Angel in Scarlet (Bound and Determined #4)(15)

Angela had always been honest to a fault. He’d forgotten that about her, but then neither had he remembered quite how tempting that mouth was. “Should I ask why you are seeking me?”

“I was not exactly seeking you.”

“I thought you just said that you were.”

Her eyes moved down to her hands, which were worrying the heavy twill of her skirt. “I said I was looking for you, and, yes, I know that is the same as seeking, but ‘seeking’ sounds so much more…so much more…more active. I merely wanted to give us a chance to speak—and I do remember how you like your ride as the sun rises over the water.”

“And then you didn’t—speak, that is.” He couldn’t hold back the edge of a chuckle.

Her eyes flashed up at him. Her lips pressed tight for a second and he could see that she remembered the laughter of other mornings, but then the look was gone and she spoke, each word quiet and precise. “I know. I have already said I don’t know what to say. I think I believed you would have words and would tell me what to do, what to say. You always were so good at that.”

Was she goading him into an argument? She’d never backed down from one in the past—until she began to back down from all of them.

He walked in front of her, his boots crunching on the grass. There was something so powerful about standing above her as she sat small and delicate on the grass before him. “Is that what you want, for me to tell you what to do?” His voice was heavy and low as he filled each word with meaning, waiting for her response.





Chapter 5


Angela’s eyes dropped to her lap, his words pushing the smart reply from her mind. Was that what she wanted, to have Colton tell her exactly what to do? Angela shuddered at the thought. She’d always teased him in the past when he grew too bossy, but the night in the garden had changed things. She could not deny that she felt the first flicker of an ache between her legs at his tone. She might not want to like it, but it had been exciting when Colton had given her direct commands on what he desired at the ball. Her mouth grew dry. She swallowed—and then again. Somehow this was moving faster than she had anticipated—and they’d barely spoken a few sentences. “I admit that I am unsure how to proceed from here. It is why I came to you the other night. I want you to teach me. How can I know what to talk about, what to ask you, when young women are taught nothing?”

She could feel him stare down at her, feel the warm heat that grew wherever his gaze stopped. Her eyes stayed fixed on her hands. Ruby would have looked up with a flirtatious smile and leaned back to reveal a hint of bosom, but Angela was finding even speaking difficult.

He edged closer, his boot tips entering her field of vision. “Look at me.”

Without thought, she followed his command and tilted her chin up. Pretend. Pretend that she was someone else. She leaned back, resting on her hands, imagined her breasts lifting toward him.

His hair was windblown and his cheeks flushed from the ride. His eyes flicked to her breasts and then returned to her face. “What exactly do you wish of me?”

“I thought that I had made that clear. I want you.” She was sure she was redder than a late-summer tomato. Pretend. She must pretend. Why was it so hard?

He continued to stare down at her, his face unreadable.

“I don’t know what more you want me to say,” she said after a moment. “I am not sure what you are looking for in my answer.” She closed her eyes, sought to put herself in a place where she could play this game with ease, tried to imagine that he was already her lover, that she was awaiting his touch.

“Honesty.”

“I have been honest.” And that was true, for the most part. She didn’t think anything she’d said had been an actual lie. She had just left out major pieces of the story.

“I used to believe that, but how do you explain this sudden change in attitude?”

Think about the truth of what she had said. She did want him. She might not want to, but she did—and with that did come a desire to learn more, to know more, to feel more. “Why do you doubt me? I have never given you any reason to suppose me dishonest. It merely took me time to understand what I wanted.” This was not going the way she had pictured. She tried pulling in a deep breath, hoping to attract his attention to her breasts.

Again his eyes moved but then returned to her face. “So we are back to my original question, Angela. What exactly is it that you want?” He stepped aside and the sunlight blinded her.

She blinked, her eyes gradually adjusting, and tried to let anger fill her, tried to remember her purpose. She met his gaze, held it, let a slow smile spread across her face, let her shoulders soften, let her breasts rise and fall with each breath. And then she dropped her gaze, looking down shyly. “I do not understand why this is so difficult. You did an excellent job the other night. I am not sure that I have ever felt so alive. I had forgotten the glory of taking a risk, of doing exactly what I wanted.”

She peered back up at him.

“You liked that?” He sounded surprised but also intrigued—and this time when his eyes moved to her breasts, they lingered.

She imagined her nipples hard and wanting, stretching against the fabric of her bodice, imagined that she was waiting for him to bend down to her, to…She licked her lips. “I don’t know that ‘like’ is the right word, but it did something for me. It made my nerves sing. I felt so free, even though I knew I was putting myself at risk. You have made me feel that way from the first moment that we met. There has always been danger, but still I find myself drawn ever closer. Do you remember that first time we were actually introduced? I was trying to flirt with Mr. Wilkes, and then Lady Perse brought you over. I don’t think I heard a word poor Wilkes said after that. I just looked into your eyes and felt as if I’d found a soulmate.” And that was all the truth—every single word.