“Don’t.” She jerked away. Kismet shifted restlessly at her rider’s abrupt movement.
“You’ve never been kissed before, have you?” Merrick didn’t sound his usual mocking self. He sounded shaken. The silvery eyes were soft as autumn mist and his mouth was soft, too, full and so tempting it made her ache.
She blinked, horrified to realize she stared at him like a child entranced by Christmas candles. “What… what did you say?”
He regarded her almost tenderly. A warning clanged in her mind’s distant reaches. Beware. Beware.
“You’ve never been kissed before.”
She frowned, trying to make sense of the words. “Of course I have.”
A skeptical lift of one black eyebrow. “Thousands of times, I’ll warrant.”
She flushed and her hands fisted on the reins as she fought the desire to slap him. “Well, once. You kissed me last night.” Her voice developed an edge. “Or don’t you remember?”
His hand slid under her chin and tilted her face. He inspected her like a bizarre new species under a naturalist’s magnifying glass. “Of course I remember, bella. The memory haunts me. It’s just that you’re more… untouched than I’d realized.”
Annoyance coiled in her belly that he dared to mock her inexperience. She tugged her chin free. “I don’t make a habit of associating with unprincipled rakes. Why are you making so much of this? You know I’m a virgin.”
“Oh, yes.” Something flared in his deep-set silver eyes before he lowered his eyelids and studied her mouth. “But you’re even more… virgin than I’d guessed.”
“You can’t be more virgin than a virgin,” she snapped.
He leaned forward with unmistakable intention. She’d had enough of lying kisses and sarcastic teasing. She twisted to avoid him. Kismet snorted and sidled uneasily.
“Whoa there!” Merrick grabbed Kismet’s bridle and the horse immediately settled. “Get down, Sidonie.”
The brusque tone lifted every hackle that hadn’t risen when he’d derided her awkwardness. “Just because I let you kiss me doesn’t mean I’m about to lie down for you.”
He was still laughing at her. “Even I’m not so presumptuous, bella. But you’re overdue for a lesson in kissing and I can’t do the task justice when we’re in danger of tumbling on our arses.”
If her face got any hotter, it would burst into flame. “I have no wish to suffer further tawdry pawing.”
“Interest in physical pleasure is perfectly natural. Nothing to be ashamed of.” He dismounted and tied the bay’s reins on its neck so they didn’t dangle. “There’s no need to apologize.”
Oh, she really wanted to slap him. Her hand curled in its glove. “I’m not apologizing.”
He ignored her. “You must be burning with curiosity.”
“I’m burning with the desire to box your ears.”
He slapped the bay’s rump so the horse trotted out of the way with a snort, then strode across to where Sidonie sat fuming on Kismet. “Repressed passion turns violent if unaddressed.”
“Only if one is mentally deranged.”
“I look forward to deranging you, tesoro. Now don’t gallop away.” He caught the bridle. His instincts were acute indeed. She’d been about to canter off. “Wouldn’t you rather discover what you’ve been missing?”
“You just showed me what I’ve been missing. Such a lot of fuss about nothing.”
“You weren’t complaining a few minutes ago.”
He still smiled. Blast him, he wasn’t taking her seriously. Perhaps because, blast her, for one forbidden moment she’d been idiotic enough to kiss him back. “You caught me by surprise.”
“Then this time consider yourself forewarned.” He released Kismet and grabbed Sidonie’s waist. She wasn’t a small woman. Compared to Roberta, she was a lumbering draft horse. But Merrick easily lifted her to the ground.
“The horses will bolt,” she said shakily, unaccountably wobbly on her feet with him so near. Her heart dived and swooped in her chest in a most disconcerting fashion. She was unbearably conscious of those hard, strong hands constraining her.
“If they do, they’ll just go back to the stables and we’ll have a walk back.” As if to prove her fears groundless, Kismet sidled a few yards then stopped beside the bay.