“Well, he won’t be getting it,” she said.
“I admire your conviction. What do you plan to do with it?”
“Maybe I’ll give it to Ellen,” she said with a sly smile, “so she and Thomas can move their pawnshop to London.”
“Be serious.”
“Is this more of the getting-to-know-each-other game?”
They’d come to the entrance of the maze. “Tell me,” he said softly.
Her sisters had both nurtured dreams since childhood: Violet wanted to publish a philosophy book, and Lily wished to build and staff a home for stray animals. But in truth, Rose had never made such high-minded plans. She’d only ever hoped to find love and be happy.
She’d just never dreamed that goal would prove so difficult.
“I want to travel,” she said. “I wish to see the world.”
“Travel can be fascinating, but it can also be tiring and tedious. Does the duke enjoy it?”
She had no idea. In fact, she realized now, she knew little of the duke at all. They’d never had a serious conversation, never shared a confidence, never discussed likes, dislikes, values—or much of anything at all.
But she’d spent hours talking to Kit, about anything and everything. They’d become friends before he ever kissed her. She knew he wanted to travel, to Italy and elsewhere.
“Let’s go inside,” she said. “I’d have you show me this left-hand rule.”
The look he gave her made it clear he knew she was avoiding his question. But he took her remaining shoe and set it down with his own things, then led her inside the tall hedge maze.
“Put your left hand on the wall as we walk,” he instructed. “And leave it there. Just follow that left wall without breaking contact, and I guarantee you’ll find the center without getting lost. Go on,” he urged when she hesitated. “I’ll follow you.”
Slanting him a wary glance, she did as he said, skimming her left hand along the leaves as she marched through the hornbeam hedges. When they reached a dead end, she turned on him. “It didn’t work.”
“Keep your hand on the wall,” he repeated. “Follow it around.”
“It’s a dead end.”
“I didn’t say you’d never come to a dead end. I said you wouldn’t get lost.” He took her left hand, pressed a slow, warm kiss to the palm, then placed it back against the hedge. “Keep going.”
She did, but not before releasing a long, shuddering breath. She could still feel his lips on her palm, even as she slid it along the leaves. Why had he done that?
Had he not given up on her?
The towering hedges made the path shady and intimate. At the second dead end, she turned to him again. “This cannot be the optimum route.”
“Of course it isn’t.” He looked amused. “You’d have to know the pattern of the maze to take the optimum route. But this is a safe route. You won’t wander the same way twice, and you’ll find the center.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips, so fast and light she wondered if she might have imagined it. “Keep going.”
At the third dead end she turned to him once more. “This is a waste of time.”
“Of course it’s a waste of time. It’s a maze—there are few things more frivolous.” Smiling, he trailed a finger down her cheek to her chin. A frisson of warmth followed. His thumb grazed her bottom lip. “But there’s nothing quite so delightful as wasting time with someone you care for, is there?”
He cared for her. What did that mean, exactly? Too tired to think straight, she held her breath as he leaned close and slowly brushed her mouth with his.
She definitely wasn’t imagining this.
Giddy with exhaustion, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He was right: There was nothing else quite so delightful. Forgetting that she shouldn’t encourage him, she sank into the kiss, into the intimate dance that made her head feel dreamy and her stomach flutter with excitement.
“Keep going,” he whispered when at last he drew back.
Dizzily she trailed a hand along the cool leaves, the trodden dirt path hard under her stockinged feet. At the next dead end, she felt his hands on her shoulders, turning her into his arms. His fingers cradled her face, and as he lowered his mouth to meet hers, his woodsy scent filled her head.
The morning was chilly, but he was so very warm and solid. As he deepened the kiss, she surrendered all too willingly, leaning into the delicious heat of his body. When he bit down gently on her lower lip, her breath caught.
“Kit,” she murmured.
“Hmm?” He kissed both sides of her mouth, where her dimples would be if she were smiling.
“I think…” She was so lightheaded, her thoughts refused to come together. Was it the exhaustion or the kissing? “Let’s keep going.”
She felt limp, so weak she could barely keep her hand to the hedges as she went along. Another dead end loomed ahead, and this time she turned to him before they even reached it.
He laughed, his smile affecting her nearly as much as his kisses. “I think you’re enjoying this maze more than you anticipated.” He reached to tap the lip he’d just bitten, traced her mouth, then trailed a finger down her chin to the delicate hollow of her throat. His gaze went a glittery green as he drew circles there.
She shivered and went on her toes to press her lips to his. It was a kiss that held nothing back, that carried all the force of her frustration, her resistance, and her inexplicable need. They were clasped to each other from top to toe, like they were molded together. Her every nerve was on fire at the feel of his muscles pressing up against her softer form.
By the time he broke away,
