50 Ways to Ruin a Rake by Jade Lee

didn’t?” Damned idiot boy. He could have snagged himself an heiress. And a woman who kissed like she enjoyed it.
    â€œPapa forbade it when he found out. And…” Her voice grew pensive as she stared out at the night sky. “Even then I knew I was just looking for someone who wasn’t Ronnie.” Then she shrugged. “Besides, as much as I liked him, he had the most minimal understanding of mathematics and was completely hopeless in natural history. That’s why we spent most of our time kissing. There was so little else to discuss.”
    Thank God for idiot chandlers. And how awful that she’d spent so much of her life looking for an alternative to her cousin. Still, the whole thing soured his stomach even though he knew it shouldn’t. After all, that was exactly what he’d offered her: a chance to find someone other than Ronnie. He couldn’t blame her for using all her whiles to ensnare someone else. And yet, somehow he did. He blamed her even as he pushed for all the details.
    â€œAnd what else did this chandler’s son teach you beyond kissing?”
    â€œHow to make candles,” she said. Her glare was venomous. “But that’s not what you want to know, is it? Though I don’t see why you have the right to ask.”
    â€œBecause I am your fiancé!” he shot back. The words echoed loudly in the room, and they stared at one another in a kind of suspended horror. It was true. They were engaged now. He had asked, and she had accepted. It was all a ruse, but indeed…they were affianced.
    He watched as she swallowed, her skin pale. Her fingers entwined tight enough to make her knuckles white.
    â€œOh,” she said softly. “I beg your pardon. Of course you have the right to know.”
    Except he didn’t. Not really. Not when their engagement was a lie. He didn’t say that aloud though. He was too interested in her answer.
    â€œJames and I kissed. Just…kissed. I knew not to go further, and he was gentleman enough not to press. And truthfully, it was only a few weeks before Papa realized and put a stop to it.”
    At least her father had paid some attention. But bloody hell, the dangers to an innocent girl wandering about the countryside were legion. He shuddered to think what might have happened. “What became of this chandler’s brat?”
    She shot him an annoyed look. “You have no cause to call him names. He married one of the local girls the very next year. They have three children now and are very happy.”
    Did he detect a note of longing in her voice? Or perhaps the better term was “loneliness.” He had not stopped to think what her life must have been like here, secluded and waiting hand and foot on her father. The man had enough care to forbid the local men, but not enough presence of mind to be sure she met gentlemen other than her cousin.
    â€œI beg your pardon,” he said as he joined her on the settee.
    She tilted her head and more of her curls escaped their pins. The whole mass would come tumbling down around her ears soon, and he found himself hopeful for the event. He waited while she looked at him, her eyes steady and no longer shiny with suppressed tears. He waited even longer, but she said nothing in response to his apology.
    He deserved that, he supposed. He was the one to kiss her and the one to rudely demand she account for herself. Therefore it was up to him to make amends.
    â€œI suppose I am unaccustomed to being engaged. I have behaved badly.”
    â€œBy kissing me?”
    Yes. No. Bloody hell, but he couldn’t make himself regret that kiss. “By being impetuous. It’s my gravest fault, you see. Sometimes I just act without thinking.”
    â€œAh,” she said. Nothing more. Damn, she was hard to read, and he was accounted a good judge of people and faces.
    He shifted to look at her more fully. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you?