Free The Third Son by Elise Marion Page B

called to mind all manner of erotic thoughts. 
    “Esmeralda,” he said warmly, when the moonlight revealed her face. He thought he’d made such a mess of things with her the night before that she wouldn’t want to see him again. Yet here she was, standing mere inches away from him.
    “I came to apologize,” she said, her hands still tightly clasped in front of her. “For my behavior last night.” 
    Damien couldn’t control the upward movement of his brow, or mask his disbelief. She, apologize to him? “I’m the one who should apologize,” he said once he had recovered. “I acted like a cad and you had every right to be offended.”
    “But I wasn’t offended,” she said, her voice a near whisper. Her eyelids lowered demurely. Damien had assumed when seeing her dance, that she was an experienced woman. No woman he had ever known moved with such an inborn sensuality. I t was plainly obvious after her response to him when he’d kissed her and her reticence here tonight that she was innocent and untouched. Damien could hardly believe the odds.
    “You weren’t?” he prodded, not wanting to frighten her, but wanting to know more. She shook her head, causing the ruffled maid’s cap to slip back a little on her head. Her masses of hair were fighting for freedom , several tendrils had come loose just in the short time they had been speaking. Damien clamped down on his desire to snatch the cap away and send her ebony waves cascading down her back. He clasped his hands loosely behind his back.
    “You caught me a little off guard,” she said, taking a tentative step toward him. “But I shouldn’t have thrown you out of my house. It was rude.”
    Damien gestured toward a chaise lounge in the middle of the balcony and waited for Esmeralda to sit before sinking down beside her. “I was the one who was rude. You told me about yourself. You let down your guard to me , which is something I sense you don’t do for very many people.” Esmeralda nodded. Damien continued. “You gave me a chance to do the same, to share a little of myself with you and I acted like a moron.”
    “Well maybe you can make it up to me,” she said, jumping at the chance to change the subject. She would not let him know how his kiss had affected her. “Tell me about that thing you were looking into earlier.”
    Damien stood and grabbed the long black instrument from the balcony rail. “This? You’ve never seen a telescope before?” He smiled when she shook her head.  
    “My father told me about them,” she said wistfully. “I’ve never seen one in person though.”
    “Well, allow me to demonstrate how it works,” he said handing her the portable telescope an d pointed out various constellations. Esmeralda noticed the way his face softened and his eyes lit up as he showed her each cluster of stars and the history behind them. 
    “I would not have guessed that you were interested in something as intellectual as astronomy.”
    She gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. “I am so sorry! I did not mean to insult you.”
    Damien merely shrugged and returned the telescope to its case.
    “It is not common knowledge,” he said, rejoining her on the chaise. “My less reputable hobbies are more known than my intellectual ones. I have several telescopes, of varying sizes and for different purposes, kept in the observatory in the east wing of the palace. My personal library contains several volumes on astronomy, poetry, botany, and biology.”
    “The rumors I’ve heard about you make you seem so superficial,” she said. “ It is hard to believe that a man who speaks so eloquently of poetry and science could be the same drinking, gambling rakehell I’ve heard so many stories of? How is it that no one seems to know of your many other interests?”
    “That is mostly my fault,” he admitted, toying with his signet ring to keep from touching her skin. “I have kept these interests mostly to myself, though my