Taming The Bride (Brides of Mayfair 2) by Michelle McMaster

that I may feel the heat from your body. Close enough so that I could kiss you, if I chose. Shall I kiss you, Miss Atwater?”
    “Is that your price, my lord? A kiss?” she asked, pushing back against his chest.
    “No,” he answered. “That is not my price.”
    “Then you shall not kiss me,” Prudence countered.
    “Yet you were not averse to kissing me the night we met.”
    “That was a different circumstance,” she pointed out, weakly.
    “Yes, quite.” He regarded her for a moment, though he made no move to release her. “Your choice of attire was completely different that night, as was your cockney accent.”
    “I was playing a part,” she replied.
    “And are you playing a part now?” Lord Weston demanded.
    “Yes…and no. ”
    “Ah, a decisive reply.”
    She ignored his sarcasm and continued. “Yes, I am playing the part of your happy companion, and no, I am not the girl from Drury Lane. Tonight I am myself. Prudence Atwater.”
    “And Prudence Atwater usually allows a virtual stranger to take her in his arms, like this?” he asked, pulling her close once again.
    Prudence glared at him. “Only if the virtual stranger holds something over her head, my lord. Which you do.”
    He slowly released her, saying, “So you think me unfair? I am merely demanding that you pay a price for all the woes you’ve caused me—injury to both my person and my family name. Surely that is not unfair, Miss Atwater.”
    She stepped away from him, needing to put distance between herself and his alarmingly masculine body. “I think it unfair of you to take advantage of the situation, which you have just done by forcing me into an intimate embrace. Will you not decide on a price tonight, so that I may begin to satisfy my debt to you, my lord? Or do you plan to drag this out for as long as you can?”
    To her surprise, he laughed.
    “You make me sound so dreadful,” he admonished. “And the embrace was not so intimate. At least, not in my experience.”
    Prudence watched his eyes glitter as Lord Weston stepped toward her again. She wanted to back away, to run away. But she would not lose any more ground to this man. She would not let him see how afraid she really was.
    As he studied her, she saw that he understood. He knew how difficult this was for her. And yet…he would still hold her to this scandalous agreement.
    Black-hearted scoundrel that he was.
    “Come,” he said, motioning toward the marble bench. “Let us sit for awhile. I promise to be a perfect gentleman…for the time being.”
    “Alas, that is something I fear you will never be, my lord,” she retorted.
    “How you wound me, Miss Atwater!”
    “If only that were true,” she grumbled, sitting as far away from him as possible.
    “Pardon me?” he asked.
    “I said, ‘what a lovely shade of blue!’” She pointed to his jacket.
    He laughed, and his amused expression showed that he had heard her the first time. Would the man never tire of playing games with her?
    What sort of other games would he want her to play?
    Another couple wandered out onto the balcony, and Prudence breathed a sigh of relief.
    “Come now, Miss Atwater,” Lord Weston said with annoyance, “stop being so theatrical. I shan’t ravish you right here on the balcony, I promise.”
    “And why should I trust you, my lord?” she asked, incredulous. “You hold the entire future of the Atwater School in your hands. You have threatened me with the loss of your great-aunt’s patronage if I do not willingly become your slave. You have used my unfortunate situation to your advantage, which you have undoubtedly done many times before with other women, most likely the very girls I have sworn to help.”
    Prudence stood, as haughtily as she dared. “You, sir, are the most dangerous man I have ever met.”
    Lord Weston quickly rose to his feet, staring down at her with eyes blazing. “Me—dangerous? You mean, more dangerous than the men who ask for your favors when you walk the