The Bookseller and the Earl (The Merry Misfits of Bath 1)

“think I am,” more panting,

“unwell?”

He continued to stare at her, his eyes narrowing. “Maybe because you are growing paler by the moment, and you seem to be having a hard time breathing.”

Damn. He noticed.

“Addie?”

Luckily, he slowed them down. She leaned in. “I cannot . . . breathe.”

Rather than ask any more questions, he swung them around and right out the patio door, which blessedly was open since the room had grown quite warm despite the cold air outside. He moved them off into a corner. “Why can’t you breathe? Are you ill?”

There was no way she could get out of this. It was either tell him of her dilemma or collapse at his feet, which would raise all sorts of alarms. Despite the embarrassment, she whispered, “My stays.”

He leaned in. She couldn’t be sure because it was dark, but she had the awful feeling he was grinning. “Your stays?”

Rather than use up the bit of air she was able to drag into her lungs, she merely nodded.

“Come.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and half walked, half carried her several yards along the patio to another door that he opened and walked her through. It was a dark room, and from what she could see among the shadows it must have been Lord Stevenson’s library.

The lightheadedness was growing as her vision dimmed. Before she succumbed to the encroaching swoon, he whipped her around. “Too tight?”

She nodded, misery and embarrassment flooding her until she thought perhaps fainting might not be such a bad thing.

Grayson quickly undid the back of her gown and loosened the strings to her stays in a flash. Trying not to dwell on how adept he was at the task. Addie took in the first real breath of air since she’d gotten dressed.

She covered her face with her hands and wished the ground to open up and swallow her. “I am so sorry.” Even she could hear the tears in her voice. She wouldn’t blame Grayson if he left her here in the library and returned to the charming women whose company he’d left to dance with the wallflower.

“There is nothing to be sorry for.” He took her wrists and removed her hands from her face. “Addie, why in heaven’s name did you allow yourself to be abused in such a way?”

She still refused to look up at him but stared at his ascot. “It was the only way I could fit into the gown.”

That is what happens when you are plump and your mother refuses to acknowledge it, and orders a gown made in the size she wishes you were.

Grayson placed his knuckle under her chin and lifted her head. She was forced to look into his eyes. She didn’t see the expected pity or distaste, but amusement. “Sweetheart, don’t ever do that again. You are lovely just the way you are.” He ran his hands down her sides and then with his hands wrapped around her waist, pulled her close until their bodies were touching.

The tingling she felt on the dance floor returned. It was the same warm, exciting, frightening feeling as before. She licked her lips as Grayson lowered his head and gently covered her mouth with his.

A kiss that started out soft and tender soon turned into so much more. Grayson plundered her mouth, moving one arm up around her shoulders and the other at her waist, pulling her flush against his hard body,

His warm, muscular, hard body.

Someone moaned and she wasn’t sure if it was her or him. He ran his tongue along the seam of her mouth, nudging her to open. His tongue swept in, and he shifted so he could cup her cheeks, tilting her head in such a way that he took the kiss even deeper.

The sound of voices coming from the corridor outside the library door was like a bucket of cold water. They pulled apart, but the top of her gown which was still loosened slipped off her shoulders. Addie grabbed the bodice and held it up.

“What will we do? We can’t stay here much longer. Surely we will be missed.” There was no doubt in her mind that all the ladies surrounding Grayson were waiting with a great deal of impatience for his return. With growing panic, Addie continued to clutch the bodice of her gown, but it kept slipping down. They could be in serious trouble if caught. This did not look good.

Grayson assessed the situation. Here they were in a dark library with Addie’s gown undone and her stays unlaced. Well, he had already decided that marriage might not be such a bad thing, and Addie was certainly his choice. If discovered, everything pointed to a quick betrothal and wedding.

“Yes, we are in a pickle. I have no idea how many guests saw us leave the room. We have to return to the patio and go back into the ballroom that way.”

Addie pulled back. “What!” She looked at him panic-stricken. “We cannot walk through the ballroom like this. I am only half-dressed.”

“I shall give you my jacket,” He shrugged out of the garment and placed it over her shoulders. “And simply say you grew chilled while on the patio.”

“And I am to spend the rest of the evening like this? Eventually, I would no longer need your jacket. It’s quite warm in that room.” She shook her head. “No, I must return home.”