Page 20 of A Rogue Worth the Risk

Floating on a heady cloud of feathers and sparkles, and mayhap even a rainbow, Corinna dragged her mouth away from Caspian’s. She never wanted their kiss to end, but someone might come upon them. Kissing in full view of the corridor was asking for a scandal, and the consequences could be disastrous for two people not the least interested in marrying each other despite that marvelous kiss.

“We must stop, Caspian.”

Was that breathy voice hers?

All manner of winged insects fluttered madly around Corinna’s middle while her uncooperative knees had become the consistency of pudding and seemed incapable of holding her up.

Lord above, she must gather her scattered wits and pull herself together.

No more equilibrium-shattering kisses.

Besides, she was livid with the pompous bounder whose iron-like arms held her upright as she pressed her cheek into the impossibly hard wall of his chest. After all, he’d just told her that she wasn’t a marital prospect.

No, that wasn’t fair. Caspian had said that marriage wasn’t in his future—not that marriage to her wasn’t.

That knowledge didn’t console as much as it ought to have done. Instead, it left her dejected and flummoxed.

What had happened to so put him off the prospect of nuptials?

Corinna felt certain it had something to do with the fire.

“You must let me go,” Corinna whispered urgently, even though her limbs refused to budge, and his embrace was quite the most splendid thing. A warm, spicy, musky aroma clung to him. It proved an intoxicating aphrodisiac.

“Caspian.” She pushed ineffectually at his arms. “Someone might see us.”

Would see them, in a house bursting with guests and servants.

“Would that be so awful?” Caspian murmured into her temple.

Was he serious?

Didn’t he realize what that would mean?

A forced marriage. Not that Corinna would agree to such an awful arrangement. She would not.

He’d just said he had no plans to marry. Unless Caspian was impossibly daft—which he assuredly was not—he knew their embrace rendered her all but compromised.

Stupid that.

That a man and a woman couldn’t enjoy a kiss without Society reading the marriage banns was the epitome of hypocrisy.

Would that be so awful?

No, it mightn’t be at all.

But why would Caspian ask such a thing after soundly telling her he wasn’t marriage material?

Unless he was as conflicted as she. As befuddled and double-minded at these foreign emotions toppling all of her ramparts and battlements and making her question her long-held beliefs regarding marriage.

Nay, not marriage. Arranged marriages. Marriages of convenience. Forced marriages and affectionless Society matches based on station, power, breeding, and the size of the bride’s dowry.

“Need I remind you, Caspian, that you are the one who just told me you have no intention of marrying?” No malice threaded Corinna’s soft reprimand.

His expression grew guarded, but she forged onward.

Angling her chin upward in the manner Mama called headstrong, Corinna leveled him a starchy stare. At least she hoped it was starchy. She rather suspected she appeared more doe-eyed and mesmerized than censorial.

“I doubt our kiss changed your mind regarding the institution in the past few minutes.” She fingered his jacket’s lapel, trying but failing not to notice the sinewy breadth of his shoulders.