Page 87 of Unmasking the Earl

Pray God she wouldn’t tease him now. He didn’t know if he could bear it.

“Then I am doubly favored.” Her face was alive with emotion…and she wasn’t laughing.

“I know we’ve had our differences.”

“A few.”

“But I would like us to be friends. If you should ever have need of me, should you ever want a shoulder to cry on, I will be there for you. Always.”

He wanted far more than friendship from her, but he was desperate for some sign that she cared for him, too.

“As a friend?” she asked, brows raised.

Was that a look of disappointment in those hazel eyes?

He summoned up every ounce of courage he possessed, and said, “No. As more than a friend. If you want me. But I understand I may be speaking out of turn. That this may not be the time, if your heart is still held captive by Mr. Carnforth.”

One of her hands slid up the edge of his tight-fitting waistcoat. He wondered if she had any idea how erotic the gesture was. Her fingers caught on a button, and she rolled it between them. That gesture, too, was inflammatory. He caught her hand in his and refused to let it escape.

Gazing down, he waited for her reply, feeling like a tightrope walker balanced above a precipice. One false step and his world would come crashing down.

“Ned,” she murmured, “Mr. Carnforth is a friend of long-standing, and I hope he will remain so. But I no longer think of him in any other way.”

This was exactly what he had hoped to hear. But he’d never felt like this about a woman before and was riddled with doubts. He needed something more from her.

“You mean you have not accepted his offer?” He sent up a silent prayer as he waited, barely breathing, for her answer.

“Of course not. I said I would take neither of you, if you remember. Have you been worried about that?”

That would be an understatement.

“I have been breaking my heart over it,” he said slowly. It was a confession he had never expected to make.

“Darling, foolish Ned,” she said, stroking his cheek. “I’ve barely given Julian a thought since Aston.”

Tears glistened in her eyes. He wanted to kiss them away. In fact, he wanted to kiss every single inch of her.

Happiness was within his grasp. He could feel it.

“No other gentleman interests me. How could they, after I’ve given myself to you? Or did you really think me a light-skirt, which you accused me of being when you first dragged me into Wycherley’s closet?”

“God, no. I just didn’t know if what happened in that wheat field meant anything to you, other than another lesson you would put to use for Carnforth’s benefit.” He was struggling to find the right words now. Everything sounded so selfish and insulting.

“Of course it did,” she whispered. “It meant all the world to me.”

Her hand had flattened out against his chest, and he wondered if she could feel the pulsing of his heart. To him, it sounded as loud and furious as a cavalry charge.

Her hand strayed appreciatively across his chest and down his ribs, where she discovered the small box he had tucked into a hidden pocket beneath his waistcoat.

She touched the bulge with a finger. “What’s this?”

“I have a gift for you. In case my words are not enough to persuade you to hear me out.”

“I’m listening to you now, am I not?” She tilted her head coquettishly.

He grinned. “I’m not sure you’ve earned it yet.”

“What must I do to earn it?”