“Do not be a blind fool,” she whispered, her heart jolting at the shock of her hoydenish behavior.
Something intense flared in his eyes as his hands cupped her face and his lips descended to meet hers. Whatever indifference to him she had managed to persuade herself she possessed shattered with the heat and the hunger of his strong lips on hers. He demanded a response with the slide of his tongue along the crease of her mouth, and she opened willingly, eagerly moving to her tiptoes with a desperate desire to get closer to him.
He groaned, moving one hand from her cheek to circle his arm around her back, and suddenly, she was no longer standing but pressed hard against his chest, her feet just above the ground. His mouth ravished hers, and his kiss overwhelmed her senses. His heart pounded through his clothing, and hers seemed to burst through the very chambers of her own heart. A million delicious sensations swirled through her as she returned his drugging kiss with reckless abandon. His mouth did not become softer as he kissed her; it was as if he could not get enough, which was exactly how she felt. She delved her hands into his thick hair, allowing her nails to graze his scalp, and he released a guttural sound.
Propriety was gone. The past was gone. Her anger was gone. In this moment, it was just here and now, simply Guinevere and Asher.
A knocking at the door hurtled her back to reality as hard as if she’d been dropped from the clouds to the earth. She released her breath in a whoosh as Asher broke the kiss—and all contact—and stared down at her, looking every bit as shocked as she felt.
“Guinevere, are you in there?” came Lilias’s frantic voice.
Guinevere swallowed with difficulty. Her heart felt as if it were lodged in her throat. What had she done? What had she allowed him to do? Why did her senses disappear every time this man was near?
“Guinevere?” The door rattled.
Asher opened his mouth as if to answer Lilias, and Guinevere quickly pressed a finger to his lips, her shock at her scandalous, dangerous behavior loosening its grip on her just enough so she could speak.
“I’m here,” she said, clearing her throat, which sounded entirely too husky, entirely too much like she had just been kissed senseless.
“Whatever have you been doing?” her best friend asked.
Asher’s warm brown eyes danced with wicked amusement, the unrepentant rogue! Heat flamed her cheeks and crawled its way down her neck to her chest. Egads, she wished she had a fan.
Before she could gather herself to answer, Lilias spoke again in a rush of words. “Your mother is beside herself looking for you!”
Guinevere rolled her eyes. It was most unfortunate that her mother had noted her absence from the ballroom. Usually she did not pay Guinevere much heed once they’d arrived at whatever affair they were attending, since it was Mama’s companion Miss Prichard’s job to chaperone her and her sisters, but Miss Prichard was home ill.
“I was beset with a megrim,” Guinevere said, sounding unconvincing to her own ears.
Another prick of guilt pinched her, but this one was for lying to Lilias. She never withheld secrets from her best friend, but how could she admit that she’d allowed the man who had callously thrown her over once before to take liberties again. And in a library in the middle of a ball no less! It was the very behavior ruinous scandals were made of.
“Did the megrim attack you before or after you rescued Lady Constantine?”
Asher arched his eyebrows in raffish perfection. Why did he have to be so devastatingly handsome and make her act so untoward?
“After,” she responded, giving her throat, which was still too husky, another good clearing.
“Guinnie, I think you are getting a cold.”
Lilias was such a true friend, and Guinevere felt horrid about lying. She bit her lip as Asher pushed her hand away from his lips and grinned at her, making her belly flutter.
Blast him, blast him.
“Possibly,” she squeaked. “Did you see Lady Constantine?”
“Yes, but not Lord Charolton. How did you stop his plan for Lady Constantine?”
Asher wiggled his eyebrows at her while making a pretend pistol with his fingers. The man was beyond the pale. Didn’t he comprehend that their behavior of moments before had put them a hairsbreadth from ruination?
“You know I can be very persuasive when I try,” Guinevere said.
Lilias snorted at that. “Where is he?”
“I assume he departed as I suggested.”
“Excellent. By the by, I have not seen the odious Carrington.”
Oh, dear heavens!
