Page 18 of Courting Claudia

“Yes, well, I merely thought that likening my eyes to bluebells is frankly not that clever. I believe I’ve read that in many a poem.”

The kiss, meant only to make an impression on her, had missed its mark and instead made a big impression on him. Devil take it! He needed to get out of here.

He pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at the time. “Claudia, it has been a pleasure seeing you today, but I’m afraid I’m late for an appointment. I do hope you’ll allow me to call on you again sometime.”

She only nodded, then stood and went to her painting.

He watched her back for a few seconds, then turned to leave.

Damnation! He hadn’t come to her house intending to kiss her or he sure as hell would have…Would have what? Prepared himself? Never would he have thought he’d have to prepare himself for kissing Claudia Prattley.

Yet kissing her had proven a serious temptation and had done things to his body that a mere kiss hadn’t evoked in years. Perhaps since he was a young man in school. And she hadn’t been affected at all. Which made no sense. His kisses generally had even the most tarnished of women swaying in his arms. But not Miss Prattley. No, she merely blinked at him, then dismissed him as if he’d done nothing more than shine her shoes.

Derrick mounted the carriage steps, then sat with a huff. More than bloody likely, he’d just been caught off guard. Or, rather, he’d spent too much time staring at her bosom and he’d been aroused before the kiss. None of it made sense.

But she wouldn’t get off this easy. No. Now it was war, so to speak. He would do whatever it took to make Miss Prattley weak in the knees. She would swoon over him before this was done. After all, if he was courting her, he might as well teach her the way a real man acts. Poetry! Imagine spending all his time with a willing, desirable woman and doing nothing more than spouting poetry. Richard was a buffoon.

Oh my goodness.

Claudia sank back on the stone bench and brought her hands to her cheeks. Her face felt warm, indicating she blushed, just as she suspected. She’d never before kissed a man, and still she knew that had to be the kiss to end all kisses. Her entire body felt jiggly, as if someone had taken her apart and put her back together wrong.

She trailed her right index finger along her lips. They were slightly swollen. She didn’t feel like herself. She’d never been the girl that men stole kisses from in the garden. Especially not men like Derrick Middleton. He was as handsome as she was plain. It just didn’t fit.

Courting her. Indeed. He was funning with her. And she didn’t find it the least bit amusing. Her stomach clenched. What could possibly motivate a man to toy with a woman’s emotions like that? Surely he wasn’t heartless. He seemed the very image of a gentleman.

Well, perhaps not a gentleman in the strictest of terms, but he was kind and well-mannered even if he did steal kisses from unsuspecting women in their gardens. There had been nothing gentlemanly or well-mannered about that kiss.

Or about her response. Heavens.

He had certainly left rather suddenly. As if something in the kiss had reminded him of something. More than likely, she’d done something dreadfully wrong, and he’d immediately come to his senses. Men like him could have any woman of their choosing. And they rarely dallied with innocent women like her.

In fact, no man had ever ventured a dalliance with her of any kind. She knew it was because of the way she looked. She was plump, and men didn’t like plump women. It wasn’t as if she’d asked any of them, but it was quite evident. She could count on her hands how many times men had asked her to dance.

But she made the most of her situation. She didn’t need a line of men asking her to dance. She’d found her future husband; she was simply waiting for him to propose.

Her mind wandered back to Derrick’s kiss. Tingles spread through her body. Gracious. And the simple way he said her name—it seemed to roll off his tongue as if he’d been saying it forever. Her name had never sounded as good as it did in the deep timbre of his voice.

Precisely what was she to do with another suitor? A charade of one or not, Richard was bound to notice sooner or later.

She had one suitor who said he intended to propose, who had never so much as let his mouth linger on her hand. And another suitor who wasn’t really a suitor at all, who’d just this afternoon done amazing things with his tongue in her mouth.

What was she supposed to do now?

Chapter 4

“Poppy, have any of your suitors ever kissed you?”

Poppy looked up from the chessboard and eyed Claudia suspiciously. “On occasion, I suppose a few have stolen tiny kisses behind a plant or on a darkened balcony.”

“Real kisses?” Claudia ventured.

“What do you mean, real kisses? They kissed me. That’s real, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely,” Claudia said, with more enthusiasm than she’d intended. “Yes, those are real.”

“No, that’s not what you meant.” Poppy’s eyesnarrowed, and she pointed her pawn at Claudia. “What are you hiding?”

Claudia shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. “Well, I…I overheard some girls talking, and they were most explicit about the way one of them had been kissed.” She scooted her chair closer and leaned forward. “She said that the man put his tongue in her mouth.” She sat up quickly. “Can you imagine?”