A Winter's Knight: A Regency Romance by Elizabeth Cole Page B

moment.
    “Don’t go,” the gentleman said suddenly, an odd tone in his voice.
    She looked at him, eyes wide in the darkness. “Why not?”
    “It’s too pleasant out here to go in that hot box again. I’m not one for crowds. And I barely know anyone in there, aside from Lord Gough...and all the mothers.” 
    “Then why did you come?”
    Again, he smiled as if he had a secret. “I have to attend some functions. It’s expected of me.”
    “You don’t seem the type to endorse the obscure dictates of polite society,” she noted, thinking that he only played at being a gentlemen. There was something rather rebellious about him.
    “Perhaps not.” He looked at her again, and Cordelia suddenly felt the hiding place had somehow become a lair. His lair. He managed to corner her without moving at all. “But tell me something. Why are you here? You come to a party only to hide in the garden?”
    “I was tired of being around people,” Cordelia said, leaning back into the stone wall behind them.
    “Yet you invited me in,” he said in a voice that was nearly a purr.
    “I should not have,” Cordelia breathed. 
    He reached toward her, slowly drawing her closer to him. “But you did anyway,” he said. “I may have to take advantage of that.”
    Cordelia didn’t know how he got so close. Her brain was swirling in the scent of him, now stronger than before, strangely exciting. “What sort of advantage?” 
    “Just a kiss,” he returned, still gazing at her, noting every flutter of her eyes.
    “I do not kiss,” she said primly. Or she tried to be prim about it. “By your own admission, you are not familiar with London society, sir, so let me tell you what they call me. Heartless. It’s a true description. And you’ll forgive me if I leave you now.”
    “Is it so unbelievable that I want to kiss you?” he asked.
    “It is not unbelievable at all,” she retorted. “For years, I’ve put up with this kind of thing. God grant I get old and ugly quickly so it will stop.”
    “God forbid. You’ve never once found a man you’ve wanted to kiss?” he continued, as if truly interested in the answer.
    She paused. In truth, there were few she could remember who had stirred her even a little ever since her first love. The man in front of her now, though, certainly commanded her attention. She’d be damned if she told him that, though. “Why should you care?”
    “Because you’re too lovely to be put on a shelf. You’re made for living.”  
    “I suppose you are the judge of such things,” she said sourly.
    “I have some experience,” he drawled. “And I can tell one thing about you already. You want to prove me wrong. So here’s your chance. One kiss. One kiss, and you may flee back into the ballroom, secure in the knowledge that I am as disappointing as all the others.” His confident, absurdly self-assured tone belied his words.
    Cordelia stood stock still. She’d never heard an offer like that before. It was not veiled in a proposal, and it had a kind of honesty about it. “All right.”
    If the man was surprised at her acquiescence, he didn’t dwell on it. “You’re game?” He cupped her face in his hand, looking at the sensual curve of her lips that even her pout couldn’t erase. 
    “Is this a necessary step?” she asked.
    “I have only one kiss to give you. I must make sure it’s well planned.” 
    Cordelia caught the teasing in his voice. “Well?”
    “Patience.” He bent down and laid his lips on her own. He moved his hand to the back of her neck to better control the kiss, and let his mouth linger there.
    Cordelia felt her resolve slip when he touched her, and when she felt his tongue tease her lower lip, she gasped at the sensation. He sensed her relative inexperience, but also her interest. He deepened the kiss, parting her mouth to dart inside with his tongue. She fluttered beneath him, her heartbeat surging. 
    Cordelia had never connected the word
kiss
with what was