She’d wanted this. It felt powerful, knowing she could give him the same pleasure he gave her. Molten heat sprinted through her veins. Emboldened further, she reached lower, holding her breath, waiting for him to protest as he had before. But he allowed her to touch him this time. Her fingers explored the front of his breeches, finding a long, hard ridge that made the ache between her legs intensify as she imagined him sliding inside her. She wanted him there, filling her as a woman was meant to be filled.
At the other end of the chamber, a single torch flared to life. They pulled apart, Rose swiftly yanking up on her bodice. All around them in the all-but-darkness, courtiers were engaged in various stages of lovemaking.
It sickened her, no matter that she’d been envisioning the very same thing. The whole court sickened her.
“Take me out of here,” she said. One shoe off and one on, she began limping toward the door. Kit swept her up into his arms and wove his way through the crowd, stepping over bodies as he went.
At long last, they made it down the Great Stairs and into Clock Court. Torches bathed the courtyard in a hazy yellow glow. He strode to the fountain in the center before setting her on her feet.
Her gown was in tatters from the knees down, the few remaining blooms torn and limp. Her face burned in one spot; she touched it and came away with a trace of blood on her fingertip. Her hair tumbled madly over her shoulders, half or more unpinned.
Thank heavens it was only Kit here to see her.
Still shaky—from lust or fear or some combination—she splashed water on her face before she looked up and blinked. “Good God, you were the pirate.”
His expression slowly transformed from concern to something darker. “You didn’t know? And yet you kissed me, touched me…” He looked thoroughly disgusted. “I can hardly blame all those men for taking advantage, though I wish to wring all their lecherous necks. Lord Almighty, Rose, you touched me like a true wanton, and you didn’t even know—”
“I’m not wanton!” The last of her fear was swept away by indignation—and maybe a touch of guilt for her actions here at court. “I’m not!”
Kit felt outrage like he never had before. He could hardly credit that he still wanted her—and yet he did, which fueled his anger all the more. “You could have fooled me,” he spat.
“What were you doing in the great hall?” she demanded, by all appearances equally outraged. “You’re not a member of the court!”
“And that’s why you won’t have me, isn’t it?”
“No! To hell with the court. I never want to come back here again. Everything here got completely out of hand.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it. The fountain trickled in the background while he silently repeated her words.
I never want to come back here again.
Perhaps there was hope for him, after all.
Quite suddenly he felt bone tired. “I don’t want to fight,” he said.
She sighed. “I don’t want to fight, either.”
“Rose, you must be more careful around men.”
“I would never allow—”
“You’re a passionate woman, but for your own good, you must curb—”
“I’m not passionate,” she interrupted. “Only with you. I knew it was you, Kit. I’ve never kissed anyone else like that. Anyone but you. Ever.”
He stared, wondering whether to be pleased or angry at that impassioned revelation. Anger won. “How can you fib with such a straight face? You expect me to believe that after you admitted you didn’t realize I was the pirate?”
“I didn’t recognize you as the pirate during the masked ball,” she returned hotly, “because it never occurred to me you would be there.” She shifted her weight back and forth, popping up and down on her single high-heeled shoe. “And you’re a blasted hypocrite, do you know that? You kissed me when you didn’t know who I was.”
“Bloody hell,” Kit shot back, “do you take me for a fool? A sightless nitwit would have recognized you at twenty paces. You smell like a damned garden. But you could be wearing sackcloth instead of flowers and I’d know you, Rose. Instantaneously. Don’t you know that?”
Her dark eyes flashed. “Like I knew you the moment you caught me in the dark? The moment I touched you, even blind as a bat? I just never connected you with the pirate.”
Understanding hit Kit like a brick dropped from a half-built wall.
I knew you. I just never connected you with the pirate.
She was beautiful in her fury, her cheeks flushed, her agitated breath making her chest heave in a way that drew his gaze. No one could lie that convincingly.
Damnation, had he ever been such a nithing blockhead?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I twisted your words in my mind, jumped to an erroneous conclusion. You’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.”
He cracked a smile. “You’re so graceful at accepting apologies.”
Her anger seemed to flee as quickly as it had flared. “It’s a good thing, since I still don’t want to fight.” She answered his smile with one of her own, her gaze raking his costumed form. “You make a very fetching pirate.”
“Do I, now?”
Though he’d said it in all good humor, her voice dropped to a whisper. “You appeared like magic, and I was so grateful to have you there. You swept away my fear with a single touch of your lips…”
Unable to help himself, he touched those lips to hers again. A silent apology that swiftly turned to more, much more—
“Rose?” her mother’s voice drifted down the Great Stairs. “Rose!”
Reluctantly Kit drew away. “We’re out here, Lady Trentingham.”
Her high heels clicked on the cobblestones as
