now the eldest son of four. The others are all married, and thanks to my third brother, we have an heir secured, should Thomas fail to produce one. What is it you would have me do?”
“That is not my problem to solve,” she said, in lieu of the truth, which was that she didn’t have any thoughts beyond calling him out on his laziness.
He chuckled again, and the deep rumble did odd things to her stomach. Not altogether unpleasant things, which made no sense, because obviously that bad fish she’d eaten would make her stomach feel queasy in addition to fluttery and warm.
Obviously, the man was attractive; she wasn’t blind. She’d known he was a handsome devil from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him when she’d been introduced into Society at ten and seven. Nearly too handsome, damn him. So much so that his gaze upon her face made her uncomfortable, made her skin feel tighter and her breath shorter. Thankfully, he was such a pompous cad she had no use for his handsomeness. So it mattered not that his shoulders were broad or that his long, lean body spoke of athleticism she could only guess at. He couldn’t very well have a physique like his and sit around all day, but exercising one’s body did not help those around him. Or serve one’s duty to one’s family.
The dance finally ended, which meant she could create some distance between them. It was much needed considering the disturbing direction of her thoughts. She recognized that her focus on Sullivan’s attractive qualities was merely because three of her friends—who had already confronted lords about their chosen ‘sin’—had ended up falling in love with said lord and marrying him. That would not happen to her. It was a benefit to selecting Sullivan for this task. She had no need for a husband, and everyone knew he had no interest in finding a wife. He was, as they say, a confirmed bachelor.
He walked her back over to her friends, but when they were just shy of reaching them, he leaned down.
“I’m afraid it is precisely your problem to solve,” he whispered. “You have an issue with the way I live my life, you come up with a solution for how I should fix it. Then we’ll talk.”
His hot breath scattered gooseflesh all over her body, including tightening her nipples, which had only ever happened before when she’d been chilled. And she could have sworn his lips had brushed against the curve of her ear…but that made no sense.
…
Someone was trying to torment him.
That was the only explanation to what he found in the broken-down carriage. Or rather whom he’d found. He’d been innocently traveling in his own carriage when he’d come upon her.
Of all the women he could have found stranded in a broken-down carriage, why did it have to be the one woman who drove him to distraction? The one woman who was determined to irritate and annoy him at every turn?
Sullivan looked back at the shocked expression of the passenger and