A Little Bit Sinful(33)

But first he wanted to see Clarissa again, try to talk some sense into her. He’d practically grown up in the Kincaid townhome and he still remembered all the ways to sneak in and out, methods he and Marcus had perfected as boys. He just hoped Clarissa’s bedchamber was still in the same spot.

…

Clarissa rolled over again, situating herself amidst the pillows and held the book up to see it in the glow from the lantern. She hated feeling so confused. Before Justin had come back into her life, she’d never once questioned whether or not George was the man for her. Rebecca had suggested him and Clarissa had spent the majority of her adult life pursuing that relationship.

And she knew she should trust Rebecca’a advice. Clarissa had not done well at all when she’d selected her first suitor. Christopher had broken her heart and nearly stolen all of her jewelry she had from her mother. He’d then moved on from her to another heiress and then another and finally had been shunned from Society. Last she heard he was living somewhere in Scotland. She had learned then that her choices weren’t always the best and it was better for her to trust someone else’s guidance, namely her sister-in-law’s.

Then Rebecca had died and left Clarissa with one last piece of advice—that’s the type of man you should marry. Since Rebecca was no longer around to give her other suggestions of the “type” Clarissa had simply stuck with George. Until Justin and his shocking words and delicious kisses and his reciting of Shakespeare, she’d been content to wait for George to propose. Now it seemed she didn’t have the luxury of waiting—she had competition.

She’d watched Franny Cooper tonight. The woman was so comfortable with men, easy with them, flirting appeared effortless and it never seemed she reserved those sweet smiles for only the wealthy handsome men; she treated all of them the same. Even the old, balding men, she would pat them on the arm with her fan and release one of her twittering laughs. Everyone liked her, men and women, old and young. She, it seemed, was the perfect lady.

Somehow Clarissa had fallen short yet again, and she hadn’t a clue how to fix it or how to change herself. She’d tried to seek out Justin to teach her to be more worldly, but that had only seemed to make her want him more than she already had.

There was a creak outside her door and she wondered if Aunt Maureen had roused for something, a drink perhaps. Clarissa sat up in bed, listening intently and then her door opened.

It was on her tongue to ask if Maureen felt all right, but then Clarissa realized who had entered her room.

“Justin? What the devil are you doing here?” She pulled the coverlet up her chest to try to cover herself. Her nightrail was not particularly revealing, but was certainly more flimsy than a day dress.

“I wanted to see you,” he said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “Do you want me to leave?”

She couldn’t make herself say the word, so she merely shook her head. “How did you get in here?”

He grinned. “Not much has changed here.”

“I suppose that is true.” Her eyes traveled around her room and she caught sight of her dressing gown draped across her vanity chair. “Could you hand me that?” She pointed to it.

He retrieved it and brought it to her, then turned away from her without her having to ask. He was a bit of a contradiction at times. Seducing her with sinful kisses one day and behaving the gentleman the next. It was enough to make a girl’s head spin.

She crawled out of bed and in doing so she knocked her book to the floor. While he bent to pick it up, she pulled on her dressing gown.

“Shakespeare,” he said as he turned to face her.

“Yes, well, you reminded me that I had not read him in a while.” It wasn’t really the truth. This particular volume of his sonnets stayed next to her bed all the time, she read it almost daily. But she didn’t want Justin to know how much his wooing charade had affected her.

He came to stand in front of her. He leaned close, then around her to place the book on the bed behind her. He was so close she had a difficult time breathing, he smelled so good too, all masculine and clean and Justin. She resisted the urge to inhale deeply.

“What was it you wanted to see me about?”

He leaned in and put his nose beside her left ear and slowly inhaled. “You smell nice,” he said as if he’d read her mind.

Chills scattered all over Clarissa’s body and she felt her breasts tighten. Oh my. Had he come here to seduce her? Her pulse sped up as did her breathing. She wasn’t certain that if that was in fact his intention she had the strength to tell him no. She knew she didn’t want to.