Free The Rules of Seduction by Madeline Hunter Page A

not?”
    His smile firmed enough to imply she had crossed a line. There was nothing new in that, and she let the question stand.
    “She is a child,” he said.
    “They are all children. If a woman at twenty-two is on the shelf, by necessity the churches are full of child brides.”
    “I have no interest in marrying in the near future, least of all a child. These girls have very frivolous, romantic notions that obligate a man to feign weakness and sentimentality. Also, she is my cousin. I know such matches are common enough, but it is an unhealthy practice and I do not approve of it.”
    Unhealthy?
“Benjamin Longworth was
my
cousin. I would not want to think that my love for him is unhealthy.”
    His face went blank. “Of course. My apologies, Miss Welbourne. I am at times too forceful in expressing opinions.”
    A tight little silence ensued.
    “Of course, we did not know each other as cousins when we were younger,” she said. “He had never known me as a young girl, and—”
    “Yes, exactly. You understand why a match with Caroline is…impossible.” He ended the topic by rising and strolling rather aimlessly around the chamber.
    “When did you meet Benjamin?” His query came casually, while he examined a domestic scene painted by Chardin. It had arrived along with several others soon after the Longworths left, a loan from Easterbrook’s collection to fill the empty walls.
    “When I joined them here in London. They lived in Cheapside then. I had written about my situation after father’s death, and Ben wrote back and said I must come. He was very kind.” Kind and joyful. The whole world became brighter when Ben was near. He inspired a lightness of the spirit, unlike the man with her now, who made her angry and always on her guard. “You said that you knew him when you were boys. Was the youth much like the man?”
    “Maturity did not change his basic character. He was as impulsive and as carefree when he was a lad. He caused a lot of mischief back then.”
    “He was a naughty child, you mean.”
    “In the best way. Although…the boy, like the man, often did not calculate the consequences of his actions.”
    “That is because Ben lived for the moment. He was not calculating at all. He counted on everything always working out in the end.”
    She loved that about him. She loved the way she felt free and almost reckless in Ben’s presence. Life had forced her to become so boring and sensible before his smiles for her warmed during their last year together.
    He had returned her youth to her for a short while, and she still hid that reborn, wistful girl in the same place where she guarded Benjamin’s memory.
    Rothwell had turned and was looking at her. He appeared hard again, and his dark blue eyes reflected deep calculation. Ben had never looked at people like that.
    She met his gaze. That was a mistake. The connection put her at a disadvantage, just as it had in the reception hall last week when he brought his aunt here. He looked too deeply and saw too much. She felt he was reading her heart.
    She reacted as she had too often to this man. It resembled the way Ben had made her feel, only it possessed darker tones. Danger tinged his attention, and fear shivered within the stimulation he provoked.
    She suffered it. She told herself she was standing her ground. The truth whispered in her heart, however. She was powerless to look away, to reject the excitement.
    “I expect life was never dull while you lived in this house,” he said.
    She felt herself flushing. It was as though he had seen those stolen kisses in her memory and now referred to them.
    He appeared about to speak again but was interrupted. A footman arrived to say that their attendance was requested in the library.
    “It appears the diversion is ready,” Lord Hayden said.
    He escorted her to the other room. His proximity reminded her of their tour of this house. That did not help her thwart the odd power he cast.
    “I enjoy speaking with