About a Rogue by Caroline Linden

Author:Caroline Linden
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-06-29T21:00:00+00:00

Bianca was surprised—pleasantly—that coming to London had been far more productive than she had expected.

After Max was proven right about Lord Dalway ordering a service, Sir Henry Carswell did place an order as well. At that news, Bianca had to admit that Max knew far more than she about Londoners. When a request for a viewing arrived from the Countess of Dowling, and an order from Viscount Harley, she even congratulated him one morning at breakfast.

He took it graciously, raising his coffee cup in salute. “I knew it was only a matter of making the right impression, and your scarlet glaze did that.”

“No,” she replied. “The scarlet glaze alone would have done nothing. You knew how best to display it and tempt people like Lady Dalway.”

He laughed. “And Lady Dalway is likely to spread the word better than we ever could.”

They were cordial now. That was reasonable, she told herself. There had been no mention of the kiss, let alone any suggestion of more. In fact, she told herself this might be the happy balance she had wished for. They were both dedicated to advancing the interests of Perusia. It would please her father—whose twice-weekly letters asked repeatedly how she was getting on with her husband in London—and perhaps it was better to kiss him and be done with it. The only way to rid oneself of an itch sometimes was to scratch it.

It didn’t matter that she’d felt that kiss on her mouth the rest of the night, nor that she’d lain awake for a long time, wondering what had possessed her and if he thought it meant he’d won. If there had been the slightest trace of triumph in his attitude the next morning, she vowed, she would tell him it had been a dreadful mistake on her part, never to be repeated . . .

But he hadn’t. He had greeted her the next morning in the same way he had always done. Not so much as a lingering glance betrayed any smugness. And somehow Bianca never got around to saying it was a mistake, or that she wished it had never happened, or that it must never happen again.

Even though it never would happen again, obviously.

He pushed back his chair. “Shall you come with me today? I intend to view another shop.”

“Oh?” She gulped too large a sip of chocolate at his voice and winced as it burned her throat. She’d got distracted watching him talk, thinking about how she was never going to kiss his mouth again, and she’d not been attending to what he said. “Er—where?”

“Cheapside,” he said. “’Tis for the proposal your father agreed to read.”

Ah. About the new line of dinnerware. One of them had been able to keep their mind on business. Flustered, she also rose. “Of course.”

“Are you warming to the idea?” he asked, his eyes dancing and a smile lurking about his mouth. There was a drop of coffee on his lower lip, and Bianca couldn’t tear her eyes from it.

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