CHAPTER 4

"AM I NOW WORTHY OF learning your name, fair lady?" Andrew asked as they both sat to enjoy the club's excellent fare. The dining room, like everything else in the Black Swan, showcased exquisite taste and seductive design. Dark burgundy walls set the atmosphere, with tables placed apart from each other. Drapes strategically positioned and high-backed chairs created an intimate setting for couples to share secrets. Muted music from the ballroom floated into the room.

"You might as well, since you are bound to learn it at some point. I'm Lady Artemis Beaufort," she said, offering her hand.

He captured that hand and set to peel off her glove, pulling on each finger one by one, then sliding the satiny fabric slowly down her arm, the way he wanted to caress her skin. When her hand was bare, he turned it, enfolding her delicate hand in his bigger one and planting a kiss in the center of her palm. Her fingers trembled, and she shivered. Oh, how he wanted to trail a path of kisses up her arm, over her chest and up her neck... all in due time.

Right now, he truly wanted to get to know more about this unconventional young woman. She was so different from any of the other ladies he knew. More mature than a debutant, with a mixture of worldliness and bravado, more innocent than a widow or one of the myriad married ladies among the Ton who sought their pleasures outside their marriage.

"So, why are you set against marriage?" he asked, remembering their earlier conversation.

"Why would I be eager to surrender my freedom, my property, my entire life, to another person? I have never met someone who would entice me into such folly."

That was an extremely mature view for one so young. One with which he wholeheartedly agreed. Marriage laws did not favor women. The first course of their meal arrived. Giving him time to formulate the next question.

"Isn't the prospect of having your own home, and children, enough to entice you?"

"Absolutely not! I have a home. Granted, I have to put up with my mother's meddling, but otherwise, I'm happy with my living arrangements. And as for children. No, I don't have a particular urge to become a mother."

"That makes you a unique young lady. I would say the only one of my acquaintance who thinks thus."

"Are you aware that when a woman marries, she is completely at the mercy of her husband? So it behooves every young lady to choose wisely."

He knew that. And yet, inexplicably, there were hordes of debutantes attempting to catch a husband by any means. Even using trickery. But they ended up caught in the same trap they set. Why did they never consider what marriage would mean to them?

"So, given the very real disadvantages, what would entice you into matrimony?"

She took a delicate sip of wine and licked her lips before answering. The subtle gesture caused his cock to harden and his lips to tingle with the desire to taste those lips again.

"I would have to meet someone of outstanding character. Someone I could admire and trust."

He was very far from that paragon of virtue; he was sure. The idea irked him for some unfathomable reason.

"This perfect man of yours sounds as dull as a mud puddle. What about passion and adventure? Love?"

What the hell was wrong with him, spouting such nonsense! Love? From everything he had observed, what people called ‘love' was nothing more than an emotion to manipulate and use others for their own needs. He expected her to mock him as he deserved, but she just tilted her head to the side as she considered his words seriously.

"I want that as well. I don't think those qualities are mutually exclusive."

As smart as she was beautiful. If every debutante was half as alluring as this young woman, he suspected he wouldn't have been able to resist marriage for so long. He found himself enchanted, bewitched. Utterly fascinated by her. She must have some flaws. And he had to discover them before he became irredeemably lost. It was that or run as fast as he could. But he was afraid it was too late to run.