Mad for Love: Even Gods Fall in Love, Book 2 by Lynne Connolly Page A

she’d set her sights on.
    “It’s hardly difficult to miss their presence,” she put in. “There seem to be more of those than respectable women.”
    “Certainly in some areas of London,” Blaize agreed. “But perhaps it’s best for you to avoid those parts. Lady Aurelia, I had planned to tear you away from this fascinating discussion, but you might prefer to stay.”
    Aurelia tried not to appear too eager. That would never do. “The enticement must be considerable.” She exchanged a laughing glance with Vanessa.
    “There’s a friend I would like to introduce you to. Would you consent to accompany me?”
    She should stay in sight of her mother, but Aurelia hoped he didn’t follow the strictures of propriety. She’d snatch any opportunity of a little privacy with him. He was becoming frighteningly essential to her. If he decided he didn’t want her after all, she’d suffer quite desperately.
    How had he become so necessary to her? She’d had suitors before, even ones that had danced attendance on her every need for the course of a Season, until she’d refused them. Then there was Lyndhurst, who had paid her determined court. Handsome, rich, and until she met Blaize she had almost decided to accept him, should he offer. He’d have made her happy. She was sure Blaize would. All she knew was that she had to have him.
    The obsession worried her, and for once she understood some of the more desperate men who declared their love to her on a regular basis. The ones her mother and brother, when he was home, kept away from her.
    Blaize offered his arm and they left the booth together, after a discreet nod of permission from her mother. “I wonder, does it concern you that you’re a grown woman who still needs her mother’s say-so to talk to a man?”
    “What makes you say that?” she asked as he led her along a broad, brightly lit path.
    “At your age I was running wild.” He guided her along a less well-lit pathway.
    She grimaced. “I’m never allowed to do that.”
    “Have you ever wanted to?”
    “What difference would it make?”
    He shot her a grin. “Sometimes women do slip away from their watchers, you know.”
    “You would know that.” That knowledge didn’t surprise her.
    He paused, smiled, a wicked, secretive smile that seemed to share secrets. “I would. By the way, did you know someone is following us?”
    She sighed. “Yes. A footman.”
    He glanced behind him, and instead of beckoning to the man, walked toward him. Gold glinted as it changed hands, then the footman smiled, touched his fingers to his forehead and settled down on a nearby bench. Blaize came back to Aurelia.
    “I noticed your mother was rather more amenable than usual.” He turned another corner. Quieter, dimmer lit and on the outskirts of the gardens. Then into a grotto. Rather pleasing, with shell decoration, but she didn’t have much time to appreciate it. As soon as he’d ascertained the place was empty, he swung her into his arms and kissed her in a way her mother would definitely not have approved of.
    When he opened his lips over hers, she obliged willingly, letting him taste her with lavish extravagance. Then she tasted him in turn. He moaned into her mouth and his hands, no longer safely settled at her waist, roamed over her back, her shoulders and the bare skin of her neck, where one settled, holding her close.
    She could have lost herself in him, happily remained there all night, but he finished the kiss and gazed into her eyes. “Doubts?”
    How could he know that? “I’ve never been here before.”
    He glanced around. “It was the most obscure place I could think of. It was popular last year and there’s nothing as sad as a place that’s fallen out of fashion. Except I marked it.”
    “But people could still come.”
    “They won’t, I swear it.”
    How could he be so sure? But heaven help her, she couldn’t stop herself from returning his caresses. She wanted to feel his skin against hers again,