First Comes Scandal (Rokesbys #4)(62)

Meow.

“Nicholas,” she whisper-squealed. He was doing something utterly shocking and delightful, and— Meow.

Maybe if she ignored it …

Meow.

She made the mistake of looking up.

Cat-Head.

Staring at her with freakish intensity.

“What’s wrong?” Nicholas murmured, his lips still warm against her skin.

“Nothing,” Georgie said in a firm voice. She shut her eyes.

Grrra—

“Stop!” she said, her eyes flying back open.

Nicholas jerked back.

“No, not you!” She clutched his shoulder. “Don’t you stop.”

He stared at her in confusion. “What is going on?”

“Mee-OW.”

Georgie glared at the cat. Without a doubt, that was the smuggest meow she’d ever heard.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

Nicholas kept kissing her, moving to a particularly lovely spot near her ear. “Ignore him.”

“I can’t.”

“Try harder.”

Georgie turned her head, giving Cat-Head the cut direct.

She heard an indrawn kitty breath, and then—

GRAOWWW!

“No,” Nicholas practically moaned. “No no no.”

Georgie looked back up at the cat. “Stop that,” she hissed.

Cat-Head gave a little cat shrug.

Georgie turned back to Nicholas.

GRAOWWW!

“What?” She whipped back around.

Cat-Head purred.

“You slippery vixen,” she breathed.

Nicholas went mostly still. “Are you talking to me or the cat?”

Georgie disentangled herself from her husband’s arms and sat up so she could give Cat-Head a full-on glare. “Enough.”

“I really hope it’s the cat,” Nicholas remarked.

“He only makes that awful noise when you’re kissing me.”

“What if you kiss me?”

“Nicholas,” she groaned.

“Not that I wish to defend the beast,” he said, “but he did howl for at least six hours yesterday. And we were not, as I distinctly recall, kissing.”

“Yes, but that was different. He wasn’t in the hammock.”

Nicholas ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the ridiculously trussed cat. “To be fair, it’s hard to see how the hammock is helping.”

“He’s being quiet right now. And also, I don’t have to hold him.”

“True,” Nicholas murmured. He sat back, and they both watched Cat-Head, swinging gently as the carriage sped along the turnpike.

“This is actually interesting,” Nicholas murmured. He leaned forward, eyeing the cat with a shrewd expression. “We should test the hypothesis.”

A statement Georgie found baffling. “What?”

He immediately shifted into academic mode. “A hypothesis is a theory made on the—”

“I know what a hypothesis is,” she cut in. “I just don’t know what you mean about testing one.”

“Ah. Right, well. As you know, the hallmark of scientific investigation is the rigorous examination of hypotheses. A theory is only a theory until you conduct an experiment to prove it.”

Georgie regarded him with suspicion. “What is your theory, precisely?”

“Technically,” he replied with a tip of his head, “it was your theory.”

“Mine?”

“That the beast is trying to stop us from kissing.”

“That’s not exactly what I said,” Georgie pointed out. “And at any rate, I doubt it’s true. He’s just not that clever.”

“Clever or not,” Nicholas muttered, “he is the spawn of Satan.”

“Nicholas!”

“When we get to Scotland we’re getting dogs.”

“Not so loud,” Georgie warned. “Judyth will hear you.”

He gave her a you-must-be-joking look.

“She is very clever.”

Nicholas stared at her for a long moment before executing a particularly sardonic combination of head-shaking and eye-rolling.

“You’re the one who wishes to conduct a scientific experiment on my cat.”

He looked pointedly at Cat-Head, still hanging from the hammock like an odd, furry plant. “I’m conducting experiments?”

“It worked, didn’t it?” she said. “He was completely quiet.”

“Until I kissed you.”

“Well … Yes.”

His eyes lit with anticipation. “Now it’s time for my experiment.”

“You’re scaring me a little,” she said.

He waved this off. “May I kiss you?”

Georgie was a little surprised—and to be honest, perhaps a little disappointed by the clinical tone of his voice. But she couldn’t think of any reason to say no, so she nodded.

Nicholas touched her chin, drawing her close. Their lips met, and once again, she melted into him. The mere touch of his mouth on hers seemed to set her fingers tingling, and her body was— GRAOWWW!

“I knew it,” Nicholas grunted. He whipped around, glaring at the cat.

Georgie blinked. “What?” She sounded dazed. She felt dazed.