voice.
He clasped his hands to his chest in a devout gesture. “Only my heart, pierced by cupid’s arrow, torn by your cold indifference.”
“You were a fool to do those somersaults—you’ll reopen your wounds, and for what? Father Paulus is a dangerous man. He’ll simply think he didn’t do a good enough job on you and be determined to do better.”
“The abbot won’t come near me again,” Nicholas said in a soft, certain voice. “And I
am
a fool, dearest. It’s my calling in life. I thought you realized that. Why don’t we leave this decidedly unmerry gathering and I’ll strip off my clothes and let you tend me?”
The man was incorrigible, surprising a shocked laugh out of her. He froze, staring down at her out of his strange golden eyes.
“Do that again,” he said urgently.
“Do what?”
“Laugh. Until last night I was beginning to think my lady Sobersides incapable of it.”
All amusement fled. “I don’t find there’s much to laugh about in this life.”
“Then you don’t look hard enough. I can find five ridiculous things without even turning around. You could do the same if you felt like it. For one thing, the unhappily married couple’s misery is laughably apparent.”
“I don’t find human misery entertaining,” she said sharply.
“Even in your mother? You have a more tender heart than I would have thought. It’s amusing because it won’t be long before they realize that Father Paulus’s edict is both ill conceived and against the teachings of the church. I give them two weeks at most before they’re happily bedded. What’s your wager?”
“I’m not going to gamble on my mother’s virtue!” Julianna said in scandalized tones.
Nicholas took a step back, eyeing her with a contemplative air. “Then we’ll wager on yours. How long before you’re happily bedded?”
“A lifetime!” she snapped, then could have bit her tongue. The oh-so-clever fool was not the man to have such information.
But he didn’t blink, unsurprised at her outburst. “Sooner than that, my lady,” he murmured, his voice low. “I promise you.”
For a moment she was caught, staring up at him, the soft caress in his voice strangely beguiling. The noise and crowd around them seemed to fade into the background, and his strange eyes drew her with promises of delight that she knew had to be false, but she believed anyway. She felt her face flush, her skin tingle and tighten, and she swayed toward him, just slightly.
And then he laughed. “Not now, my precious. Father Paulus is watching.”
It was as effective as a slap in the face, a dowsing with cold water as dampening as the one she had administered the night before. She blinked, stepping back from him, and her gown caught beneath her feet, tripping her.
He caught her before she fell, his arm strong and hard around her waist, his body far too close. Not the body of a fool, but the body of a man, strong and well muscled, like no other man who had ever touched her.
“I could kiss you, my lady,” he said in a voice so low that no one else could hear him. “In full view of your mother and good Father Paulus and the entire household. Have you ever been kissed by a fool? Have you ever been well and truly kissed by anyone at all?”
The noise around them was a buzz of conversation and laugher, and yet no one seemed to notice she was trapped, pressed up tight against Nicholas’s body. No one would rescue her. “I don’t like kissing,” she said in a strangled voice.
His smile was a slow one, both bewitching and utterly annoying. “That answers my question. If you’d been well and truly kissed, you’d like it very much indeed. Shall I demonstrate?”
She would have said yes. For a brief, mad moment she believed that all kisses were not alike, and Master Nicholas knew the secret of strange, sweet kisses that enticed the body and enchanted the heart.
But someone bumped into them, breaking his hold, and the strange, wild temptation
He clasped his hands to his chest in a devout gesture. “Only my heart, pierced by cupid’s arrow, torn by your cold indifference.”
“You were a fool to do those somersaults—you’ll reopen your wounds, and for what? Father Paulus is a dangerous man. He’ll simply think he didn’t do a good enough job on you and be determined to do better.”
“The abbot won’t come near me again,” Nicholas said in a soft, certain voice. “And I
am
a fool, dearest. It’s my calling in life. I thought you realized that. Why don’t we leave this decidedly unmerry gathering and I’ll strip off my clothes and let you tend me?”
The man was incorrigible, surprising a shocked laugh out of her. He froze, staring down at her out of his strange golden eyes.
“Do that again,” he said urgently.
“Do what?”
“Laugh. Until last night I was beginning to think my lady Sobersides incapable of it.”
All amusement fled. “I don’t find there’s much to laugh about in this life.”
“Then you don’t look hard enough. I can find five ridiculous things without even turning around. You could do the same if you felt like it. For one thing, the unhappily married couple’s misery is laughably apparent.”
“I don’t find human misery entertaining,” she said sharply.
“Even in your mother? You have a more tender heart than I would have thought. It’s amusing because it won’t be long before they realize that Father Paulus’s edict is both ill conceived and against the teachings of the church. I give them two weeks at most before they’re happily bedded. What’s your wager?”
“I’m not going to gamble on my mother’s virtue!” Julianna said in scandalized tones.
Nicholas took a step back, eyeing her with a contemplative air. “Then we’ll wager on yours. How long before you’re happily bedded?”
“A lifetime!” she snapped, then could have bit her tongue. The oh-so-clever fool was not the man to have such information.
But he didn’t blink, unsurprised at her outburst. “Sooner than that, my lady,” he murmured, his voice low. “I promise you.”
For a moment she was caught, staring up at him, the soft caress in his voice strangely beguiling. The noise and crowd around them seemed to fade into the background, and his strange eyes drew her with promises of delight that she knew had to be false, but she believed anyway. She felt her face flush, her skin tingle and tighten, and she swayed toward him, just slightly.
And then he laughed. “Not now, my precious. Father Paulus is watching.”
It was as effective as a slap in the face, a dowsing with cold water as dampening as the one she had administered the night before. She blinked, stepping back from him, and her gown caught beneath her feet, tripping her.
He caught her before she fell, his arm strong and hard around her waist, his body far too close. Not the body of a fool, but the body of a man, strong and well muscled, like no other man who had ever touched her.
“I could kiss you, my lady,” he said in a voice so low that no one else could hear him. “In full view of your mother and good Father Paulus and the entire household. Have you ever been kissed by a fool? Have you ever been well and truly kissed by anyone at all?”
The noise around them was a buzz of conversation and laugher, and yet no one seemed to notice she was trapped, pressed up tight against Nicholas’s body. No one would rescue her. “I don’t like kissing,” she said in a strangled voice.
His smile was a slow one, both bewitching and utterly annoying. “That answers my question. If you’d been well and truly kissed, you’d like it very much indeed. Shall I demonstrate?”
She would have said yes. For a brief, mad moment she believed that all kisses were not alike, and Master Nicholas knew the secret of strange, sweet kisses that enticed the body and enchanted the heart.
But someone bumped into them, breaking his hold, and the strange, wild temptation
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