Dare nearly choked. “What an unladylike,” and damn unexpected, “thing to say.”
“I live to shock you.” Another slow chuckle. “Perhaps one day I shall even shock you into tears.”
“Please don’t.” Heat spread through his chest and filled his body. When had he ever just laid next to a woman before? Just... talking. This was a first for him. Something he thought he would never experience.
“Goodnight, Dare.”
His eyes fell on her. She’d drifted off into a slumber, her cheeks still rosy with a bit flush. So damn beautiful. “Good night, temptress.”
Could he ever afford the cost of all the things he had said tonight?
Chapter Sixteen
Three days later, the March Ball
Things were changing.
Leonora could feel it in her bones.
Heart hadn’t been home since the day of the boxing match. That was to say, he came to shoot glares at her every evening, but for the most part, he’d been absent.
Which was very suspect.
Especially since Harriet had confirmed that the duchess hadn’t attended any events since then either. Leonora pursed her lips in thought. It should bother her more, yet remarkably, she felt rather unbothered by it all.
Heart was her father. The duchess, she was pretty certain, was her mother. And she had no doubt that those two had matters they needed to hash out, hurts they had to forgive. Perhaps that was what they were both up to. And then there was Leonora herself. She wondered how they would approach the topic of her. Would they divulge their past to her? Would they attempt to keep their secret?
She gave a light snort, stuffing another lemon cake in her mouth.
With Dare unraveling her secret, and the night she’d spent with him talking until her eyelids could no longer win the battle, one thing had become clear—she didn’t want to be ruined by a secret she’d had no hand in creating. She had spent toomany years living from moment to moment, each one precious, knowing it could all be taken from her at any time. Tonight, though, she wanted to seize one more moment for herself—a moment where she could start a secret of her own creation. One away from the shadows of the one she had inherited.
She wanted to seize Dare.
And she wanted to seize him tonight.
If she didn’t do it tonight, Leonora had a feeling that the chance might slip away forever. She wanted that chance. She wanted it like nothing she had ever wanted in her life.
I won’t let you go tonight, Dare.
She scanned the room, looking for her quarry. If Dare saw her now, he would probably tease her that she was searching for the duchess, never dreaming that tonight her target was him.
There. She spotted him across the ballroom, her face splitting into a grin as their eyes met. The possibility existed that he would refuse the moment she wanted from him, but Leonora didn’t dwell on the answer she might not receive from him. The best she could do was try.
And she was looking forward to trying.
Very much.
She winked at him and turned on her heel, striding from the ballroom. She knew Lord and Lady March’s residence like the palm of her hand, having visited with her parents as a young girl enough times to have discovered every nook and cranny.
Her goal: the library.
Whether Dare would follow or not remained to be seen. She slipped from the room quite effortlessly. She quickly padded to the library on light feet. She had attended tonight with Harriet, but she’d told her friend not to worry about her, for she had some mischief up her sleeve.
Poking her head through the door, she breathed a sigh of relief when nobody was present. She glanced back down the halland flashed a smile at a familiar person’s urgent approach. She slipped into the room with a chuckle.
Books filled the space from the floor right up to the ceiling in a magnificent display of knowledge and imagination.
“Leonora.” His voice was low, hesitant.
