"What do you mean?"
Julienne looked down at him in appraisal. "You went to a great deal of trouble and expense to coerce me here, and yet you have made no attempts at seduction since my arrival. I feel like a mouse under the cat's paw, waiting to be devoured."
"And here I thought I deserved some credit for showing restraint and not making a nuisance of myself." He raised an eyebrow. "What? Did you expect I would bring you here and assault you? That I would have my wicked way with you in front of all my guests?"
"I certainly would not put it past you."
Dare smiled that celebrated smile, devastating and suggestive. "My deepest apologies if you are feeling neglected, cherie. If you will climb down from that horse, I will be most happy to apply my best efforts at seduction."
She wanted to deny that she was feeling neglected, but absurdly it was true. She would tread over hot coals, however, before she allowed Dare to know it. "I don't wish you to seduce me. It is simply that I don't trust you. I think you are planning something, and I would like to know what it is."
At her remark about trust, his mouth tightened momentarily, making Julienne regret her choice of words.
Taking a steadying breath, she tempered her complaint. "You have comported yourself as such a gentleman recently that I scarcely recognize you. I keep waiting for you to show your true colors. I thought you intended to win our wager."
"Oh, I do," he said with infuriating smugness. "But allow me to point out that you've made no significant effort to win our wager yourself. What has stopped you? It would take little more than a glance to have me drooling at your feet like those other dim-witted saps. You could have me quaking with just a touch."
The image of Dare shuddering in her arms was wholly arousing and infinitely disturbing, and so was his next remark.
"What do you say that I visit your rooms tonight? We could take up where we left off two weeks ago, but this time we would enjoy a comfortable bed. I assure you, it would vastly improve my mood. I'm finding that celibacy doesn't agree with me in the slightest. It not only has a gravely deleterious effect on my spirits but on my body as well. I feel as if I'm on fire all the time."
Strangely, Julienne felt a measure of relief at his offer. This was the Dare North she knew-lustful, seductive, and oh so tempting. But no matter how he had just bolstered her flagging self-esteem with his unexpected admissions, she didn't intend to repeat her mistake of two weeks ago by letting him make love to her.
"Do you know, I believe I will ride on ahead after all," she observed, gathering the reins.
"Coward," he murmured, amusement lacing his voice.
"Not at all," Julienne retorted in a dulcet tone. "I am merely weary of listening to your tedious propositions."
As she spurred her mount forward, she heard Dare's soft laughter following her. But whatever guilt she might have felt for abandoning him dissipated when shortly she passed a groom leading a fresh horse for him.
When she arrived at his residence, she was told by the august butler that the other guests had gathered in the drawing room for tea. Julienne went upstairs to her bedchamber to change her riding habit, but once she had done so, she suddenly found herself reluctant to face the company.
Flinging herself on her bed, she lay staring up at the canopy overhead, feeling restless and dissatisfied and more melancholy than she had any right to feel. It dismayed her how Dare could hold such power over her, no matter what he said or did.
After another quarter hour, however, she finally rose and left her bedchamber, intending to go below to join the company.
She froze when she spied Dare farther down the corridor. He was still in his riding clothes, and he had just emerged from a bedchamber that was not his own.
Dare froze as well. He had expected Julienne to be with the others. He'd paid the Covent Garden actress Fanny Upcott to keep Riddingham occupied while he searched the viscount's room, looking for any incriminating evidence. It was unfortunate that Julienne had discovere
d him in the act.
Dare set his jaw, knowing he could either try to bluff his way out or risk telling her the truth.
Still weighing the decision, he moved toward her.
"I suppose you have a good reason for being in Lord Riddingham's bedchamber?" she remarked when he reached her.
Meeting her puzzled gaze, he raised an eyebrow.
"How do you know which bedchamber belongs to Riddingham?"
"Because I've seen him entering it before. And pray don't think to avoid my question by changing the subject. What were you doing in there? You are far too wealthy to steal his possessions." When Dare hesitated, Julienne added tartly, "I doubt you want me to tell him that you have been rifling through his belongings."
It was clearly a threat, one that rankled Dare. Thinking to intimidate her, he stepped closer and braced one hand on the wall behind Julienne, deliberately crowding her. He could feel her soft bosom against his chest, her thighs pressed hard against his, and the sudden ache in his loins grew and spread to the rest of his body. Even more deliberately he reached up to splay his hand between her breasts and felt her heart jump against his palm.
Julienne did indeed feel intimidated. The neckline of her afternoon gown was not immodestly low, but she deplored the intensely wicked sensation of Dare's warm hand through the fabric, of his fingers brushing her skin above the bodice.