Page 43 of The Rake’s Convenient Bride

And yet it was, she reminded herself. Even still, there was a part of her that wanted to believe it as readily as she did the love stories she read about in her novels.

Jasper led her through the room toward the rear patio overlooking the garden, and opened the door for her.

The bite in the air was ice cold, but the chill was a reprieve against the heat in her cheeks, and the quiet of the dormant garden was bliss after the cacophonous noise of the engagement party.

“You are so good at speaking with others.” Elizabeth glanced around the empty area, confirming that they were indeed alone. “At being charming.”

She tensed, knowing this was a start to what she needed to tell him, that Grace was going to be having her own engagement party soon. That their faux engagement would be coming to an end.

Jasper took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. The wool was heavy and warm with the heat of his body and carried that sensual spicy fragrance that was becoming so wonderfully familiar to her.

He studied her for a long moment. “Being charming is easy to do with a woman such as yourself.”

She gave a shy laugh. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

“I’m not pretending, Elizabeth. You are beautiful.”

He was watching her with that dark gaze again, making her body burn for something he promised he would never give her.

“It’s the dress,” she admitted. “Mama and my sisters insisted⁠—”

“No.” Jasper stepped closer to her. “You have always been beautiful.”

She opened her mouth, uncertain how to respond to such flattery. He continued, sparing her from having to reply. “I first noticed you at Lord Whimbley’s ball two years ago. You were the most beautiful woman there.”

Most beautiful woman there?

Now he was going too far. Didn’t she tell him he didn’t have to pretend with her?

She shook her head. “You must have been mistaken. That was likely not me.”

“You were standing against the wall looking as though you were trying to blend into it.” A secret smile hovered on his lips.

“Very well,” she conceded. “Yes, that does sound like me.”

“When your friends approached, your face bloomed with delight. You were radiant. This quiet, gentle woman clearly wanting to be anywhere but at that ball—which admittedly was tedious as far as they go. But for your friends, you came to life. I’ve never seen someone care so much for others, or be embraced with such affection. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

His words were a spell woven around her, intoxicating as they obliterated the shreds of doubt from her thoughts. She wanted to believe what he was saying. Desperately so.

“You couldn’t?” Elizabeth swallowed. “Why didn’t you approach me?”

“After you rejected every man who approached you?”

She flushed.

He stepped closer, his gaze serious and intense. “But even if I could bring myself to, women like you aren’t meant for men like me.”

Her breath was coming too fast, making her head spin. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Respectable ladies…” His eyes were on her lips and suddenly they felt dry. She darted her tongue out to moisten them and his nostrils flared.

“Because of your reputation?” she whispered.

His jaw flexed. “Yes.”

“Because you vowed not to touch me.”

He breathed a moment, his breath a hard pull in and out. “Yes.”