Page 28 of Courting Claudia

A fault her father would never understand. Nor would Richard. Richard. She was supposed to meet him today—to test the waters and see if she could persuade him to kiss her. Yet here she was with another man. A man whom she’d kissed. Twice.

“I believe it’s past time that we returned. I have an appointment this afternoon.”

“Very well.”

They rode all the way back to London in silence.

He knew her appointment was with Richard. Knowing that annoyed him. And the fact that he was annoyed annoyed him even more. What did he care if she ruined her life with a bastard like Richard Foxmore?

Derrick acknowledged that it was his pride more than anything that was hurt. She’d kissed him—more passionately than any other woman he’d ever kissed—and yet the entire time she’d been thinking of another man. A man who, Derrick would wager, had successfully hidden his true colors from Claudia and her father.

He climbed back into his carriage after delivering Claudia to her doorstep. This courting business was more difficult than he had anticipated. Not only was he honestly attracted to Claudia, which both complicated and enhanced the situation, but he was beginning to feel guilty about misleading her.

Yes, he was doing an honorable thing by dissuading her from marrying Richard, but wouldn’t he still be courting her to save his paper regardless of her relationship with Richard?

The truth of the matter was he didn’t want to hurt her. He knew firsthand what betrayal felt like, and he wanted no part in inflicting such pain on someone. He simply needed to ensure that Claudia didn’t have real feelings for him. Attraction, yes, but nothing deeper than that, and all would be fine. He couldn’t break her heart if she didn’t give it to him.

It disgusted him that he’d resorted to trickery to save his paper. He despised all sorts of deception after his marriage with Julia, and he’d wanted no part of another charade. Yet here he was playing the lead role in a major production.

He pushed his fingers through his hair. Damn, he wanted Claudia. Wanted to yank off that ridiculous bonnet of hers and run his fingers through her golden curls. Wanted to peel that riding habit off her lush body and cover her with kisses. He wanted to see if the blush that stained her cheeks also stained her breasts. Hell, he wanted to lose himself inside her until she screamed his name.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted a woman the way he wanted Claudia.

It wasn’t as if she’d never been late before, but being more than a quarter of an hour late, she’d be surprised if Richard was still here. She’d been less than kind to Derrick, but that was surely a good thing. If kindness in any way encouraged his attentions, she should be outright nasty to him.

She ran into the house and began her search for Richard. She found him three doors later in the library, newspaper in hand.

“I do apologize for my tardiness, Richard. I can’t possibly expect you to forgive me.”

He set the paper aside. “It is awfully inconsiderate of you, but I suppose I shall find it in my heart to forgive you.” He looked up, and by the expression of horror on his face, Claudia realized her hair and clothes were probably not in perfect order. He came to his feet. “Good God, Claudia, where have you been?”

“I went out for a morning ride, and I’m afraid my horse got away with me, and, well, that is why I look a fright.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“I don’t believe so. I’m not injured if you’re concerned,” she added more tartly than she’d intended.

“Of course. I’m glad to see you’re all right.” He sat. “So tell me what was so urgent that I had to come over today? It must not be too urgent if you couldn’t even be here on time.”

She came and sat beside him on the settee. “I wanted to spend some time with you. Alone.”

“I see.”

“Do you have anything you wish to discuss with me?”

He uncrossed his legs, shifted slightly, then re-crossed them. “Not that I can think of.”

“What did you do this morning?”

“Nothing too interesting.”

He recounted his morning events, which consisted of breakfast at his club, and then a meeting with some fellows. “That’s very interesting.” She situated herself slightly closer to him so that her leg touched his. It was through layers of clothing, but nonetheless, it was the most contact she’d had with Richard aside from dancing.

She listened to him drone on about the last session, all the while contemplating how to get him to kiss her. Poppy had said that if she wanted to kiss a man, she’d do it herself. Well, if Poppy could do it, then so could she. And as fortune, or whatever, would have it, she’d had a lot of experience kissing lately, so at least she was somewhat positive that she’d do it right.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then leaned in and planted her lips on his in mid-sentence. Even with all her newfound kissing expertise, she’d never started a kiss and wasn’t certain how to go about it, so she simply pressed her lips to his.

Richard pushed against her and stood. She must have done something dreadfully wrong.