“Isabella.”
She pulled from his embrace. “I do not like how you say my name, Mr. Trent.”
“The admiral and Aunt Lavinia expect it. After yesterday. They expect you and I to… marry.”
“I have a choice in who I wed. So do you. I’ll not marry an uninterested fellow.”
“Uninterested?” Uninterested like a hungry fox is uninterested in its next meal. “Until yesterday, I had fully planned on marrying you.”
“Until yesterday? I would like to know what has changed.”
“Everything,LadyIsabella.”
She wound her way to the window and brushed the curtain aside to peer down onto the street. “What would you do if we married?”
She would just ignore, then, his valid reservations. He could humor her. For now. “What would I do? Live happy. Bed you often. Learn from you. Spoil you. Watch you spend lazy days with my aunt and see how the admiral becomes putty in your hands. I’d bundle you into my coach and take you to each inn I intend to buy so you can charm the owners and offer your opinion on improvements. I’d be grouchy, but one look from you would soothe me. And if I ever found you cleaning chamber pots, I’d—”
She pressed a palm to the glass, her body half silhouetted by the heavy curtains and half by the light streaming in. Her eyes, reflected hazy in the window, seemed distant, unreadable.
“And what would you do if we wed?” he asked.
“Live happy. Be bedded often. Introduce you to my family. My sisters would tease you, and my brothers-in-law invite you into their little club with my brother. Do you like coffee? They confer once a week at a coffee shop to talk about whatever it is husbands talk about when not hovering over their wives. I’d gladly follow you to every innand charm and take notes and enjoy the coach rides home.” She sauntered toward him, and when she stood just in front of him, she drew a heart on his chest with the tip of her finger. “I’d certainly roll my eyes when you are grouchy, and I would not mind never cleaning a chamber pot again, but… I will not give up gathering information.”
“Gossiping, you mean.”
“A crude term for an important social function. So much is kept from us—women. It is no wonder we must resort to more nefarious means of knowledge accumulation. And I won’t stop. When we marry.”
“I suppose you’d need a husband who didn’t mind.”
“Certainly.”
“No telling where you’ll find one of those.” He didn’t mind. Not one bit. As long as he had her.
“Are you teasing me?”
“I would think not. Where would I have learned how to do something liketease?” He wrapped an arm around her, splayed his hand wide on her lower back.
“Youareteasing. I think I like it. I’ll add it to the list of things I like about you.”
“You’ve a list? What’s on it?”
“Teasing, as I just said. And I like how your hand feels on my back. I like your kisses. And I like how you sneeze in the sun. Adorable.”
“Irritating.”
“I like as well to hear you tell stories. Your voice makes shivers creep up my spine. I like how you trust me to help you in serious matters and how you seek out my opinion. I like how you speak of Mrs. Garrison and the admiral with pure affection in your voice. I don’t think you know it’s there. I like that, too. It’s also adorable.”
“You’re lying. I do not give my emotions away so easily.”
She flattened her hands against his chest, right next to where his heart raced. “You’re lying to yourself. You do not hide them so well as you think. Like right now. I can tell by the pounding of your heart you are not unaffected by my nearness.”
He swallowed. “There is not a distance you could travel where Iwould be unaffected by you. Isabella is in the world, and I am mad with desire for her. For you.”
“Well then, let me prove to you just how well we will work together.”
He lowered, the tip of his nose almost touching the tip of hers. “And how will you do that?”
“By keeping you sane and kissing you.” She kissed his chest first, then the tip of his chin, his nose, his forehead. Then she dragged her lips down to meet his and cast him entirely under her spell.
