“Your lips.”
Her heart began to pound with such strength she felt faint.
His eyes warmed with interest…and desire. “Your taste, scent, and your smile, they are all the same…captivating.”
“I would have you more intrigued by my character,” she said softly.
Her earl’s lips twitched and she tried not to stare helplessly at his sensual mouth.
“You expect me to appreciate your opinionated willful ways?”
She stiffened.
He leaned in even closer. “I assure you, you are growing on me.”
“That makes me sound like a wart, very unflattering.”
“Now that you mentioned it…”
The desire to touch him, to kiss his lips, was as overwhelming as it was inexplicable. Giving into a reckless impulse, she tipped and pressed her lips to his. She expected him to take command as he’d done in the closet, but instead he cradled her jaw in his large hands, keeping their kiss light and shatteringly sweet. Though their lips barely met, a thrilling sense of anticipation poured through her. With a soft groan, he deepened their embrace ever so slightly and ravished her mouth with a skilled eroticism that was spellbinding.
He lifted his head. “Why did you come to the library?”
“My parents are here. They arrived a few minutes ago and they are taking tea in the parlor with Lady Blade. I…I…excused myself to speak with you.”
“Ah.”
He dragged his thumb across her bottom lips. “And what did you wish to speak of?”
“I will marry you, as I promised last night, and I thank you for the offer,” she said tremulously. “I do not wish for you to burden my stepfather with the possibility of a child. I want nothing to distress him. The very hint of impropriety and scandal will be painful enough—”
“You have my word, Olivia.”
Relief filled her. “Thank you. My stepfather and mother are eager to speak with you…with us.”
“I will be there shortly.”
Still, there was something bothering her. She searched his eyes. “Why were you in the closet?”
An awkward silence ensued.
“Is it important to know?”
Livvie frowned. “No, I am but curious.”
“My former lover wanted me to pursue her by searching my chambers, the gazebo, and the closet. It is a lover’s game we had indulged in before. For some reason she thought it was appropriate here. She thought wrong.”
Her eyes widened. “You thought I was her?”
“Only for a second.”
A thought occurred to her. “Do you expect me to play such games?”
“Good God, no.”
She was affronted at his appalled tone. “And why not? Do you not believe I am adventurous?”
He arched an imperious brow. “Are we going to argue?”
Livvie chuckled. She pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips, ignoring his surprised inhalation. She slipped from the cage of his arms, and hurried down the hallway to the drawing room feeling quite happy indeed about their upcoming nuptials.
…
The meeting with Lady Olivia’s parents had been as Tobias had expected. There was no anger or recriminations, only hearty congratulations and well wishes from Lord and Lady Bathhurst. Speculation had been rife in their gazes, but of course, they had been too polite to question if there had been any impropriety. A few brows had been raised when he informed everyone he was in the process of obtaining a special license, and Olivia had blushed furiously.
After an hour of tea and pleasantries, Tobias was now alone with the viscount in the library, finalizing the marriage contract. The viscount had a frown on his face, and Tobias surmised he was at the section that included his stepdaughter’s demands.
He met Tobias’s gaze with a grimace. “Livvie has her own opinions and isn’t afraid to voice them,” he murmured.
Tobias reclined in his chair in a deliberately casual pose. “So I’ve discovered.”
“And what will you do with your…discovery?”
“There is nothing to be done.”
“Many men would say she is unruly, headstrong, and disobedient. In need of a firm guiding hand.”
Was the man trying to persuade him to call off the rushed engagement? “Olivia is not a horse and I am not other men.”
Speculation swirled in the Viscount’s eyes. “No, you are not. Then what would you say she is?”
“A bit reckless and high-spirited, a brilliant painter, intelligent, witty, and quite stubborn.”
“And this does not…dissuade you?”
His lips twitched. “No.” It should have, but instead he was frustratingly enticed. He would have to be careful he did not lose himself to her. It would have been palatable if he were only roused sexually. But what if she tugged at his jealously? His rage? What if he lost control with her or because of her? Never had he worried about being reckless with another woman before, but it was as if her willful nature tempted him to be more…relaxed with his feelings and tempers.
Dangerous.
Tobias’s mother was beautiful, high-strung, and had been very reckless in her younger days. His father had fought several duels for her, sometimes the offense had simply been another man staring for a little longer than what was deemed proper. His mother, of course, had gloried in the scandals and the passionate possessiveness of her husband. What she had not realized was that his father’s possessive jealousy would bloom into him using his fists or riding crop against her whenever he succumbed to his fits of rage.
Bile coated Tobias’s tongue and his gut clenched when he remembered the visceral reaction he’d had earlier, when Olivia had merely suggested being in another man’s arms to make a point.
He launched from the chair and walked over to the windows. His promise to break any man who would dare touch her had been instinctive and appalling. He had done everything in his power to show an unaffected mien to his ridiculous assertions, but he had been disturbed, for surely he had sounded as demented as his father, who always vowed to his wife to defend her honor by crushing whoever dared.
God’s blood.
Olivia was the wrong type of woman to marry. His gut and brain knew it, but his blasted body and honor had other ideas.
“Is everything well, Blade?” the Viscount queried.
Tobias nodded, watching the many carriages pulling away down the long driveway. He had dismissed all the guests to his mother’s distress, ending the house party days earlier than had been originally intended. He did not care. The guests were nosy gossipers and he felt like he was a bug under a microscope in his own home. He would not have it. Worse, he’d fielded veiled insinuations from several gentlemen. He’d done the right thing by sending in the engagement announcement to the papers this morning. By tomorrow, all of England would be agog with the news, the scandal would spread, and the furor would begin. But none of it would be under his roof.
The viscount moved to stand beside him. “Livvie has made a sound match by aligning with your family, and I could not have hoped for her to do better,” Bathurst said.
Tobias made no answer.
The man inhaled. “I know of your reputation, Blade. You are not a man to trifle with, and I know you can be ruthless in your business dealings. Outside of that, I have no knowledge of you.”