As the silence extended, she sidled from one foot to the other. “You’re making me feel like a side of beef in a butcher’s window,” she muttered. “And as if you’re wondering whether I’m worth the extra penny in the pound.”
He laughed. “I’d never choose such an unflattering description. I’m just deciding when I’ll take today’s kiss.”
Oh, dear Lord. She wasn’t prepared for the arrangement to begin straightaway. “Perhaps we should get it out of the way.”
Laughter lit his eyes, even as she wanted to kick herself. She kept putting her foot in her mouth. Yet before this, she’d never have said she was particularly maladroit in social situations.
Curse Hugh. It was all his fault.
“That’s an idea.” His deep voice wrapped around her like a warm blanket and made her blood pump slow and thick.
He cupped her jaw. To her shame, she jumped like a startled rabbit. Inevitably she recalled how she’d felt last night, plastered against that broad, powerful chest. Her heart took a dizzying swoop down, then up, until it lodged in her throat.
“Jane, Jane, meet me halfway,” he said, in that same alluring tone.
She met dark eyes glowing with interest. She’d never imagined Hugh Rutherford looking at her like this. Like she was a bonbon, and he was a man with a very sweet tooth.
She wasn’t sure she liked it. Life was simpler when he was her amiable childhood friend, rather than her ardent suitor.
“I’ll try,” she said shakily, overwhelmingly conscious of his hand on her face.
“I hope so,” he said, without a hint of rebuke, although surely it was a rebuke. “Or this won’t succeed at all.”
Lightly his thumb stroked the corner of her lips, making them tingle. His brilliant eyes filled her vision, and the room receded. She swayed, and Hugh caught her by the waist, setting off another sizzle of heat.
“Breathe, Jane,” he whispered.
Oh, what a goose she was. She parted her lips and gulped air into her starved lungs. Her sight cleared, and her legs no longer felt likely to collapse beneath her.
“You’re quite lovely,” he murmured, as if speaking to himself and not her. His fierce concentration on her mouth turned her knees to jelly all over again. “Why didn’t I ever notice?”
She wanted to say it was his turn to be tactless. But she wasn’t miffed. Instead, she felt that he found a beauty in her that nobody else ever had. The stab of grateful pleasure made her want to cry. After so long being overlooked and neglected, Hugh’s admiration felt like rain falling on a desert. Blinking at the mist in front of her eyes, she dredged up a croaky response. “I don’t suppose you ever looked before.”
“Which makes me a blind fool,” he retorted, with the self-deprecating humor she’d always liked.
Standing in his hold, her body softened. It was a queer feeling, as if her very bones molded to his hands. This close, she caught his scent. Lemon soap. Healthy male.
Did he loom closer? Or did she lean in, drawn like a tide to his attraction? He flattened his hand across the small of her back and angled her in his direction, still keeping up that teasing caress on her face.
Her breath emerged in uneven gasps. Her head swam with conflicting impulses. To run. To stay. To please. To protest. What on earth had made her think that
marriage would prove an uncomplicated partnership?
Fate must be snickering at her naivety. Right now, she’d never felt more at sea.
His focus sharpened on her. Every drop of moisture dried from her mouth. When she licked parched lips, he muffled a groan.
She tilted her face up. Curiosity outweighed any lingering reluctance. Last night his kisses had undermined her sense of herself. Had that been a trick of circumstance, or something more indelible? She closed her eyes and silently told him to get on with it. A hum of anticipation escaped her.
“Shall I kiss you now, or save it for later?” He still sounded like a man choosing a bonbon from a gift box.
Jane barely resisted crying out, “Pick me, pick me!” Why the devil was he talking, when those lips could be doing so many other enjoyable things? “Hugh,” she grumbled.
“You know, I’m famous for my patience…”
Patience? What drivel was this? She strained closer.
Abruptly he released her. Her eyes snapped open, and she staggered. He stood several feet away, looking like the man she’d known all her life. Calm. Sensible. Genial.