Part 22 (1/2)

He gaped at her. ”Where was your family while all this was going on?” he asked hoa.r.s.ely. ”Your brothers, your sister?”

”They were at supper. Being the youngest, I and my younger cousins were relegated to the children's table, so no one was paying much attention to us at that point. Besides, it all happened so fast ... I managed to slip in and sit down before anyone even noticed I wasn't there.”

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips. ”They did notice later that Ned was missing, however. When they asked me if I'd seen him, I told them he'd been complaining of a headache ever since he'd fallen off his horse earlier in the day and hit his head.”

She looked smug. ”He hated that. He was so proud of being known for his riding skills, and after that everyone called him Clumsy Plumtree for a while. And he didn't dare correct me for fear that I would tell them what really happened.”

”Why didn't you, d.a.m.n it?” Jackson gritted out.

She eyed him askance. ”Oliver would have shot him on the spot.”

”Good. I've a mind to do that myself the next time I see him.”

”I'm not going to let you shoot Ned,” she said stoutly. ”That wouldn't help your chances at being chosen Chief Magistrate.” He was about to protest that he didn't give a b.l.o.o.d.y d.a.m.n about being chosen Chief Magistrate right now, when she added, ”And I wasn't going to let Oliver do it either, not with all the rumors that he'd shot Mama. We had enough scandal in our family as it was.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. ”Besides, if anyone ever shoots Ned, it's going to be me.”

And just like that, everything fell into place. ”Ah, so that's when you convinced Gabe to teach you how to shoot. That's why you carry a ladies' pocket pistol in your reticule.”

She gave him a terse nod. ”I wasn't about to let anything like that happen to me ever again.”

A sudden chill swept him. How could she think herself so alone? ”Leaving the possibility of scandal aside, you should have told your family. They could have dealt with Ned privately.”

”And then they would have found out how reckless I was,” she whispered. ”How pathetic and stupid, too stupid to ... see that Ned didn't care about me ... to realize he was just poking fun...”

With a little moan, she rose from the bed, but he grabbed her hand and tugged her back to face him. ”It wasn't your fault that Ned took advantage of your youth and your attraction to him to attempt a seduction, for G.o.d's sake.”

”You don't understand-it was my fault.” She ducked her head, refusing to look at him. ”I should h-have known better. Boys had never looked at me in that way ... but I thought h-he really liked m-me. All the while, he was just...”

Tears welled in her eyes that tore at his soul. ”When I wouldn't l-let him ... you know ... he told me he h-hadn't really wanted to, anyway,” she stammered, her hand squeezing his painfully, ”since I was a ... a scrawny b-b.i.t.c.h with no t.i.ts and not an ounce of anything f-female in me.”

”Oh, sweeting,” he whispered, drawing her down onto his lap so he could hold her close. She was breaking his heart.

All their conversations came back to haunt him.

Unless you think it impossible for a woman like me to keep men like them satisfied and happy?

You wanted to expose me as some ... adventuress or man in woman's attire or ... oh, I don't know what.

You kissed me last night only to make a point, and you couldn't even bear to kiss me properly again today- h.e.l.l and blazes. The clues had been there all along, and he'd ignored them. This was the reason for her leaping to such strange conclusions about her attractiveness when he spent every waking hour resisting the urge to take her to bed. And this was why she was determined to prove her grandmother wrong about her ability to marry.

He held her close as she gulped air, clearly fighting back sobs. ”He told me he only d-did it to w-win a bet. H-his friends said he could never get a m-marquess's daughter to g-give him a k-kiss, so he bet them that he could.”

”That's a lot of b.l.o.o.d.y nonsense,” he hissed, then regretted the sharpness of his tone when her face darkened in confusion. ”I'd bet good blunt he only said those things because he was smarting over your rejection. A spoiled brat like Plumtree would hate having his pride p.r.i.c.ked. When he found he couldn't cow you into letting him do as he pleased, he attempted to bring you down to his level by speaking vile untruths.”

Brus.h.i.+ng a kiss to her damp cheeks, he wished he had the b.a.s.t.a.r.d in front of him now so he could thrash him within an inch of his life for making her doubt herself. ”It's what a.r.s.es like him do if they don't get their way. So don't believe a word of it. No boy in his right mind would find you unattractive.”

She gazed into his face, still looking uncertain. ”I was rather thin then, and I've never had ... had much in the way of a bosom.”

”Your bosom is fine,” he whispered, thinking of how luscious her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had tasted, how firm and beautiful they'd looked through the damp linen of her s.h.i.+ft when he'd dared to open her gown for a peek. ”And even if Plumtree meant what he said, that only shows what a fool he is. To have a G.o.ddess like you in his arms and not appreciate it...”

He kissed her, unable to resist the lush, succulent mouth so close to his. He put everything he felt into it, so he could wipe out any hurt the Neds of the world had given her.

When he broke away, realizing he was treading dangerous ground, she said hoa.r.s.ely, ”You weren't always so ... appreciative. When I said that men enjoyed my company, you said you found that hard to believe.”

”What?” he retorted with a scowl. ”I never said any such thing.”

”Yes, you did, the day that I asked you to investigate my suitors. I remember it clearly.”

”There's no way in h.e.l.l I ever...” The conversation came back to him suddenly, and he shook his head. ”You're remembering only part, sweeting. You said that men enjoyed your company and considered you easy to talk to. It was the last part I found hard to believe.”

”Oh.” She eyed him askance. ”Why? You never seem to have trouble talking to me. Or rather, lecturing me.”

”It's either lecture you or stop up your mouth with kisses,” he said dryly. ”Talking to you isn't easy, because every time I'm near you I burn to carry you off to some secluded spot and do any number of wicked things with you.”

She blinked, then gazed at him with such softness that it made his chest hurt. ”Then why don't you?”

”Because you're a marquess's daughter and my employer's sister.”

”What does that signify? You're an a.s.sistant magistrate and a famous Bow Street Runner-”

”And the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of n.o.body knows whom.”

”Which merely makes you a fitting companion for a h.e.l.lion with a reputation for recklessness.”

The word companion resonated in his brain. What did she mean by it?

Then she pressed a kiss to his jaw, eroding his resistance and his reason, and he knew precisely what she meant.

He tried to set her off of him before he lost his mind entirely, but she looped her arms about his neck and wouldn't let go. ”Show me.”

”Show you what?”

”All the wicked things you want to do with me.”

Desire bolted in a fever through his veins. ”My G.o.d, Celia-”

”I won't believe a word you've said if you don't.” Her gaze grew troubled. ”I don't think you know what you want. Yesterday you gave me such lovely kisses and caresses and then at the ball you acted like you'd never met me.”

”You were with your suitors,” he said hoa.r.s.ely.

”You could have danced with me. You didn't even ask me for one dance.”

Having her on his lap was rousing him to a painful hardness. ”Because I knew if I did, I would want ... I would need...”

She kissed a path down his throat, turning his blood to fire. ”Show me,” she whispered. ”Show me now what you want. What you need.”