Lori Brighton - [The Seduction 02] by To Capture a Rake Page B

Lavender’s. A man who worried about the welfare of others, a manwho laughed and smiled easily. This was not the man he’d known for the past fourteen years. Was it the sudden freedom? The clean air? Gideon frowned. No, he knew without a doubt it was the woman across from him.
    A woman who stared out the window so she wouldn’t have to meet his gaze. A woman who had paid for his touch, yet seemed desperate to avoid him now. In fact, she was pressed so tightly to the seat, he was surprised she hadn’t burrowed through the leather. For some reason her distance greatly annoyed him. Within a mere moment, his good mood had fled. He would do best to keep focus upon the plan, and the plan was to escape as soon as he had the money.
    “Where are we heading?” he asked.
    “Just east of Wales,” she admitted, plucking at the yellowed, tattered lace at her sleeve. “I pray you have nothing against the west coast.”
    Gideon fought to maintain his air of disinterest. “It’s not my job to mind.”
    “Only yesterday you told me you were in control. You said that you made the decisions.” She gave him a smirk. The challenge lay before them, ripe with tension. “So which is it, do you follow or lead? You can’t be both, you know. It’s quite greedy of you.”
    She thought she had him, but he never went down without a fight. “I merely said I do what I please, when I please.”
    She frowned. “Wonderful, considering you have no opinion, it will make our trip much easier.”
    He stacked his feet on the seat beside her once more. Baiting her was much too fun. The instinct to win and dominate was still there, but never had he entertained such an amusing rival. “I never said I didn’t have an opinion. I merely stated that it’s not my habit to care about mundane things.”
    She lifted a brow. “Mundane? For someone who works in a brothel, your speech and manners seem awfully fine.”
    “And for someone who is a lady, you seem awfully loose,” he shot back, going for blood.
    Her face flushed, and he almost regretted his harsh words. Blast, but he wouldn’t let himself care. He’d perfected the debonair attitude of indifference, and he wouldn’t dare let the years of practice come to naught all because of a woman with emerald eyes.
    “A lady can’t enjoy the fine pleasures of the body?” she asked, her voice sounding slightly shrill, and he knew he’d won. “A man goes to a whorehouse and no one bats an eyelash. A woman does and she’s loose.”
    “No need to defend,” he said, lacing his voice with boredom. “I like loose women as much as any of the male species. You’ll have no problem finding men to fill your bed.”
    “Wonderful. When you return, I’ll have to search for another. Shall I find one and keep him around for a while?” She tapped a finger at the side of her mouth as if in deep thought. “Or should I sow my wild oats and all that?”
    Gideon shrugged, feigning indifference when the thought of her bedding another produced a surge of jealousy the likes he’d never known before. “I have found variety is the spice of life.”
    “Indeed. Good to know.”
    They fell silent. She was staring daggers at him, but he merely smirked in return. In spite of the fact that he shouldn’t have cared, he couldn’t push aside the image of Elizabeth with another man. He wanted to jerk her forward, throw up her skirts, and show her that she belonged to him…at least for now.
    “What exactly do you want from me, Mrs. Ashton?” he queried quite calmly, although inside he seethed.
    “Want?” She picked up the soft kid gloves that had been sitting on the bench drying from last night’s jaunt through the rain. “Why, your body…for about two weeks.”
    He gritted his teeth together lest he say something he’d regret. He merely had to keep hold of his temper, play the besotted, charming fool until he had the means to leave for America.
    After a few moments of tense silence, she sighed, brushing her plait