“You did not hear me, did you?” Her face was pink—with anger, he thought.
“Sorry, lass. I’m a bit drunk.”
“Good. Not that you’re drunk, but that you didn’t hear me. Never mind. It was a foolish idea.”
He opened his eyes wider, his brain coming alert. What the hell had he missed?
The darkness occasionally did that to him. Elliot, at times, would slide through large portions of conversation without noticing he had. He’d come back to himself realizing that people were waiting for his response and wondering what was the matter with him. Elliot had decided that avoiding people and conversation was the best solution.
With Juliana, he wanted to know. “Tell me again,” Elliot said.
“I don’t think I ought. If it were a cracking-good idea, you’d have leapt on it at once. As it is…”
He’d offended her. “Juliana, I swear to you… I drift in and out. I want to hear your cracking-good idea.”
“No, you don’t.”
Elliot sat up and stretched his arm along the back of the pew. He didn’t touch her but let his arm rest close enough to her to feel her warmth. “Juliana, tell me, or I’ll tickle you.”
“I’m not eight years old anymore, Elliot McBride.”
“Neither am I. When I say
A mistake. The contact shot heat up his arm and dove straight into his heart. Elliot should lift his hand away, get out of this chapel, and race back across the city to the safety of his brother’s house. Back to cowering in the bedroom, having his patient manservant feed him cups of weak tea.
Elliot brushed her shoulder again, and Juliana looked up at him. Her lips were close to his, lush and ripe. She had faint freckles across her nose, ten of them. She’d always had them, had always tried to rid herself of them, but to Elliot, every one was kissable.
Her eyes went still, and her voice was a whisper of breath. “What I asked, Elliot, was whether
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