His gambit had exactly the effect he’d been hoping for. Miss Narayan’s eyes went wide at the liberty he was granting her. “I cannot,” she said. There was more to those two words than her inability to call him by his given name. “You do not understand, my lord,” she said, tucking herself tightly into the carriage seat.
“Francis,” he reminded her. “And I would understand more if you would explain to me.”
Miss Narayan’s expression tightened with misery. Several long minutes passed as they made their way through London. Francis was convinced she would remain tight-lipped and closed up.
She surprised him when they were nearly all the way across town by finally saying, “I find you to be an entirely agreeable gentleman. You are well-bred, well-spoken, and well-formed.” Her cheeks flushed a bit with that last admission, and she seemed unable to meet his eyes. “And I know what it is that you wish from me,” she went on, “but I am not at liberty to grant it.”
Francis smiled as his heart lifted. She liked him. Quite a bit, he would wager. The rest could be sorted. He was certain Miss Narayan’s father and brother played a role in her reluctance to open herself to the idea of being courted by an English earl, but such trivialities could be overcome.
“A woman should be at liberty to give her heart away where she alone sees fit,” he said in a seductive purr, leaning forward until he sat on the edge of his seat. He caught her hands, pulling them away from the reticule in her lap and prompting her to look up and meet his eyes. “A woman’s heart should be hers and hers alone to give away as she pleases.”
The warm whimper that escaped from Miss Narayan’s lips before she could stop it was all the proof Francis needed that he would win this game in the end. There was so much emotion in Miss Narayan’s eyes, so much desire, that Francis was spurred to make his greatest gamble yet.
He leaned even farther forward, dropping to his knees and pulling Miss Narayan toward him. He slipped one arm around her back and cradled the side of her face with his other hand before surging into her and slanting his mouth over hers. It was wildly inappropriate, and she would have had every right to slap the audacity out of him.
Instead, she whimpered again and gave herself over to their kiss. She was tremulous and hesitant at first, which convinced Francis that the amazing woman had never been properly kissed before. She was a fast learner, though, and as he deepened his ardor, stroking his tongue against her lips to convince her to part them, she shuddered.
It was everything he could have asked for and more. She opened to him, allowing him to kiss her from his heart. The sounds she made had his prick filling with need and images of spreading her on her back in his bed rushing to his mind. He restrained himself as much as he could, wanting to tease and tempt her instead of frighten her. But right from the start of that kiss, he knew their moment would come.
The kiss stopped abruptly when the carriage jerked to a halt. It was enough of a shock that Francis sucked in a breath and pulled away from her. Miss Narayan’s mouth remained open for a moment and her eyes unfocused with desire. A moment after that and she gasped as the reality of their situation came back to her.
“Oh, dear,” she said, darting an anxious look out the window. When she saw they’d reached her home, she gasped and repeated, “Oh, dear,” with greater feeling. “I must go,” she added, scrambling for the carriage door.
She opened it and stepped down before Francis could do the gentlemanly thing and get out first to assist her. He moved to help her anyhow, but she slammed the door on him and scampered up the stairs to the front door of one of the townhouses.
Francis laughed, sitting heavily in his seat. He would let her get away with fleeing like that for now. It could have done her more harm than good if he pursued her to the door and let her brother see them together. He would have to find the right channel to go through in order to gain permission to court her properly, and offending the brother from the start wouldn’t help that problem.
“Take me home, David,” he called up to the driver, then sank back in his seat.
Like a lovesick debutante, he touched his fingers to his lips so he could relive Miss Narayan’s kiss. Yes, he was winning the game between them. All it would take was time and strategy and he would have a princess for a bride.