Good Earl Hunting by Suzanne Enoch Read Free Book Online

experienced such a thing before. The rest of her wasn’t doing much thinking at all. Instead she drank in every word of conversation, every whisper of a touch, so she would never forget how she felt for those moments.
    Beneath his bed chamber window he tightened his grip on her hand, then released her. “I have to leave you here,” he muttered.
    Immediately Theodora looked from him up to the open window and back again. “That’s how you escaped?”
    “You said you didn’t want anyone to know we were meeting. As I seem to become the Pied Piper the moment I leave the bed chamber, I thought climbing out the window would be wiser. So now I have to return the same way, or the flock will begin lurking out here, as well.”
    A few hours ago she might have responded to that statement with faux sympathy over his unfortunate popularity. She knew more about him now, however, about how he’d found himself in a position he didn’t relish, about how he’d been shoved into the middle of polite Society when he’d been perfectly content to remain on its fringes. And how he was being pushed toward marriage – and how he’d told her all of that voluntarily. If he merely needed a convenient bride, he certainly didn’t have to look as far afield as her. Aside from that, he’d gone through a great deal of trouble to chat with her when she’d been somewhat – very well, quite – prickly toward him. And he kissed magnificently. “Please be careful,” she said aloud, taking a step back.
    “You didn’t suggest I break my neck,” he returned with a grin. “More progress.”
    Her cheeks heated. “It’s only that I would be blamed for it if you fell,” she grumbled. Yes, she liked him, suddenly and a great deal more than she’d ever expected. But she was not a soft, fluttery sort of female, for heaven’s sake.
    “Of course,” he returned, lifting a hand to brush a strand of hair from her cheek. “Sit beside me at dinner.”
    She almost nodded. “I can’t!” she remembered belatedly. “We already sat together at luncheon. People will talk.”
    “Good. I want them to.”
    “B–“
    ”I have no need, or desire, to hide my interest in you. My attraction to you. In fact, the only thing I wish to hide is that I know how to make an escape for the occasional private walk.” Geoffrey turned for the trellis, then stopped and faced her again. “One more,” he murmured, walking back up to her and capturing her mouth with his.
    This kiss was not as delicate as the first two. Oh, heavens, she was counting them. Hot and plundering, it stole her breath and made her clutch his shoulders to keep from sinking to the ground. Heat speared down her spine, leavingt her feeling...wanton, primal, wishing she could pull off his brown jacket and tan waistcoat and the fine-spun shirt beneath to run her hands along his bare, warm skin.
    Wearing a grin that looked a bit breathless, himself, Geoffrey backed to the wall, grabbed a rung of the trellis, and climbed up to his window with far more grace than she ever could have managed.
    For a long moment after he disappeared inside, Theodora gazed up after him. She could feel the words from Romeo and Juliet bubbling up in her chest, and resolutely turned away. She was not Juliet, he was not Romeo, and they were not star-crossed lovers doomed by their forbidden passion.
    “There you are,” Belle said, walking into the garden from the direction of the front of the house.
    Or perhaps she and Geoffrey were doomed, after all. “I was out walking,” she announced, too loudly.
    “I thought you must be.” Annabel took her arm and wrapped her hands around it. “Come inside. We need to change for dinner, and you must tell me what you and Lansing talked about at luncheon. Did he mention me?”
    Had he mentioned Belle? Oh, dear. Theodora scowled. How was she supposed to proceed? What if she told Belle that he was interested in her younger sister? What if it was all some rose-scented dream, after