But she did. Her feminine heart needed reassurance. “You didn’t like kissing me?”
“I liked it well enough, princess. What I didn’t like was you using me for your play toy.”
Flushing, she looked away. “I didn’t.”
“Sure you did. Why else would you invite me up here except to try your wiles out on me? You’ve been waiting for a chance to corner me all summer.”
What could she say in her defense? That she hadn’t spent the past five months watching Lance and wondering what it would be like to have him attracted to her, to have him look at her with desire? To deny it outright would be a lie. But Lance wronged her if he thought she was only testing her own power when she had asked him to kiss her. She had wanted his kiss, more than she’d wanted anything in a long while.
“Well, nobody forced you to kiss me. You didn’t have to if you didn’t want to.”
“I wanted to, princess. I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t want to.” His half smile was hard, self-mocking. “But I don’t aim to become part of your collection.”
Summer felt the bittersweetness of that smile arrow straight to her heart. She had never really seen Lance smile. Not a true smile of pleasure or joy. She wondered what it would take to coax a real smile from him. What it would take to make him look at a woman—to look at her—with love in his eyes instead of that rebellious, brooding stare that was so much a part of him. She thought she might like to try.
Tilting her head to one side, she softened her expression, giving him a questioning look of appeal. “Do you truly think me so vain and shallow?”
“I don’t think you want an honest answer to that.”
She bit her lip. “Well, I think it mean-spirited of you to blame me for my circumstances. I can’t help it if I’ve never had to suffer life’s misfortunes.”
His deliberate silence spoke volumes. Uncomfortable, Summer thought it best to change the subject—and to satisfy her curiosity at the same time. “You ridiculed me for my experience. What about yours? Where did you learn to kiss like that?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Yes, I do so. And please quit telling me what I might or might not want.”
“Okay, then. I learned it from one of the whores in Georgetown who didn’t mind bedding down with a redskin.”
“Oh.” Her tone was faint.
“You asked, princess.”
“Well, you didn’t have to tell me! You shouldn’t say such things to a lady,” she protested, even as she recognized the silliness of her rebuke.
His hard mouth curled at the corner.
“Have you kissed a lot of ladies?”
“If I had, it would hardly be a gentlemanly thing to admit, now would it?” He paused. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? A gentleman?”
“I like a man to be gentlemanly and polite, yes. My sister raised me to value good manners.”
“I’m sure she did. Miss Amelia always put great store in such things. Why, she could write a book on manners, I’ll bet. I remember when I was a boy working at the livery, when your pa brought your family to town. Miss Amelia always looked straight through me, just like I didn’t exist. I was beneath her notice, like horse manure she didn’t want to step on. Set a prime example of fine manners, I’d say.”
Stiffening at his sarcasm, Summer came to her sister’s defense. “Amelia didn’t mean anything by it. She was just afraid of you being part Comanche. She couldn’t forget how our mama died.”
“And you could?”
Summer thought about his question. “I was young when it happened, so I don’t remember it as well as she does. And I don’t think it’s fair to blame you for what someone else did.”
“So why are you bothering with the likes of me, princess? Taking pity on the savage breed? Or trying out your latest tricks, to see if you can make me dance to your tune?”
Summer flushed, uncomfortable with Lance’s discernment. She took refuge in righteous indignation. “Will you please stop calling yourself that?”
“What, breed? Why? That’s what I am.”
“Perhaps, but you don’t have to keep flinging it in everyone’s face as if it were some sort of badge of honor! Or a red flag in front of a bull!”