He chuckled softly, her fingers brushing over his chest, also reluctant. “We should go. We’ve been gone too long. Heart must be looking for you.”
Her smile turned sweeter. “Heart is not here.”
“He’s not here?” This surprised him. No wonder Leonora had come prepared. He damn well hadn’t stood a chance. “Strange for him. Then your friend, Lady Leeds?”
“She knows not to look for me.”
“Lady Leonora,” he claimed a quick kiss, “how dangerous of you.”
“Well, I won’t go so far as to say that.” Her eyes narrowed, a lovely sight made even more striking by the flush on her cheeks. “Are you going to stop flirting with me after this?”
A feeling of protest burst open immediately in his chest. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Are you jesting?” She gave him a saucy look. “Who would I flirt with if not you? The Duke of Calstone?”
“I shouldn’t feel this relieved,” he said with a grin.
She kissed his chin. “You’re that attached to our sparring matches?”
Sparring matches? Heh. They could probably be considered as such. “I suppose I have become a bit attached.”
She chuckled. “Now it’s my turn to say I shouldn’t feel this relieved.”
His finger caught a stray lock of hair and twirled it around his finger. “Hearing you repeat my words is quite frightening.”
“Because I am a woman?”
“Ye—” Blue eyes met his, and he swallowed thes. “I take that back. It’s a refreshing change.” Like so many things about her. Truthfully, nothing Leonora could say would ever be disturbing to him. Not really. The only disturbing thing was that she could make him question his own damn words. His body. His mind.
Leonora pinched his side, causing him to jerk. “You know what your problem is?”
Of course. “Tell me.”
“You are too straightlaced and uptight for a rake.”
“Is that my problem?”
“Yes. You don’t know how to let your laces loose.”
Dare couldn’t help but laugh. “Then I shall work on this problem, I give you my word I shall let loosen my laces more often.”
“Please call me over for the show.”
“You are a damn witch.” Bewitching him with her smiles, her touches, her light.
She cocked her head. “Do you always swear like this?”
“Only when I’m bewitched. Only with you.”
She laughed. “Don’t jest.”
He wasn’t jesting. He felt bewitched. In the past, he had found himself in many awkward and questionable situations, but this one... He couldn’t quite wrap his mind beyond this one.
Leonora.
The witch.
The temptress witch.
