Danielle winced, too. “Yes. How did the poultice work for it?”
“It’s healing, but I daresay it would feel even better if you would … kiss it.”
“Kiss it?”
“Have I shocked you?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Then I dare you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Cade was not expecting her to do it. He assumed she’d bat her eyelashes at him—and she had the most arresting eyelashes—and murmur a few charming words about how he shouldn’t be so incorrigible. Perhaps she’d give him another of those sultry smiles that he was coming to covet. That would be that until Mary returned.
So he was surprised, shocked really, when Danielle moved from her seat to his in one fluid motion and gently tugged his injured hand into hers. The touch of her hand against his was the most erotic thing he’d felt in far too long. She smelled like lavender. Like the fragrant fields he’d once walked through in Provence. Damn, it was enticing.
Something about this woman made him do crazy things like admit he’d returned to town to help Rafe and share secrets about his childhood. He’d never told anyone about those things before. Ever. But something about her intelligence and savvy combined with her station in life made her seem … safe. It wasn’t a feeling Cade was used to. The truth was that it terrified him, both how she made him feel and how he couldn’t seem to leave her alone.
He didn’t look at his hand. Or her dark head bent over it. Instead, he bit the inside of his cheek and prayed his cockstand wasn’t noticeable. He raised his face to the coach ceiling and tried to think about other things. Fencing. Card games. Riding horses. Riding …
“It looks good,” Danielle finally murmured.
If only she were referring to his cockstand. “Does it?”
“Yes, it’s healing nicely.”
“Glad to hear it.” Was it his imagination or did his voice sound garbled? By God, he was sweating. It was official. This woman made him sweat. He’d like to return the favor.
He wiped his forehead with the back of his other hand.
Danielle remained bent over his lap. “Do you want me to kiss it now?”
He braced his booted foot against the floor of the coach. Hard. And swallowed. Dear lord, did the woman know what she was doing to him? “Kiss it?” He tugged at his cravat.
“Yes.”
Yes, please, God. Bend down and kiss it.
“Your hand,” she murmured.
“Kiss whatever you like.” He couldn’t help himself.
Her dark head bent farther and her lips brushed against his knuckles, then the sensitive skin between his thumb and forefinger.
He braced both boots against the floor. “Is that all you’re interested in kissing?” he managed to ground out.
She lifted her head and the look on her face was positively wicked. “Do you have any suggestions?”
Did he have any—? That surprised him, too. He was used to dealing with forward women but usually the ones he knew had no modesty whatsoever. Danielle was an intriguing combination of innocence and forwardness that he found irresistible. “Oh, sweetheart, I have a list.”
“Really?” she purred. “May I see it?”
“It’s a mental list,” he drawled.
“Then you must tell me.”
“You can begin with … my lips.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t think I’ll do it. Do you?”
“I’m hoping to hell you will.”
She settled her skirts around her and lifted her head to face him, blinking at him innocently. “I have kissed a man before. I already know what it’s like.”
“You haven’t kissed me before.”
She sat up, folded her arms across her chest, and shook her head. “You are the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not arrogance if it’s true.”
“According to you, it’s true.”
He traced a finger along her collar. “There’s only one way to find out if I’m being arrogant.”
She continued to narrow her eyes on him. She definitely looked as if she were considering all of the implications, weighing the positives and negatives. “Very well.”
The next thing Cade knew, her mouth was on his. It was a quick smack, a bit of movement, the slightest swipe of her tongue against the outside of his lips and then she was gone. It was over in little more than a moment.
“What in the devil’s name was that?” he asked, blinking. “I feel as if I’ve been assaulted.”
“A kiss, you dolt.” She was already resettling her skirts around her. “It wasn’t particularly good.”
“That was not a kiss. That was a physical attack.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t much better than what I remember.”
“My dear girl.” He pushed himself off the seat and loomed over her. “I refuse to take responsibility for that, whatever it was. If you want a proper kiss, come here.”
Her hands froze on her skirts. She slowly tilted up her head, a challenging look in her eyes as if she were a wild animal daring a predator to come closer.
“I’m here,” she whispered. “If you think you can do better.” She pushed her hands behind her, bracing both palms against the seat. Her chest thrust forward to provide him with a stunning view of her décolletage. He moved forward, leaning over her, his mouth mere inches from hers.
“Do better?” He rolled his eyes heavenward. “If that is the standard against which I’m to be compared, better is not the correct word. There isn’t one sufficient in the English language. You may need to root around in French for one.”
She looked affronted. “Very well. I’m waiting.”
Good. He would make her wait. Slowness was an asset when it came to such things. She obviously didn’t know that yet. No wonder she didn’t want to repeat it, if that nonsense had been her prior experience. Cade hooded his eyes and took his time lowering his mouth to hers. God knew what sort of fool the woman had been kissed by before, but quick, hard pecks were not his style. He liked to savor the moment. Take his time. Enjoy every second.
He let his mouth slowly drift over hers, warm skin to warm skin. When his lips finally met hers, he didn’t press, didn’t push.
“It’s nice, but—” Danielle began, trying to move away.
“Stay there … and kindly shut up,” he murmured against her lips.
She did as she was told, going rigid.
His mouth still on hers, Cade brought up one hand to cradle her face. He brushed his thumb against her soft cheek, traced the outline of her shell-like ear with his forefinger. She sighed. Good.
He pressed his lips to hers more firmly, tilted his head to the side to get a better angle, and slowly, oh, so slowly, nudged her lips open with the tip of his tongue.
As soon as Danielle opened for him, his tongue plunged inside. Their mouths slanted across each other’s and one of her hands snaked up to reach around his neck. She clung to him. She moaned. His mouth plundered hers, again and again, until both of her arms were around his neck and she was supporting herself by clinging to his shoulders. He moved to the side of her mouth, her cheek, her ear. He rained kisses along her neck. She leaned her head back, allowing him to touch every part of her. God, how he wanted to rip open her bodice and put his mouth on her pert, delectable breasts.
He forced himself to move up again. His mouth returned to hers and he gently bit her plump bottom lip. He sucked on the edge of her lip before slowly slipping his tongue back inside. She cradled his head in her hands. His hands were on her waist, pulling her to him, his mouth never leaving hers. It was endless, drugging. One of his hands moved up to the back of her neck where he stroked gently, easing her head to the side to angle the kiss. The other hand moved to her back, pulling her body into ever-increasing contact with his.
When his mouth finally broke contact with hers, Danielle was panting, clinging to him. Her eyes looked wil
d and her hair was slightly mussed. And yes, by God, there was an unmistakable bead of sweat on her forehead. Mission accomplished.
With a smug, satisfied smile, his mouth moved to her delicate ear and he whispered huskily, “That was a kiss.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The sound of Mary’s voice outside the coach snapped them both back to reality. Danielle hastily smoothed her hair and moved back to the opposite seat just before the coach door was wrenched open and Mary’s smiling face was framed by the harsh sunlight streaming into the vehicle from behind her.
“Good news!” Mary announced, as Cade, who looked positively delectable with slightly mussed hair, helped her into the coach.
“You found a perfume?” Danielle asked as her friend slid into the seat next to her. Danielle steadfastly kept her gaze from Cade. She couldn’t look at him. The man had told her kissing him would be different. Mon dieu, that was an understatement.
“No,” Mary replied. “But I know which one I shall purchase.”
“Which?” Danielle asked, self-consciously pushing the pins into her coiffure to ensure they remained tidy.
“The bergamot scent at the first shop. The one on the corner.”
“Ah, excellent choice,” Cade chimed in. Danielle dared a glance at him. He looked perfectly put together and unaffected. So that was that how rakes did things. Passionately kissing a woman one minute and completely unaffected the next. She, however, was never going to be the same. Nom de dieu she’d had no idea kissing could be like that.
“Did you smell it, Mr. Cavendish?” Mary asked.
“No, but I’ve always been partial to bergamot.” He grinned at the maid and called to the groomsman who remained by the open door. “Back to LaFont’s, if you please.”
“Very well, sir,” the groomsman replied.
Soon the coach was parked in front of the small shop. Cade alighted first, then turned to help Mary down. As he was helping Danielle, a shrill female voice sounded behind them from the bustle of the crowd on the street. “Cade Cavendish, is that you?”
Cade turned one shade paler, gave Danielle an apologetic look, and turned just as a gorgeous—if gaudily dressed—woman came stamping toward him. “Amanda?” he asked in a dismayed tone.
Danielle’s eyebrow shot up at his use of the woman’s Christian name.
“Of course it’s Amanda.” The woman wore rouge on her cheeks and pink paint on her pouty, full lips. She was tall, blond, and looked as if she were Venus and had just walked off the shell.
“Who’s this?” Amanda demanded, waving her hand at Danielle and Mary simultaneously, as if they were one person.
“Friends of mine,” Cade replied. “Allow me to introduce Miss Danielle LaCrosse and Miss Mary Hartfield.” He turned to them. “Ladies, this is Miss Amanda…”
Amanda’s gorgeous face crumpled in a fierce scowl. “Jones!” she announced.
“Of course. Jones. Amanda Jones.”
Danielle tried to greet the woman but she completely ignored Danielle and continued in a rush of words. “Cade, if you were still in town, why didn’t you tell me?” Another pretty pout appeared on her lips.
Danielle and Mary exchanged disapproving glances.
“My apologies. I’ve been busy,” Cade replied.
“Busy with these ladies?” she asked, a skeptical note in her voice. She leaned up and whispered in Cade’s ear loud enough for the others to hear. “I’ve missed you. We might have been having fun all this time.”
Fun? Danielle blinked. Oh, good heavens, she was actually standing in the middle of the street being introduced to one of Cade’s light-o’-loves. How entirely inappropriate. Not to mention awkward. It was all Danielle could do to keep from taking a step back and curling her lip in disgust.
Instead she clenched her jaw and said, “We’ll just go inside.” She nodded toward the perfumery, desperate to be anywhere but there.
“Yes!” Mary agreed a bit too loudly.
Danielle grabbed Mary’s hand, flung a “Nice to meet you, Miss Jones,” toward the woman, and took off toward the door of the shop.
Once inside, Mary flew away to find her bergamot while Danielle hid behind the curtains near the front window and peered outside to watch Cade and Miss Jones. The woman was clearly perturbed about something. What was this? More secrets from the man? Tempted by his charm and his looks, Danielle had forgotten herself when she’d decided to kiss him. She’d forgotten he was a mark and she was a spy. When his mouth had captured hers, she’d been a woman and he a man and nothing else had mattered.
Watching him out the window with his lover, for surely that’s what Miss Jones was, Danielle realized the reason he knew how to kiss like that was because he’d had a great deal of practice. He was a full-blown, undeniable rake. Danielle would do well to remember it. No more kissing. She needed to discover his secrets and one of them was standing in the street with him, wearing a yellow day dress so tight in the décolletage, Danielle was almost embarrassed for the woman. Almost, although jealousy, not embarrassment, seemed to be her predominate emotion. Mon dieu. Jealous over a rake? Such a bad idea.
“Here it is,” Mary called from behind her, pulling Danielle’s attention back to the reason she’d left the house this afternoon.
She hurried over to her friend, who stood with a tiny glass vial in her hand. Mary had taken off the stopper and was busily sniffing the perfume. She held it up for Danielle to sample, too.
“It’s perfect,” Danielle declared. She had also decided to buy a new vial of perfume. An orchid scent that she’d found while shopping here earlier with Mary. Lady Daphne had been kind enough to increase her wages after her first week, declaring she’d already done a better job than the erstwhile Miss Anderson. The increase was enough to purchase the perfume and ensure all her mother’s medical bills were paid for the week.
Danielle had already pushed her coins to the proprietor and Mary was fishing the last of her monies out of her small change purse to pay when Cade strolled in. He strode over to the women, an inscrutable look on his face.
“Absolutely not,” he declared when he saw the money on the counter.
Mary blinked at Cade, confused.
“I cannot allow you to purchase this perfume,” he said. “I shall purchase it for you. For you both.”
Mary blushed scarlet. “Oh, no. Mr. Cavendish. I could never—”
“Absolutely not,” Danielle snapped.
It would be a gross impropriety for Cade to purchase such intimate gifts for unmarried ladies. That didn’t dissuade him one bit.
“My nieces,” Cade declared to the shopkeeper before pulling a purse from his coat pocket and tossing the necessary bills onto the counter.
“Thank you,” the shopkeeper said. If the woman had any doubts that Mary and Danielle were his nieces she mercifully kept them to herself. “I’ll just go fetch your change.”
While the shopkeeper was gone, Mary and Danielle stared at Cade in wonder. “Mr. Cavendish, I cannot allow—” Mary began.
“Please, Miss Hartfield. It will bring me great pleasure. Don’t speak another word about it.”
Mary seemed as if she were about to argue more, but Danielle put her hand on the girl’s arm. She was interested in something far more eyebrow-raising than whether Cade paid for a couple of vials of perfume. She’d seen the contents of his purse and the man was tres rich!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
That evening, Danielle was in Lady Daphne’s bedchamber helping her to prepare for the soiree she’d be attending that night. She’d just finished telling her mistress every detail about the girlish endeavor upon which she’d embarked this afternoon. Specifically, Mary’s encounter downstairs with Trevor.
After she and Mary returned from their shopping adventure, Danielle and Mrs. Huckleberry had arranged Mary’s hair in a sweeping chignon, applied a hint of her new perfume at her throat and wrists, and plied her with instructions. Mary had waited in the corridor for Trevor to come in from his afternoon
chores.
“Mary looked absolutely lovely,” Danielle finished. “When he saw her, Trevor nearly dropped the coal buckets. Then Mary worked up the nerve to ask him if he’d like to go walking in the park on Sunday and I’m happy to report, they have an appointment to do exactly that.”
“I do love love,” Lady Daphne said with a sigh. “Do you know Rafe once sent me a little ship?”
“A ship?”
“It was a replica of one we’d both spend time on. The True Love.”
“That sounds tres romantique,” Danielle replied. “Oh, I nearly forgot. I’ll get your hair ribbon back tonight.”
“Oh, no. Please tell Mary she can keep it. I’ve little use for it,” Lady Daphne replied. “Why, I’ve got dozens of hair ribbons.”
“That’s kind of you, my lady.”
Lady Daphne bit her lip. “I’ve been meaning to ask you…”
Danielle’s hands paused on her hair. “Yes, my lady?”
“How was the shopping excursion with Cade?”
Danielle tried to concentrate on perfecting the chignon. “It was … fine, my lady.”
“Fine?” Daphne stared at her in the mirror, one eyebrow cocked.
Was it getting hot in the room? Every time Danielle considered her shopping trip with Cade, she thought of three things. First, the smoldering kiss they’d shared in the coach. Second, the hideous encounter with Miss Jones. And third, the large sum of money she’d seen in his purse. That was not the kind of money a ne’er-do-well carried about, brother of a viscount or no. Was he a thief? A criminal? She doubted he’d robbed his brother. He claimed he was here to help him. But how? By doing something illegal? Cade had something up his sleeve and Danielle intended to find out what it was. It only complicated matters that the man had given her the kind of kiss that could singe off your eyelashes.
“Mary found her perfume,” Danielle offered instead.
“No. I mean did Cade do anything … untoward?”
A vision of his mouth on her neck flashed through Danielle’s unhelpful mind. “I … er, wouldn’t say that.”
“Did he do anything indecent?” Lady Daphne asked.
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