lower over her face. âAs for this Portal of Venus you keep going on about, it was a mistake. Myâ¦my dear friend who brought me here was going to point it out but she gotâ¦distracted. How was I to know what the Portal of Venus was?â
âI regret Lady Whitmore didnât have a chance to show you,â he drawled, shocking her. He knew sheâd come with Lina. Well, there was nothing remarkable about thatâtheyâd been standing together during that ridiculous ceremony with its terrible Latin. âBut thatâs hardly an excuse. All you had to do was look.The Portal of Venus,â he said patiently, âis the round entrance to the first garden, surrounded by boxwood and maidenhair ferns. It resemblesâ¦â
âOh, how revolting! â Charlotte cried, with no need for him to continue.
âOn the contrary, I tend to find it quiteâ¦hmmâ¦stimulating. But I believe I did mention that I reserve my attentions for women, did I not?â
There was no other way out, she thought desperately. Where the hell was Lina when she needed her? Off enjoying the attentions of who knew how many, her idiot of a cousin forgotten.
âYes, you did,â she said calmly, dropping all effort to disguise her voice. He wouldnât recognize it anyway, not from one short conversation in a noisy ballroom. âBut Viscount Rohan is known for his excellent taste. His mistresses are some of the most beautiful women in the world.â
âNow, how would you know of my mistresses?â he murmured, amused.
She ignored the question. âYou would hardly lower your standards toâ¦toâ¦bed an unwilling antidote, a plain old maid.â
He surveyed her figure in silence for a moment, and she had the odd notion that he could not only see beneath the enveloping hood, but also see through to her flaws and imperfections. âThe word is fuck, â he said deliberately. âAnd you wouldnât be unwilling.â There was a calm certainty in his voice, as if heâdbeen privy to her awful dreams. âYou greatly underestimate your charms.â His hand tightened, and he pulled her toward him, slowly, inexorably. She tried to put her hands between them, but it was already too late to fight him, and he simply clamped her against him, against his strong, hard body. She could feel him, as she had in her dreams, and she wanted to cry. So close, so tantalizingly close, and all she had to do was pull back her cowl and heâd release her, shocked, horrified, perhaps disgusted at the thought of the mistake heâd almost made.
But she couldnât get her hands freeâthey were trapped between their bodies. Heâd managed to restrain her with just one arm, and his hand reached up toward her hidden face.
âYou donât want to do this,â she said desperately.
âOf course I do. Iâve wanted to for a long time, Miss Spenser.â And he pushed the hood from her head, caught her stubborn chin in one strong hand and kissed her.
Â
Lina heard the sound first. A grating noise, like some strange bird, she thought. A jackdaw or perhaps a crow. She opened her eyes and realized sheâd fallen asleep beside Montyâs chaise. She was sitting on the floor, fully dressed, her head cradled in her arms, and Monty slept on, oblivious to the most irritating bird that wasâ¦
âAhem.â
No, that wasnât a bird. That was someone clearing his throat, and she lifted her head and turned, not bothering to rise, assuming it was simply Dodson with some tea and toast.
It wasnât. It was a man sheâd never seen before, soberly dressed in black with white linen. No lace, no jewels, no ornament of any kind, and he was looking down on her with a shadowed expression that doubtless signaled deep disapproval. She felt herself flush. She, who prided herself on being shameless.
She started to rise, and he held out one hand to assist her. Sheâd
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes