Crash! To Rose’s right, Rhiannon knocked something off the table. The sound sent Rose’s gaze swinging towards her ...
And light flashed outside one tall, arched window. It was the light of a lantern, muffled only an instant later, but it lasted just long enough for Rose to recognise the face of the man who held it. He stood next to her cousin Serena with his furious gaze fixed upon the dragon sitting between her and Mr Aubrey.
... Whose story of dragon ownership and betrothal Serena already suspected to be untrue.
Blackness filled the tall window once more, but this time, Rose knew better than to trust it. With both dragons in urgent danger, she made one final, rapid calculation.
“Forgive me!” she whispered urgently. “But I promise this is necessary.”
“I beg your par—?”
His startled question cut off as Rose lunged forwards. Automatically, he raised his hands to catch her once again ...
And with no more time left to lose, Rose seized his lean shoulders with both hands and covered his open mouth with her own.
Chapter 14
Rose would hardly term herself an expert in the art of kissing. She’d been shocked to see Elinor in Griff’s vision, so wantonly kissing the rake in her carriage, open-mouthed and twining around him with no thought for consequences. Rose could have sworn that her older sister was too proper even to accept any of the swift, secret kisses that were offered in the darkness of the trees or around the shadowy edges of the tents at their home village’s annual harvest festival.
Rose herself had accepted only a few over the years, and they’d been nothing more than moments of quick, reckless fun, lips brushing against each other in the dark for a sparkling instant with no impact on the future.
This kiss, now, was in the bright light of a full brace of candles, with a dragon huddled, quivering, on the floor between them and two pairs of human eyes watching through the window as Rose leaned forwards at an angle that would have been awkward even if the moment had been real. But of course, this time it was mere theatre ...
Which made it shockingly inappropriate for a sudden, tingling flame to shoot through her skin at the unfamiliar taste of his open mouth against hers. Good lord, how could he possibly taste so good? And why did it make her whole body shiver to breathe him in when his own breath was so deliciously warm?
Everything about him was warm, actually. His fingers had loosened their grip on her arms in his first instant of shock, but now they tightened convulsively, pressing lines of heat through the double layers of her dressing gown and nightdress ...
Which suddenly felt not nearly so modest or respectable as she’d thought them only minutes ago.
What was she doing?
Rose pulled back with a gasp. Mr Aubrey’s green eyes were wide and wild behind his spectacles as he stared back at her, his fingers still clamped around her arms and his breath every bit as disordered as her own.
She knew how his breath tasted in her mouth. She could—
A loud, panicked chortle sounded from below just as she began to sway helplessly towards him once again.
“Oh, no!” This time, she jerked backwards so hard that she pulled free from Mr Aubrey’s grip and landed with a thump on the floor, losing all grace and balance. Her position put her at exactly the right level to take in every ounce of melancholy betrayal in Griff’s golden gaze.
“I am so sorry,” she said breathlessly as she pushed herself upright. “I never meant to frighten you, I promise.”
“I ... wouldn’t say that I was frightened, precisely.” Mr Aubrey’s tone was strangled; when she glanced up, she found him plucking at his cravat, his gaze still fixed upon her mouth. He looked away immediately, the colour on his cheekbones darkening. “That is, I was certainly startled, but—”
“Oh, no, I was talking to Griff,” Rose assured him. “Poor thing!” She crooned the loving words as she reached one hand out to hover just beside the dragon’s small, rectangular golden head; he eyed it balefully through a slitted gaze, not shifting away but not leaning trustingly towards her, either. “We didn’t hurt you, though, did we? We didn’t even touch you.”
“You touched me.” An unexpected edge to the scholar’s tone made Rose’s gaze flick upwards in surprise. Mr Aubrey’s angular face was still delightfully flushed, but his eyes had narrowed in a startlingly forbidding fashion that made more tingles twist, not unpleasantly, through her centre. “I believe you termed it necessary. May I at least enquire what made you draw such an unlikely conclusion?”
“Of course. I owe you an apology as well.” Rose took a breath, forcing down those inappropriate tingles. “There wasn’t any time to explain beforehand, but the truth is, we’re being watched.”
“What?” His head whipped around.
“No!” She snatched hold of his jacket sleeve, forcing his attention back to her. With any luck, Sir Gareth wouldn’t have the ability to read lips, but she leaned a fraction closer just in case, letting Mr Aubrey’s lanky height shield her face from full view of the darkened window. “You mustn’t let him know that we know he’s out there.”
“Him?” Mr Aubrey squeezed his eyes shut, his whole face tightening with what looked like excruciating pain. “Good God, I’ve been drawn into a melodrama. This is why it’s better only to think about dragons!”
“But this is about dragons,” Rose said soothingly. “It’s about their safety. You see, Sir Gareth has been standing outside, spying on us.” Family loyalty made it impossible to mention Serena’s secondary presence ... but she would certainly be bringing that up with her cousin very soon. In fact, Rose had several choice phrases ready and waiting for that conversation. “He’s already suspicious of our betrothal, and he suspected even before tonight that we’d taken in at least one of his poor, escaped dragons.”
“Exactly as you did?” Mr Aubrey asked wryly, eyes still closed.
