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He scowled at that “I saw you leave the box without escort”
“My brother knohere I am”
“Your brother has never in his life accepted an ounce of responsibility” He ca could happen to you out here”
Juliana , quiet hallway “Yes It’s very threatening”
“So out for your reputation You could be accosted”
“By whom?”
He paused at that “By anyone! By an actor! Or a footman!”
“Or a duke?”
His brows knitted together, and there was a pause “I suppose I deserve that”
He did not deserve it Not really She turned back to the“I did not ask you to come after me”
There was a longhim to leave when he said, softly, “No You didn’t”
She snapped her head around at the admission “Then why are you here?”
He ran a hand through his golden curls and Juliana’s eyes widened at the movement, so uncontrolled and unlike him, a mark of his disquiet
“It was a mistake”
Disappoint a wide sweep of the corridor with one hand “One easily corrected, Your Grace I believe your box is on the opposite side of the theatre Shall I ask a foot accosted?”
His lips pressed into a straight line, the only indication that he had registered the sarcash Lord knows that was likely a mistake as well, albeit an unavoidable one” He stopped, considering his next words “Iin Hyde Park”
“The afternoon in Hyde Park,” she added softly, and his gaze flew to hers
“I would have preferred not to have given the gossipret saving you” There was so in the words, irritation mixed with an eone when he continued, coolly, “The rest, though, it cannot continue I should never have agreed to it to begin with That was theto see that you are virtually incapable of behaving with decorum I should never have humored you”
Humored her
Theof the words echoed even as he danced around what he was really trying to say
She was not good enough for him
She never had been
And she would never be good enough for the world in which he lived
As e his view of her, that she would prove hiivenessfor her attentionthe resolve in his tone gave her pause
She refused to be hurt by hiive them all too much power over her There were others who did not think her somehow less because she had been born in Italy, because she had been born coled with the rules and restrictions of this neorld
She would not be hurt
She would be angry
Anger, at least, was an emotion she could master
And as long as she was angry, he would not win
“Hu so that they were face-to-face “Youyour view of a situation, Your Grace, but I a minions”
His jaw steeled at the words, and she pressed on “You did not appear to be reed to teeks; and youht and firave me teeks By my count, I still have ten days”
She stepped closer to hi, and heard the shift in his breathing—the tension that would have been imperceptible were she not so close
Were she not so angry
Were she not so drawn to him
“Ithat she tempted fate and that, with a word of refusal, he could end it all
The er aze She lowered her attention to his lips—to their fir lines
A mistake
Suddenly, the opendid nothing for the stifling air in the theatre Thein the dim hallwaythe desire for more of them overwhelmed all else
Her eyes skidded back to his, their amber darkened to a rich oak
He wants me, too
The thought sent a shiver of fire through her
He stepped closer They were touching now, just barely, the swell of her breasts brushing his wide chest Her breath caught
“You don’t need ot an earl in the palm of your hand”
Confusion flared at the words and his nearness “An earl?”
“I saw you with Allendale, laughing andcozy” The last caravel
“Allendale?” She repeated like an i about? Understanding dawned “Oh Benedick”
Soether safe flashed in his eyes “You should not refer to him with such familiarity”
A thread of excitery Nohe looked livid He looked jealous
The look was gone before she could savor it, shuttered behind his careful gaze, but courage surged nonetheless, and she gave hi smile “You mean I should not refer to him by his name?”
“Not by that name”
“You did not ascribe to such rules e metSimon” She said his name on a whisper, and the breath of it curled between them like temptation
He inhaled sharply “I should have”
“But you wantedyou were not”
“I think ere both guilty of hiding our true identities”
Sadness flared, er “I did not hide”
“No? Then why did I believe you were—”
More She heard the word Loathed it
“You seeh then” She lifted her chin, her lips a hairsbreadth from his
Desire was coht not want to want her—but he did She could feel it
He leaned in, and she held her breath, waiting for the feel of those unforgiving lips—wanting them with a desperation to which she would never admit
The world faded away, and there was nothing but this aze on hers, his war her His mouth hovered above hers; she could feel his soft breath on her skin and she wanted to scream with the anticipation
“You are a scandal waiting to happen”
The words were a kiss of breath, their feel running counter to theirback, away fro
“One I cannot afford,” he added
“You want me” She winced at the desperation in the accusation; wished, instantly, that she could take it back
He was stone “Of course I want you I would have to be dead not to want you You’re bright and beautiful, and you respond to me in a way that makes me want to throw you down and bend you toher wide eyes “But actions have consequences, Miss Fiori A fact you would do well to reames”
She narrowed her gaze “I am not a child”
“No? You haven’t any idea what you’re doing What if you were to teach me about your precious passion, Juliana? What then? What next?”
The question whipped through her She had no answer