Page 23 of A Relentless Rake

“I very much doubt that,” she drawled.

His eyes shone wickedly.

She scowled. “What do you want? Why are you here?” But the harsh demand she’d aimed for emerged as a breathless whisper.

“Your brother disappeared a few days ago.” His dark gaze lowered to her neck as if he were contemplating kissing her there. “Where was he?”

“I don’t know.” A lie, and she didn’t care. She didn’t mind discussing their work, but their personal lives were off-limits. “Who are you? Surely, you have a name.”

Ignoring her question, he raised his hand to her shoulder and slid his palm across the thin material of the robe to her neck. Goose bumps formed on her skin in the wake of his touch. “You’re not playing by the rules.”

His fingers trailed down her throat to the hollow at her collarbone, where she feared he could feel her racing pulse. When he smiled down at her, sheknewhe felt it, which only made it race harder. She rasped out, “What rules?”

“Surely you want sparkling jewels to wear around this pretty neck of yours with that ball gown and slippers.” He gently brushed his fingertip against her earlobe, and electricity jolted through her. “And earbobs. It would be a shame if you appeared at your ball half-dressed.” His seductive voice wrapped around her like a velvet ribbon. “I would hate to put you into a state of dishabille if I wasn’t allowed to witness it.”

An ache throbbed wantonly between her thighs. Their conversation had taken an intimate turn, although she couldn’t have said through the foggy confusion muddling her mind whether he was flirting with her or warning her away.

“If you want a full costume for your ball, then you need to offer up more information.” His dark eyes fell hungrily to her mouth. “And I don’t mean about arches.”

Beneath his stare, she couldn’t help but dart out the tip of her tongue to wet her suddenly dry lips.

A faint groan sounded in the back of his throat, and her eyes dropped to his neck. It should have been covered by a cloth, yet it was rakishly bare. Inexplicably, she longed to put her mouth there, to feel the warmth of his skin beneath her lips and taste the salty flavor of him.

“Where was your brother?” He touched her chin and lifted her face to keep her attention on him, although she couldn’t have looked away if she tried. “Who was he with?”

“He was at some silly country party,” she whispered, unable to speak any louder. “With the men from the Royal Society.”

“That’s what he told you?”

“Not until he returned.” His mouth lingered close to hers, so close that surely they breathed the same air. Disappointment panged in her chest that he wasn’t kissing her, that his lips weren’t on hers and flaming the ache between her legs into a wildfire. All he had to do to kiss her was simply lower his head. All she had to do was rise up on tiptoes…

“That’s why you were looking for him last night,” he murmured. “You had no idea where he’d gone.”

“Yes.” She frowned. “But I found you instead.”

He smiled faintly at that, and his thumb slipped across her chin to trace over her bottom lip. She trembled. If she touched the tip of her tongue to his thumb, what would he do? Would he pull back in surprise, or would he let her taste him?

“Why didn’t he tell you before he left?” he prompted gently. “Was it because he wanted to hide from his sister that he was drinking, gambling, and enjoying women?”

“Henry doesn’t do those sorts of things.” She would have laughed at the idea if her insides weren’t churning with confusion and desire.

His thumb looped up to trace along the heart-shaped curve of her upper lip and teased lightly at its center dip. “He doesn’t enjoy gentlemanly amusements?”

“He’s not that kind of gentleman.” Her lips tickled against his thumb with each word.

“And you?” he purred wickedly. He hooked his thumb over her bottom lip and gently tugged to open her mouth so he could slip his thumb inside and caress across her smooth inner lip. “Are you that kind of woman?”

She fought back a moan, far too tempted to close her lips around his thumb and suck—

Yes, she wanted to admit.Yes, I am.Even now, her body traitorously remembered the solid feel of a man on top of her and his body moving inside hers, and her heart remembered the exquisite warmth of being with the man she loved. God help her, but she wanted to capture those sensations again and pull them deep inside until she burst from the fullness of them all. Until she shattered with need and release—

“No,” he answered his own question with a sigh of disappointment. “Of course you’re not.” He dropped his hand away and muttered, “You’re too prim and proper…every inch respectable.”

Apparently, he also thought she was every inch a bore. Oh, if only he knew the truth! But she couldn’t tell him. No one couldeverknow.

Just as she knew she could never tell anyone about this evening. No one would believe her masked man wasn’t a dream. She could barely believe it herself.

She cleared her throat to dislodge the knot there, but she could do nothing about the throbbing ache at her core. “Is that all, then?” She stepped back. There was safety in distance. “Did you find the information you came seeking tonight?”