Forever Her Rake by Scarlett Scott

Author:Scarlett Scott [Scott, Scarlett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Happily Ever After Books, LLC
Published: 2024-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Val ushered Edie into the closest unoccupied room. As it happened, the music room that was the scene of the aural crime that had so recently been committed by Miss Hortense—or had it been Horatia? Her first name hardly signified. All that did matter was that the chit was no longer caterwauling by the piano, the room was blessedly silent, and he had Edie precisely where he wanted her.

Alone.

He guided her to a gilt-backed settee, all too aware of her warmth and nearness, her lush curves hidden beneath her fetching seafoam-green gown with a jaunty satin ribbon tied under her breasts, quite as if they were a gift that required unwrapping. Val would be happy to oblige.

He couldn’t be certain if it was his imagination, but she seemed somehow more beautiful this morning. Bolder, more assured of herself. The cut of her décolletage was certainly more brazen than any he’d seen thus far, and the small constellation of freckles to the right of her collarbone that he’d grown inordinately fond of was on tempting display.

The urge to set his lips there was strong, but he hadn’t brought her to this room for seduction. Pity. But it would have to wait.

“Would you like to sit, darling?” he asked, gesturing to the blue velvet upholstery, which seemed a vivid foil to her sparkling eyes.

“I’m not sure we should be alone together,” she said, reverting to the prim, proper Lady Edith once more.

But she didn’t fool him—he’d had her writhing and moaning under him mere hours ago. He knew the sensual goddess she kept hidden away.

“Just for a few moments,” he promised. “I only want to talk.”

And he might have laughed at himself for such a pronouncement. Only wanting to talk, as if he were courting her. As if he were a gentleman. Ha! That couldn’t be further from the truth.

She hesitated, casting a nervous glance toward the door he’d closed discreetly at their backs—and latched, for good measure. He might be a fool in many ways, but he also knew when to lock a goddamned door.

“Who is it you don’t trust, Edie?” he asked softly, studying her face in the loving morning light streaming in through the mullioned windows, admiring the way the hints of burnished gold shone in her hair. “Is it me, or is it yourself?”

A small smile flirted with the corners of her lush lips. “Both of us, I should think.”

He felt an answering smile pulling at his own mouth despite the seriousness of the moment. “Clever woman. Will you sit anyway? I promise to be on my very best behavior.”

Which was hardly a source of solace, for he was, generally speaking, quite bad at all times. He wasn’t sure he possessed good behavior. For her, however, he would try just this once.

She relented, seating herself on the settee, and he did the same, folding his frame onto the cushion at her side. And then, all ideas of what he ought to do next flew from his mind. He’d never proposed marriage before.

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