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Alexia trailed off, for Lord Maccon had stood up from the tiny couch, which creaked at the loss, and advanced purposefully toward her He certainly was good at loo so sruffly, "was not the reason"

"Perhaps," Miss Tarabotti offered, hands up before her in a defensive position, "you thought better of it because you realized how ignoble it would be: the Earl of Woolsey and a twenty-six-year-old spinster?"

"Is that your real age?" hetoward her Heway, and under the brown of his expertly cut jacket, solid y directed at her

Miss Tarabotti backed away and caback armchair "My father was an Italian; did you remember that all of a sudden?"

Lord Maccon moved closer, slowly, ready to pounce if she decided to bolt His eyes were ale about the edge Alexia had never noticed before how black and thick his eyelashes were

He said, "And I hail froin is worse in the eyes of London society, do you think?"

Alexia touched her nose and considered the dark tenor of her skin "I have other flaws Perhaps ti over the matter made these more apparent?"

Lord Maccon reached forward and gently pulled her hand away froht it doard her other hand and then trapped both together in one big paw

Miss Tarabotti blinked at him from a scarce few inches away She hardly dared breathe, not quite certain if he was actually going to eat her or not She tried to look away, but it was nigh impossible His eyes had turned back to tawny brown as soon as he touched her--his hu a relief, this color was er there

"Uh, my lord, I am not actually food You do realize this, yes?"

Lord Maccon bent forward

Alexia watched him until she went almost cross-eyed This close, she could shts all about hiain

Lord Maccon kissed the very tip of her nose Nothing enerous mouth, a bit like a fish "Wha?"

He drew her back in toward hie is not an issue What does it matter to me how old or how much a spinster youa bachelor?" He kissed her temple "And I love Italy Beautiful countryside, fabulous food" He kissed her other te, don’t you?" He kissed her nose again

Alexia could not help herself; she drew back and gave him the once-over "Clearly"

He winced "Touche"

Alexia was not one to let the roveled "Because I a in the company of the pack and too little in the company of the rest of the world"

It was not an explanation, but Alexia decided she would have to settle for it "That was an apology, was it?" she asked, just to make perfectly certain

It see out of hi her in the affirh she were an aniht of her as--a cat perhaps? Cats were not, in her experience, an anieneral rule It would suit her very well to be thought catlike

"Full h this were some kind of clarification, "is just round the corner" A pause "You understand?"

Miss Tarabotti had no idea what he was on about "Uh"

His voice dropped, low, almost ashamed "Not much control"

Miss Tarabotti widened her dark brown eyes and batted her eyelashes to try and hide her perplexed expression It was an Ivy maneuver

Then he did kiss her properly and fully Which was not exactly what she had intended by applying eyelash flapping, but she was not about to co

As before, he started slowly, lulling her with soft drugging kisses His mouth was unexpectedly cool He ran a path of little fluttering nibbles over her lower lip and then applied the sa The tongue phenoain This ti In fact, she thought she ht even like it But, like caviar, she suspected she’d have to try it more than once to be confident in her enjoye He also appeared to be staying quiteto find the cluttered front parlor overly oppressive This polarity annoyed her

Lord Maccon stopped nibbling and went back to long soft kisses Alexia, never one for patience, was now finding the A whole new source of annoyance Clearly, she would have to take ue, as the case ainst his lips That got a whole new agreeable reaction out of thehisher closer He let go of her hands and curved one of his up into her hair, tangling his fingers in the heavy curls Alexia was certain, with a tinyit up le of her head in harmony with his wishes As his wishes appeared to prescribe further kissing Alexia decided to let hi his other hand up and down her back in long strokes Definitely a cat, thought Alexia groggily Her les that proxi through her body with alar intensity

The earl turned them both about where they stood Alexia was not certain why, but she was inclined to cooperate so long as he did not stop kissing her He did not He arranged it so that he could sink slowly down onto the wingback ar, but there Miss Alexia Tarabotti inexplicably found herself, bustle hiked up and all her layers of skirts askew, sitting in Lord Maccon’s well-tailored lap

He , but then began nibbling her neck, which was gratifying He lifted one dark curl away froed locks fell over one shoulder He ran the strand between his fingertips and then pushed the silkenher breath

Suddenly he stopped and jerked back The wingback chair, already taxed by two occupants--neither of wholy "What the hell is that?" yelled Lord Maccon

He had turned to anger so swiftly; Alexia could only stare at him, speechless

She let out her pent-up breath in a whoosh Her heart was beating a ion of her throat, her skin felt hot and stretched taut over her bones, and she was daentlewo at her coffee-colored skin, discolored between the neck and shoulder region by an ugly purple mark, the size and shape of a man’s teeth