“I am doing no such thing.” William paused. “It seems ignoble to tell a woman that you find her physically pleasing and nothing else. I am not a rake.”
“Oh,” she said. “Never have been? Never? Not even once?”
“Not even once, what?” he asked.
“I can only hold my suspension of disbelief for so long, my lord. I am sure you are as much a sinner as the next man.”
He frowned. “I am not a rake,” he repeated.
“But if you were,” she suggested.
He stilled, looking back at her mouth. It was a fleeting glance, as if he caught himself and looked away as soon as he could. “If I was? I am not.”
“Yes, I know, but look at it as an exercise in theater. If youwerea rake, might you be so forward as to state your desires?”
There was a pause and a light breeze passed through the gardens, forcing Charlotte to wrap her arms around herself for warmth. William couldn’t help but laugh. He rubbed a palm against his forehead. “Okay. For the sake of theater, yes?”
“Yes, the theatric arts are dying, Lord Holdford.” She was only half telling the truth. The last time she had gone to the theater was particularly grueling, but that may have had more to do with her seatmate breathing heavily through his mouth the entire time and not any fault of the actors themselves.
“If I am on stage? On stage I am attracted to you,” he said.
“Oh dear, now that is very interesting.” She held a hand over her lips for a moment. “You see, on stage, I am attracted to you too.”
“But that is where it ends?”
“Oh yes. I couldn’t imagine you being any more than a thrill.”
William cleared his throat and stood up. “Ah, but alas, we are not on stage, so we must never act upon it.”
Charlotte couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. She wasn’t one for marriage, but she would still find her blood ran just as red as anyone else’s. “How presumptuous of you, to think I even considered it.” She was starting to think that she might actually contemplate the theater with how effortless it was to lie to men.
“I apologize,” William said. “Do you believe I had considered it?”
Charlotte stood up, turning to him, to match his closed off stance with her own. “Men are not capable of much less, I am afraid.”
“There you go!” he shouted. “You are always making generalizations. Do I look, act, think, breathe, like anyone else you have ever met?”
Charlotte wanted to draw back once she stirred his ire, but she stayed firmly in place, posturing to look more commanding than she was. “How should I think you to be any different? Have I missed something that sets you apart?”
He opened his mouth to respond, but no noise came out. He simply stared back at her, dumbfounded by her reply. She did not miss him accidentally looking at her mouth again. That was right. He was just like the rest. He wanted one taste of her, and then he’d discard her with the remains of his last feast. It seemed after all of their conversation, he couldn’t get her out of his head. That might have made Charlotte feel good, if not for the fact that she wanted him just as desperately.
The voices of two or three men startled them into quiet. By the sounds of it, they were just around the corner and none the wiser of who they were about to run into. William reached out, grabbing ahold of Charlotte, and pulled her towards him in the shadow of the alcove. She whimpered and he pressed his hand against her mouth to quiet her. They stilled and so did the sounds of the other party.
“Did you hear that?” One of the men said.
“Might be a cat?”
“Do you suppose it is hurt?”
“I am not sure. Can you see it?” Rustling followed their voices as if they were looking into the shrubbery and flowers.
Charlotte’s heart hammered away in her chest, so loud that she feared they might hear her. She thought she wasn’t afraid of being found, but now all she could think of was the reputations of her family if she were caught in such a way. The fact that they had shared an improper conversation made it all the more inappropriate. If people called her a lightskirt, then maybe she was one, after all.
“Shh,” William whispered, his warmth permeating his fingers and warming her lips. His scent was intoxicating, like sandalwood and lavender. Just that was enough to get her lost for days in thoughts of him. He was a troublesome man, but his countenance could certainly make up for all of that if he didn’t speak.
The men shuffled around more, their voices getting closer. Charlotte’s heart nearly jumped out from her chest when they passed by the hedge corridor, However, due to their spot in the shadows, they remained hidden and before long, the voices faded.
William removed his hand from her mouth, steadying her body against his. They were still pressed up close against one another, the heat from each other’s body warming them through the early April chill. In the space between their mouths, the air fogged up, a visual representation of just how hard they were breathing now that they had crossed a line of physical touch that they were never meant to.