“I repeat, I have no intention of hurting her.”
“Perhaps you would not consciously mean to…and you may be enough of a gentleman to draw the line at seduction. But with your courtship, you are cruelly raising her expectations, if not actually toying with her affections. And now you say you don’t even intend marriage…although to my mind, marriage
would scarcely be preferable.”
When he approached her, Venetia moved backward toward the terrace railing while trying to make her retreat appear casual. Halting his advance, Traherne crossed his arms over his chest and studied her with an air of fascination. “Why do you object so strenuously to my marrying your sister?”
“I want to save her from the heartbreak of having an unfaithful husband. Ophelia is far too vulnerable to a man such as yourself. I shudder to think if she ever came to love you…”
“You assume I could not be faithful.”
Venetia hesitated. She wanted to be fair, and yet all the past evidence was not in his favor. “I suppose you could, but you wouldn’t. You will only betray her, the way Ackland betrayed me.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t. I have more honor than that.”
Her eyebrow rose dubiously. “Do you?”
He reacted to her cynicism with a soft chuckle. “I understand the concept of fidelity, sweeting. I don’t share my women, and I myself exhibit exclusivity in my affairs.”
The scoffing sound she made was half ridicule, half amusement. “Your particular brand of scruples fails to impress me.”
“I shall try to do better,” he said, stepping toward her again. Venetia was caught off guard when he lifted her veil.
“Don’t presume too far, Traherne,” she warned. She grasped his wrist, but failed to make him release the filmy black lace of her veil or back down even an inch.
“I want to see your beautiful eyes.” He gazed at her steadily, his blue eyes holding a challenge. He was acting contrarily just to see her reaction, she knew very well.
Venetia gritted her teeth. “You have a knack for overstepping your bounds.”
He smiled again, and her breath stopped. “True.”
He was a provocative devil, but she would not allow him to put her off or distract her this time. Nor would she forget her earlier frustration with him. His charm allowed him to get away with every transgression short of murder, and even that might be possible were he to set his mind to it.
The trouble was, he took a final step closer and bent his head to kiss her.
Tasting the warm satin of his lips, Venetia wanted to curse. Over the past two years she had built up strong defenses, but Traherne was annihilating them once more. When in desperation she tore her mouth away and averted her head, he merely shifted his lips to the sensitive skin of her neck.
“This is exactly what I mean,” she protested breathlessly. “You’re a rake through and through.”
“Guilty as charged.”
He made her shiver with desire and excitement, damn him. And he was nuzzling her in broad view of anyone who happened to pass by. Venetia pressed her hands against his chest, irked that he was so careless with what remained of her shredded reputation.
“I can guess…what you are about,” she rasped. “I’ve been branded a scarlet woman, so you think you can take advantage of me.”
“Never,” he murmured. “I am simply indulging in the supreme enjoyment of kissing you…and perhaps a little more…”
She was startled to feel the cool breeze on her lower limbs. He was raising her skirts, she realized with a thrilling sense of shock. When she managed to forcibly brush them down again, his fingers reached through the fabric at the front of her gown to press against her woman’s mound, kindling an even greater excitement inside her.
“Lord Traherne!” Venetia exclaimed.
“You are familiar with the adage ‘better to be hanged for a sheep than a lamb’? Since you accuse me at every turn of being a libertine, I might as well live up to my dissolute reputation.”
The laughter in his tone vexed her as well as his nonchalance. He was trying to get a rise out of her, that was clear. Well, she would foil his plan and give back as good as she got.
Edging backward to elude his embrace, she reached into her reticule and drew out her pistol, aiming it directly at his chest.
When he froze for an instant at her unexpected gesture, Venetia felt mingled relief and triumph. “I brought a more lethal weapon this time, my lord. If I must suffer your company, I plainly need protection.”