A Mistress for Major Bartlett (Brides of Waterloo)

To his surprise, she didn’t automatically say no. She looked at him thoughtfully, her head tilted to one side.

His heart hammered in his chest, making his blood pound through his veins, just because she was thinking about kissing him. If she actually bent forward, and pressed her lips to his, the wounds in his head would probably burst, killing him on the spot.

But what a way to go.

‘Kill me...’ He shook his head. ‘I mean, kiss me, Angel. And let me die a happy man.’

For a moment she looked as though she was still toying with the idea. She actually swayed forward in her seat. But then she shook her head and sat back.

‘No. It won’t do. You don’t know who you are, nor who I am. You are confused and weak, and don’t know what you are saying.’

Damn. He should have told her there was nothing wrong with his memory, in spite of what the doctor had said.

She snatched her hand away, then, as though she’d just become aware he was still holding it.

‘Besides, you don’t really mean it, do you? I’m not the kind of girl men want to kiss.’

‘What? Why would you say that?’ He wouldn’t have been surprised if prim Lady Sarah had slapped his face for impertinence. But never would he have dreamed she’d think he was offering her false coin.

‘Isn’t it obvious? Or did the blow to your head knock all the sense out of it along with your memory?’

‘Possibly,’ he acknowledged slowly. One moment he’d decided he wasn’t going to do any more than flirt with her, just a little, the next he was imagining her climbing on top of him and taking all sorts of liberties while he was helpless to resist. And then asking if she wouldn’t mind kissing him, just to get things started. That wasn’t the way to deal with a society princess. No wonder she looked so offended.

‘But I do want to kiss you,’ he admitted. Then, deciding to turn the conversation away from his murky motives, added, ‘And to be honest, I don’t understand why you think other men don’t.’

‘Well, just look at my face. The nose. It looks aristocratic and manly on my brothers. But on a female, well...’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, I don’t want men to kiss me.’ She shuddered in what looked like genuine revulsion.

Which made him feel a little better. At least it wasn’t him, specifically, she didn’t want to kiss.

She’d always had a sort of cool air about her, now he came to think of it. She hadn’t appeared to favour any of the men who’d clustered round her.

Had a sort of untouchable quality to her that had made some of them, men like her twin brother’s commanding officer, look upon her as a challenge to their masculinity.

At that moment, an immense black dog shambled up to the bed, got his front paws on to the mattress and gave his face a hearty, thorough licking.

‘Good grief, it’s Dog,’ he exclaimed, temporarily forgetting he was supposed to have lost his memory. ‘Where did you come from?’ He ruffled the dog’s velvety ears.

‘Ben, get down,’ said Lady Sarah sharply. ‘Tom isn’t well enough for that sort of play.’

So she knew his name was Tom. And she was calling the dog Ben, too, the way some of the men had started to do, the last few days.

‘Well, at least someone wants to kiss me.’ He laughed, as Dog’s whole body wriggled in joyous greeting.

She pulled the dog off him. But he couldn’t help noticing that for all her sharp manner, she’d glanced at his mouth—albeit briefly—with a sort of fascination. As though she wouldn’t mind finding out what a kiss would be like.

Which was a start.

But if he was ever going to get that kiss, he’d have to find out why she’d shuddered with revulsion at the mere prospect. Which meant getting her to talk to him. Trust him.

But what did a man like him have in common with a girl like her? What could they talk about?

Well, there was always the dog.

‘How on earth did you come to have Dog?’

‘Oh,’ she said, taking the hound’s head between her hands and gazing into his eyes with a familiarity that caused Tom a pang of something that felt a lot like envy. ‘We sort of rescued each other, on the road to the Forest of Soignes. He was tied to one of the baggage wagons, which got overturned when a band of cowardly Hussars came pell-mell along the road from the battlefield. And he was so scared. I couldn’t leave him trapped like that, could I?’

Tom looked at her with new respect. He could just imagine how the dog would react, tethered and scared. It would have been all snapping teeth and frantic attempts to get free. He didn’t think he knew any men who would have gone near Ben in that condition.