Perfect Kisses

Opening the door, he ushered her in.

“I am awestruck,” she whispered, standing just inside the threshold, gazing at a drawing room of impeccable style and beauty. The furniture was scaled to a woman’s size, many of the pieces spectacular in their ornament- although of a sumptuous rather than a grandiose nature. She had an uneasy feeling several of the items might have once resided at Versailles.

“Catherine’s decorator will be pleased you like it. Come, sit down.” He waved her forward. “Our tea is ready.”

If she had momentarily overlooked the discrepancies in their lives downstairs, those distinctions returned with a vengeance. She wore a hand-me-down skirt and shabby slippers while Ormond casually assembled a luxurious apartment on a whim. “I don’t know…this is all rather overwhelming.”

“The tea is quite ordinary, I assure you.” Taking her hand, he drew her toward a small table set for tea. “Sit, relax, tell me of your day.” He pulled out a chair for her. “I watched all your twittering students depart. How do you deal with their babbling silliness and stay sane?”

It was as if he not only understood how unmanageable her students were but fully sympathized with her plight. “I could use a few moments to relax,” she murmured, experiencing a sudden wave of self-pity that effectively forestalled issues of unequal status. “Trying to impart anything remotely educational to my young ladies is indeed an exercise in futility.”

“I expect I was the despair of my tutors as well,” he said, sitting down in a large chair apparently selected for him. After pouring her tea, he looked up to see if she wanted cream.

“Yes, please.” How pleasant it was to be waited on. Especially on a day like today when her schoolroom had been continuously at sixes and sevens.

Pouring cream into her tea, Ormond added sugar without asking, as though he knew women always took sugar. “When I grew into maturity, I read a great deal, but as a youth-” he shrugged-“I was completely indifferent.” He lifted a liquor decanter. “Do you mind?”

“No, of course not.”

“Would you like some? It’s a very fine cognac.”

“Perhaps just a little.” She smiled. “I had a very trying day.”

Pouring them both a glass, he set hers down beside her teacup, leaned back in his chair, and resting his goblet on his chair arm, said very softly, “You wouldn’t have to work.”

“Pray, say no more.” She held his gaze. “What I have agreed to is temporary.”

He gazed at her over the rim of his glass. “I dislike seeing you in such reduced straits. It seems unfair.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, the world is unfair.” She smiled tightly. “Although, perhaps in your privileged case, that fact has escaped you.”

“Au contraire, darling. I have drunk away a good many years because the world has been unfair.” As though in illustration, he lifted his glass to his mouth and drained it.

“Then we need not argue.”

His smile was instant and above all amiable. “I agree.” Refilling his glass, he indicated her teacup with a dip of his head. “Drink your tea, try some of those pink frosted cakes, and we will speak of more pleasant things. Did your sister enjoy herself at Catherine’s rout?”

“She did. And I think she’s found a new beau. I hope you’re not offended.”

He laughed. “Not likely.”

“I’m not certain who it is. My aunt, of course, wouldn’t hear of anyone but you as a suitor, so Harriet dropped the subject.” Taking a sip of tea, she found the tension in her shoulders and neck noticeably lessen.

“I’d say it’s Seego.”

“He did look rather enamored last night. Might he be serious? I shouldn’t like Harriet hurt. By the way, these cakes are delicious.”

She had a delicate pink frosting residue on her lips that was tantalizing as hell. “I’ll let my chef know you liked them,” he said, restraining an impulse to kiss away the frosting. “As for Seego, he is most serious. He sought me out last night at Brooks. His concern was that I had some prior arrangement with your sister. I assured him that he was quite wrong in that regard.” Ormond grinned. “I have found the elder Miss Russell more to my liking.”

“If only you didn’t find every woman to your liking,” Claire sardonically noted, “your flattery would be more gratifying.” She smiled. “But thank you nonetheless. I find you extremely likable as well. As for Harriet’s prospects-Seego is a highly eligible party. We must hope that he is the man who Harriet found favor with last night.” She made a small moue. “Not that Harriet couldn’t be influenced by a future dukedom.”

“You may rest easy. It rather sounded as though the two youngsters were mutually enamored. I believe Seego used the romantic designation of-” the viscount’s brows rose-“soul mates.”

“No!”

“Oh yes.” Ormond’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “The young boy was quite positive.”

Claire sank back in her chair and softly exhaled. “I must say, I am greatly comforted by your news. If indeed, the two young people have an attachment, I am pleased. He is so much more suited to Harriet than-” she abruptly paused, realizing she’d almost been uncivil.

“You needn’t be tactful. I quite agree. And at the risk of offending you, I’m not likely to change.”

“I understand.” Ormond’s statement had been blunt in the extreme. “But then I am not an innocent like Harriet,” she calmly noted.

“So I discovered.” He peered at her with a searching gaze.

A small silence ensued.

“I needn’t explain to you,” she finally said.

“I just hope it wasn’t Charlie Rutledge.”

“No! My God, what do you take me for?” she cried, her face turning cherry red.

He was surprised at the degree of relief he felt. He was more surprised that he wished to be apprised of the men in her life when his philosophy had always been a cavalier live and let live. “If not Charlie-who then?”

Picking up her cognac, she held his gaze. “You don’t see me asking that of you, do you?”

He shrugged. “I wouldn’t care if you did. Tell me.”

“No.” She took a sip of cognac. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“Obviously,” he drawled.

“Should I leave?” Purse-lipped, she set her glass down.

“No.” He could have said we have an agreement and I’ve already settled things with Seego, but he didn’t. Then perhaps because he had been selfish so long, and he was here today for his own pleasure, he sensibly shifted his stance. “It was wrong of me to press you,” he said with a conciliatory smile. “I apologize. Am I forgiven?”

How many times had he spoken thusly with that disarming smile and imploring gaze? How many times had women like her, forgiven him? “There’s no need to apologize,” she said, perhaps as selfish as he. “I just prefer not laying bare my life. I hope you understand.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Neither could be faulted for their deft volte-face.

“Are you finished?” He nodded at her tea.

There was an authority in his voice that demanded compliance or was it the seductive allure in his dark gaze that made her answer, “Yes.”

He stood instantly, as though he’d been impatiently biding his time, and walking around the table, he pulled out her chair.

She took note of the small tick over his cheekbone as he helped her rise and the hard, firm line of his jaw. “You’re still angry.”

“Not in the least,” he smoothly replied.

“Nevertheless, I’m uncomfortable with you looking at me like that.” Was this situation turning out to be more perilous than she’d foreseen?

Quickly composing his features, he offered her his most charming smile. “Better? And if you need further verification of my good intentions,” he said, waving her toward a inner doorway, “very shortly, I pledge to make you exceedingly comfortable.”