“Ahead of that, we must do better.”
“Better at what?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. There was something about that movement that made a jolt of excitement shoot through Edward. He clutched the carriage bench beneath him, stopping him from moving any nearer to her, for he was thinking of the kiss they had shared in that garden.
“At looking like a couple. When I touch you, why do you jump away from me?”
“It is hard not to do something that feels so natural,” she teased him with a mischievous smile upon her lips.
“Ha! Very good. If it feels so natural to reject me, then we must get you used to the feeling of having me nearer.” He moved off his carriage bench to sit beside her, aware that she still hadn’t leaned back from him. They had come so close together now that he could hear her breathing, as quick as his own.
“I do not remember saying I need the practice,” she said quietly, her eyes flicking down a little.
Is she looking at my lips?
“Perhaps I need the practice,” he said softly and leaned toward her a little more. When she flinched, he smiled a little. “See? We do not look natural together. You must relax a little more. Pretend you like me. You might actually enjoy it.”
She raised a single eyebrow, showing what she clearly thought of that.
“Ha! That didn’t persuade you. Consider it a chance to work on your acting skills instead?”
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Let me show you.” He leaned toward her a little more, at all times moving slowly. If he truly spooked her, then he would lean back straight away, but judging by the heated blush that was now growing down her neck and across the open neckline of her dress, she was not spooked at all. She was excited.
He moved his lips near her ear, the better to whisper to her, though he didn’t quite touch her.
“If I whisper in your ear like this at the assembly, it must look natural. Like we are stealing a private moment together amongst all that busyness.” At his words, she arched a little, offering more of her neck to him.
He could feel the temptation to kiss her there. He nearly gave in, only just managing to resist, with his lips hovering over the skin of her neck.
“That’s better,” he said softly. “You are not flinching away from me now.”
“No. You are lingering, Your Grace.”
“I thought we discussed that,” he said softly, trailing his lips across a spot just beneath her ear, but not quite kissing her. It was a tantalizing temptation, one that made excitement coil in his lower stomach and then shoot somewhere lower. “Call me Edward, Julia. Please.”
“You are lingering then,Edward,”she said pointedly.
“Yet you are not pulling away.”
Still, she didn’t. He could hear her breathing had quickened even more now.
Are we still acting?
Edward did not have chance to answer his question, for the carriage had come to a stop and the footman was fiddling with the carriage door. Edward leapt back from Julia, as she did him, just as the door opened.
“Good day, Your Grace,” Julia said hurriedly, stepping down from the carriage.
Edward stared after her, his jaw agape.
What just nearly happened between us?