Free Barbara Metzger by The Wicked Ways of a True Hero (prc)

to see if that might change her opinion. He wanted to know if her lips were as soft as they looked, or as prim as Miss Corisande Abbott pretended. He knew hed get slapped, but who said he wasnt brave? Or stupid.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven

 
S he did not slap him. That would have stung a bit, he supposed, because she was not a small woman.
     
     
She cried. Her tears pierced him through the heart.
     
     
She hadnt stepped back when he closed the short distance between them. She stiffened a little, but nothing worse. He realized she always cringed when he got too close, which angered him enough that he wanted to show her he could be trusted not to stomp on her feet every time.
     
     
She did not scream when he was inches away, or pound his chest with her fists, or race toward the door. She just stared at him as if hed sprouted horns and a tail. She looked confused, surprised, horrifiedhe couldnt tell which, and who was thinking, anyway?as Daniel bent his head. He meant only to brush his lips against hers, just for an instant. But she was looking at him, her mouth open, so he opened his, too.
     
     
In the back of his mind, where he might have one, seldom-used wit left, he realized that her being tall for a woman meant he didnt get a crick in his neck from bending over, or in his knees from crouching down. And her skin was as soft as a rose petal, and her scent was lilacs, and she tasted of brandy and tea and sweet woman. That last ounce of sense went flying to his fingertips, which stroked her bare shoulders.
     
     
The instant might have lasted forever, or been a blink of the eye. Miss Abbott made a low sound in her throat. He sure as hell hoped the tiny murmur had been one of pleasure, because that kiss had been sweeter than any hed stolen, shared, or bought in all his years. He stepped back to see.
     
     
That was not pleasure he read on her face.
     
     
Hell, are you crying? Did I hurt you? Sometimes I forget my own strength. Clumsy ox, you know. Everyone knows. He babbled like one of those French officers, expecting to be tortured if they didnt tell all their secrets.
     
     
Miss Abbott sniffled. She didnt raise her eyes to him. She made that sound again, the one that might have been arousal, but was a smothered sob. No.
     
     
Daniel was relieved. Except when he tipped her chin up, he could see that she was still crying, with great round tears rolling down her cheeks. Gallons of guilt, they looked to him. He wasnt sure how, but he knew the deluge was his fault.
     
     
Itit was only a kiss. And maybe a pet or two. Im sorry. I really am.
     
     
She brushed a tear away with her hand. She looked as red and swollen as Daniel started to feel for the lie hed just spoken. He wasnt sorry at all.
     
     
He knew he was wrong. Great gods, did kisses come much more wrong than accosting a woman with a dicey past who was trying to land a husband? Assaulting a guest in his mothers parlor? He was ready to apologize, but in his heart, he was not sorry. Or wouldnt be if her lips stopped trembling and her shoulders stopped shaking.
     
     
It . . . it wasnt only a kiss, she said, sniffling again.
     
     
And an embrace. Its not as if I touchedor squeezed yourthat is, it wasnt much more than a kiss.
     
     
Another tear rolled down her cheek. Daniel wished he had the coat hed worn to dinner, with the handkerchief carefully tucked in the inside pocket by Dobbson. He picked up a piece of the gauzy thing shed tossed at him instead, the one that was tucked into her neckline earlier. The scrap wasnt good for anything else but rags now. He held it out.
     
     
She ignored it, his excuses, and him. She turned away to find a napkin near her teacup. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, not all that delicately.
     
     
When she appeared done, he addressed her back. I thought it was fairly nice, myself, certainly not bad enough to cry over. I can do better if you
     
     
It was what it meant, she said on a near