Chapter Eight

Caleb swirled his tumbler of brandy, staring into the amber liquid and thinking, yet again, of the grey-eyed miss, who had been so unimpressed by him and his lifestyle.

It wasn’t exactly a new experience, being the object of someone’s disapproval.

But actually giving a damn about someone else’s opinion? That was definitely new, and not at all pleasant.

He’d spent a restless night tormented by dreams of her lush curves pressed against his own, and that kiss – hesitant at first, endearingly innocent, and then the eruption of passion that had clearly been hiding just below the surface.

Perhaps, that was what had intrigued him so. The fire beneath such a cool, controlled surface.

That and the novelty of a female not blushing and giggling in his company. A rarity indeed.

The clock chimed the hour, the only sound in his cavernous library.

It was odd, the silence in the house. He wasn’t used to it.

But he’d had Havers send a note to his usual cohorts just this morning to say that he wasn’t accepting visitors.

And the footmen had been instructed to send away anyone who came to the door.

Everyone except a grey-eyed, sable-haired oddity, who would refuse to give her name.

The instructions had made him sound mad. And they were. Not least because he knew she would never take him up on the offer he’d thrown at her retreating back.

But she’d intrigued him enough for him to want to see her again.

And she’d shamed him enough that he’d cancelled tonight’s planned soiree.

And rather bizarrely, he found that he didn’t miss it. Didn’t miss the raucous laughter and devilment. The drinking and carousing. Certainly, he didn’t miss the company of the women with whom he usually spent his drunken evenings.

Had he truly outgrown it all? Or had one, strange woman had such a profound effect on him in so short a time? It had to be the former. The latter was impossible.

Maybe he was just going through a spell of discontent. After all, his father’s hedonistic lifestyle had been the product of boredom and dissatisfaction.

Maybe such things were hereditary? Only instead of seeking out hedonism, Caleb had tired of it.

His circuitous thoughts were annoying him, so he tossed back the remainder of his drink and stood, intending to retire to his bedchamber for another night of little to no sleep.

A sudden knock on the door surprised him, and he called out for whomever it was to enter.

Havers stood in the entrance with a carefully blank expression on his face.

“You have a visitor, my lord,” the butler said.

Caleb frowned in irritation.

Havers didn’t usually have a problem following orders.

He was just about to tell the butler that he was not receiving any visitors, when the man spoke again.

“It is the young lady with whom you – ah – spoke last night, my lord. She hasn’t given a name, but I thought –“

“Yes, show her in,” Caleb said immediately, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.

In truth, he was shocked, maybe even a little impressed, that she’d possibly taken him up on his offer.

All at once, his mind conjured images of just what that offer meant, and the lust that slammed through him almost floored him.

Had he ever desired anyone this much, this badly?

Perhaps as a green lad. But not in recent memory.

Havers stepped out of the doorway and there she stood.

At least, he assumed it was her.

She was wearing that ridiculously big cloak. The one she’d worn the first night she’d scolded him.

It covered her from head to toe. But now, Caleb knew what was under it, and his lust was like a live thing, burning through his veins, setting him alight.

“You’re hiding yourself as though I don’t remember every inch of you,” he said by way of greeting.

He knew his words were far from appropriate. Just as he knew he should have tied his loosened cravat and donned a jacket before greeting a lady. But he’d stayed dishabille. Just to see how she’d react.

Even under the material of the cloak, he saw her shoulders stiffen. And he could just imagine how tempted she was to rail against him.

As Havers slipped discreetly away, Caleb realised that perhaps she hadn’t come to take him up on his offer.

Was it possible that she’d lost that girl of hers again?

He hadn’t been able to find out who the girl was. And he’d enquired, hoping that knowing her name would lead to knowing the name of the woman standing before him now.

But it had been no use.

The lad who’d escorted her that first night apparently scared easily and hadn’t been seen since.

“If you’re after that little termagant, she’s not here. Nobody else is here.”

He dropped his voice, hoping to elicit a reaction. “Just us.”

“I –“

She started to speak but promptly stopped.

Caleb wished he could see her face.

They stood in a silence he wasn’t sure how to break until she suddenly huffed out a breath.

“I’m not here about El – about that. I’m here because – because –“

An unexpected surge of protectiveness moved through him as he watched her fidget with the material of her cloak.

“Why don’t we have a drink?” he offered. “And you can tell me what brought you here.”

She didn’t move for so long that Caleb began to think she’d frozen over, but before he began to worry overly much about it, she lifted her hands and pulled down the hood of her cloak, revealing her face for the first time.

Caleb’s breath caught when he finally saw her face, freed from masks and oversized coverings.

She was, in a word, breath-taking.

The molten silver eyes that had haunted him since he’d first seen them were even more startling now he saw the darkness and fullness of the lashes that surrounded them.

Her skin was clear and smooth as porcelain, her cheeks flushed and almost as red as that delectable mouth that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

The sable hair pulled back in such a severe style should have detracted from her beauty. But all it did was highlight the sharpness of her cheekbones and the elegance of her neck.

She was stunning. And Caleb wanted her with a fierceness he could barely contain.

“Last night, you said to come to you if I ever decided to live a little.”

Caleb frowned in confusion. He didn’t believe for a moment that the prim and proper young woman was here to take him up on his offer.

But his body lit up at the possibility that she was.

“Let me guess,” he drawled. “You’re here to ring a peal over my head for suggesting something so scandalously inappropriate?”

Her eyes widened slightly, and her cheeks flushed an even deeper red.

Here it comes, Caleb thought.

He watched as she steeled her shoulders and tilted her chin defiantly.

“Actually,” she said, her voice strong with only the hint of a tremor. “I’m here to live a little.”