Wicked Nights With a Proper Lady by Tiffany Clare Page B

Miss Camden’s lips pinched together in disapproval.
    “I’d be honored if you could help me pick out something suitable for a lady.”
    “I daresay our tastes differ greatly and I doubt we would be of any help in this quest of yours for the dowager countess.” Miss Camden turned away from him after she spoke.
    “Come now, Miss Camden. Surely all women appreciate the same types of fripperies?” He spread his hand out to indicate the array of jeweled picks and tortoiseshell hair combs in the glass display cabinets that lined the walls. “What would you choose for … yourself?”
    Her eyes dropped to the pieces in question. Charlotte remained silent on the topic as Genny stepped forward with a barely audible sigh of defeat.
    The first of many concessions he would garner from the lady. Leo had to cover his amused grin with his gloved hand so as not to prick her mood again. She gave him a distrustful glare, then looked at the glass case, her finger running along the seamed edge. Her gloves were lace and frilled out in layers just above the delicate bone at the side of her wrist; her fingers were long and slender beneath, bringing back memories of them searching across his broad, naked chest.
    He swallowed and focused on the hair picks and tried not to imagine those hands sliding along his skin as teasingly as they did along the glass.
    It wasn’t long before she pointed to something for the proprietor to retrieve.
    He leaned closer when the item was placed on a small piece of black velvet. Charlotte also stepped closer to view what was displayed before them.
    “Oh, cousin,” she said, mirth sprinkled in her voice.
    Genny had picked a hair comb with a mishmash of red octagonal beads roughly the size of the tip of his pinky, glued above long lacquered black tines. Six-inch feathers dyed orange shot straight through the middle of the pasted jewels.
    “I daresay,” Leo responded, “that has to be the ugliest hair comb I’ve ever laid eyes upon.”
    Genny put her chin up defiantly. “As you might have surmised, our tastes differ greatly.”
    Leo full out laughed at her quip. Miss Camden really disliked his attentions. Disliked that he’d put her in an odd situation by asking for her and her cousin’s assistance.
    He would sway her opinion of him to something more favorable. There had been a time when she had adored him and it would be his goal to charm her a second time. And he wasn’t doing this for the sake of Jez; he liked Miss Camden more than he ought. She was a wicked temptation he didn’t want to resist.
    “Genny, do pick something else. Show his lordship that you have a modicum of good taste. You did help me pick out most of my millinery needs for the season.”
    “I’m glad to know what displeases you most, but I’d be interested to see what does catch your eye from the display.” Leo motioned to the cases lined up before them.
    Miss Camden let out a frustrated air as she stared back at him. “Very well. But why ask me? Do you not buy baubles for your lovers or mistresses?”
    They’d been relatively quiet up to this point and had only attracted the attention of a few of the other women in the shop. But that comment had a few heads turned in their direction.
    His smile slipped for the briefest of moments. Ah, so she only thought the worst of him. Yes, he’d taken her innocence, and he was somewhat of a playboy in society, but the idea of a mistress was repugnant even to the likes of him. And he did not pay his lovers with fripperies, nor would he ever treat them as one might a shameful mistress.
    “I’ve never needed nor wanted to acquire such an item, madam.”
    She must have heard the displeasure lacing his voice for she turned away and stared down at the glass case before them once again.
    Nothing seemed to catch her eye as she moved on to the next case and then the next. He followed slowly behind. Twice she stopped suddenly to closer inspect the pieces beneath the glass and it caused her