He was too much for her. A rogue and rake, a man who had broken her heart, and yet…. Still, when he stared down at her as if he wanted to devour every ounce of her body, she wanted to bathe in such looks forever.
"Do you think you could be seduced by such fluttering of my eyelashes?" she asked, needing to know if she affected him at all.
He reached out, running a finger along her jaw, tipping up her face. "Had you looked at me like that when we were alone, I would show you exactly how seduced I could be."
A delicious shiver ran down her spine, and it took all her effort not to sway into his arms, to let him do whatever he wanted and whatever he was thinking after her attempted seduction.
"You wouldn't dare." Sutton knew to state such a thing, to poke a lion really, was not the smartest thing she could do. It was like a war cry to a rogue like Logan, a taunt he would be hard-pressed to ignore. And from the look of his darkened, determined eyes, she had played right into his hands.
"Wouldn't I?" he stated, glancing over Sutton's shoulder to check on her aunt before his hand, still tipping up her chin, slid behind her nape and pulled her toward him. "You should not taunt me so, Sutton. You know I've never been a man unable to deny what you want."
"I did not ask for anything," she whispered, their lips but a breath apart.
"Really?" he frowned, coming closer still. "I thought that you did."
Sutton went to close the space between them, needing his mouth upon hers like she needed air to fill her lungs, but was met with nothing. He swiped a finger down her nose, smiled, and stood.
"If you'll excuse me, Miss Howard," he said, giving her a quick bow. "I see your aunt is still asleep, so do pay my respects. I shall see you this evening at the Ponsonby ball."
Sutton closed her mouth with a snap, disappointment thrumming through her that he had denied her what she wanted. His touch, his kiss.
Damn it!
She thumped the settee's cushion. She did not want to want him. He meant nothing to her. They were playing a game. They had a deal. There was nothing more to them than that.
"Hmm," she said, slumping back on the chair. She narrowed her eyes on the doorway he had departed through, wondering why he would tease her so, knowing they were not even friends, not anymore.
While she wanted what she learned from theWallflower’s Guideto be successful, it could not be so well-received that all the gentlemen she allowed to pay court to her tried to kiss her as Lord Jersey had.
That would never do at all. She would be back to being the talk of London once again, and she doubted she could survive a second time being the latest on dit. There was nothing worse.
* * *
Logan could not getout of Sutton's London townhouse quick enough. The cooling outside air calmed his racing heart somewhat, but not enough. He stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to her front door, glad the footman had closed and locked it behind him, preventing him from turning about, storming into the parlor, and kissing Sutton soundly.
And blast the chit, he wanted to kiss her again. Desperately so.
She infuriated him as much as she intoxicated his soul. That at least had never changed between them, even if so many other things had.
But she was not for him. He started down the path, not seeing the many faces or the greetings that followed him. All he knew was that he needed to get as far away from Sutton as fast as he could.
When he met her again this evening for the Ponsonby ball, then he would be calm, collected, and once more capable of being in her presence without remembering the soul-shattering kisses she bestowed. The visualization of what she looked like under her silk gowns and unmentionables tormenting his mind.
He would be ready, and he would not, under any circumstance, ask her to look at him from under her lashes ever again. It almost made him fearful of what other tricks and suggestions this guide she was reading from had printed between the parchment.
He hoped it was nothing untoward, for he was not certain he could deny her a second time. Not certain at all.
Chapter 7
Sutton had hired a hackney not long after Logan's departure—Hatchards her destination, and the guide she needed to study further as to what she ought to do next when trying to gain a husband.
The fluttering of her lashes certainly seemed to work on Logan, and there was a high possibility that further suggestions from the book would work on Lord Ridley when he danced with her this evening as promised.
She entered the bookstore, her maid following close behind. "You may look about the store yourself if you wish, Mart. Pick a book, my treat, and I shall buy it for you," she suggested, smiling at her maid's excited exhale before she bustled off toward the shelves.
Sutton made her way to where theWallflower’s Guidewas hidden, pleased to note no one was in this particular part of the store. Before studying it further, she opened the book, walking over to a nearby table, and set it down.
There were many suggestions to the wilting wallflower, etiquette steps to keep aware of, and others that could be stretched to suit one's needs when one's needs were desperate. Sutton pursed her lips, knowing she was as desperate as they came and longing for a future with a husband whom she could love and have many children with.