The Rogue You Know by Galen Shana

Author:Galen, Shana [Galen, Shana]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2015-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven

It had been a glorious exit, Susanna decided when she paused on the stairs and continued her retreat. Her return would not be as glorious. She should have considered the amorous activities of the couple downstairs before she’d marched away.

She should have ordered Gideon to leave. Let him interrupt the moaning and grunting.

What on earth were they doing anyway?

She had some idea. She’d moaned herself when he’d kissed her a few moments before. She hadn’t known a kiss could be like that. She’d only ever experienced the dry, papery-light pecks her mother had given her. Her brothers occasionally bussed her on the forehead, but that was even less personal.

She’d seen Dane kiss his wife, of course. But she hadn’t dared watch them too closely. Did Dane kiss Marlowe the way Gideon had just kissed her? Did everyone kiss that way?

It was scandalous!

It was startling.

She wanted to do it again.

But not with Gideon Harrow.

She never wanted to see him again. In fact, she wished she could force him to go to Vauxhall Gardens right now so she could be rid of him sooner. Instead, she would have to walk back into that room and bear his mocking grin.

Swallowing the bile rising in her throat along with her pride, she opened the door and stepped back inside. Gideon was at the window again, and to her surprise, he didn’t look around.

“I hope you’ve come to apologize.”

“Apologize!” she sputtered. “You possess the unmitigated gall to suggest—”

“That’s a no then.” He leaned a shoulder against the window, still not turning to face her. Below, something crashed to the floor. Susanna closed her eyes in mortification.

“Like rabbits, aren’t they?”

She didn’t answer. She did not want to encourage conversation. Instead, she went to the bed and sat primly on the edge. She folded her hands together and waited for him to make fun of her, but he continued to stare out the window.

What did he see out there that held his interest? He was probably plotting a new crime. That was fine with her, as long as he conducted his criminal activity after he’d escorted her to Vauxhall. She was through pitying him. Yes, his mother and grandmother had died from fever. It did not seem that his father had been a very kind or compassionate man.

Many men had unkind fathers.

Many women too.

That didn’t mean one had to resign oneself to a life of crime. He might have stayed at the orphanage, tried to learn a trade…

Oh, she was being ridiculous now. Even sheltered as she was, she knew orphanages treated their wards little better than gaolers treated prisoners. She’d once asked her mother if she might join a philanthropic society to aid orphans, but her mother had forbid it.

“Philanthropy is for married women,” she’d said. Apparently, the plight of orphans was too shocking for young misses.

She pulled a lock of her hair down and examined the ends, partly to have something to do and partly to shield her face in case Gideon turned to look at her.

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