Seducing the Single Lady by Maya Rodale

few wayward red curls escaped the queue she’d tied securely. With some trouble, Susannah mounted her mare and she and Damien took off at a canter down the road, dodging orange sellers, careening carriages, inattentive pedestrians and Angus’s bellowed threats and gunshots.
    She wanted to holler with glee. So she did—she let out a very unladylike whoop! For that matter, it was also very ungentlemanly. But it was a sound of joy, of surviving a near-death experience. When Damien heard her and caught a glimpse of her smile, he burst out into happy laughter. It was not even luncheon and she’d had at least six adventures, including her first kiss and being challenged to a duel.
    She suspected—quite rightly—that even more adventures awaited her.
     

Chapter 4: Naughty Girl
     
    Damien just did not know what to think, what to say. Susannah kissed a girl.
    Susannah—the torment of his childhood, the bane of his existence, the bride he’d been introduced to as a squalling infant , the girl he had fled—that Susannah had grown into a breathtaking woman.
    Who had kissed another woman.
    He’d heard of such things, of course. He’d even seen such things, of course. One did not go on a debauched tour of the continent for nearly a decade without encountering all manner of pleasure-seeking.
    Some found it repelle nt and unnatural. But many did not, himself included. Especially when it was Susannah and a lovely girl like Frannie. He’d only caught a glimpse and he’d regret ’til his dying day that he hadn’t seen the whole thing.
    Already, he was imagining the moment their lips touched and they pulled each other close into a passionate embrace and then—
    “Watch where you’re going!!”
    “ Damien!” Susannah shouted. “How did you not see that that?”
    He jerked his head up just in time to narrowly avoid colliding with an extraordinarily large and brightly painted carriage pulled by six huge white horses. Only a very distracted person would have missed it.
    Damien did not know what to say to Susannah’s question, other than to confess what he’d been imagining. He didn’t want to shout about it in public. So he said nothing as they made their escape, dashing and jostling their way through the muddy, busy, bustling streets of London. He knew not where to go, just that it had to be somewhere that she might not cause trouble for at least an hour.
    He considered taking her to White’s or Brooke’s but dismissed it—the risks were too…risky.  Should she be discovered, she’d be ruined and/or they’d be married by the morning.
    While that suited his purposes, it wasn’t quite the method he had in mind. He wanted them to enter into their marriage as two consenting adults.
    Though at the moment he didn’t have much in mind at all except for Susannah. Kissing Frannie. Kissing a girl. Did she like it? Did she not like men at all? Would she do it again so he might watch? Was it terribly ungentlemanly for him to wish that?
    He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t t hink of much else. His horse led the way home. Not knowing what else to do and having some serious questions for Susannah, he didn’t change direction. He, idiotically, brought her to his bachelor apartments.
    “ What is this place?” she asked as she followed him up the stairs to his suite of rooms.
    “This is where I live.”
    He opened the door and they stepped into the small foyer, which led to a large drawing room. Double doors lay open, with a view of the large bed in the bedchamber.
    “But what of Bedford House? It’s a lovely home and it is yours now.”
    “ It is in need of refurbishment.” It needed a woman’s touch. He needed to get the death out before he lived there. He wasn’t ready to take up residence yet, really. He felt that he did not deserve to live there. So he stayed here.
    Susannah strolled around the rooms, which had been simply but finely furnished. Of all the things about her, he could only focus on her lips. Pink lips that