She couldn’t help her laugh. “Overcome with your passions?”
He cracked a smile. “Don’t make sport. I’m certain many a chap has said worse. Not me, of course. I have much more style than that, but I’m guessing at what a sop would say when he was about to make an indecent advance upon a lady of stellar reputation.”
Alex gave him a skeptical once-over. “Do you mean to say you’ve never made an indecent advance?”
Owen’s grin was unrepentant. “Certainly not. I’ve made more than I can count, but never on a lady whose reputation was at stake.”
Her laughter continued. “Never on someone like me, you mean?”
“Precisely.” He bowed.
“Very well, carry on.” She fluttered her hand in the air. “What were you saying, Mr. Suitor?”
He tsked her. “Aim higher. He should at least be Lord Suitor.”
She shook her head at him. “Fine. What were you saying, Lord Suitor?”
“My passions. I am overcome by them,” Owen said in a louder-than-normal, overly dramatic voice that made Alex shake her head and laugh again.
“And what do you propose to do about them? Do you intend to declare yourself?” she asked.
He pulled her into his arms, and Alex abruptly stopped laughing. Her breath caught in her throat.
“No. I intend to do this.” Owen’s mouth swooped down toward hers. Alex knew … this was the moment she was supposed to sidestep him, was supposed to move away, deliver a crushing setdown, slap him with her fan, slap him with her hand. Both hand and fan were at the ready, even. But the moment his mouth moved toward hers, all she could think about was feeling his warm lips against hers. She didn’t move away, not an inch, and Owen’s mouth met hers in a hot, tangled kiss.
At first it was as if a tiny bolt of lightning froze them together. The shock of it caused them to root to their respective spots. But then Owen moved his lips, and Alexandra’s hands slipped up his shirtfront and around his neck, anchoring him to her. His mouth shifted over hers. Her lips parted and his tongue boldly stroked inside. Alex’s knees buckled.
Owen’s large hands were there to catch her and instead of pushing her away, he pulled her up against his hard, muscled body, and Alex moaned. Owen’s mouth slashed over hers, and his tongue slid inside her mouth again and again, owning her. He groaned, too, and Alex clung to him, afraid she would fall to a heap on the fine floor if she let go of his strong neck. He smelled like expensive cologne and a hint of smoke and wood spice. She laced her fingers together behind his neck and leaned up into the kiss even more.
When Owen finally pulled away, he was breathing heavily. So was she.
His eyes were wide with surprise. “You didn’t move.”
“You kissed me.” She pressed a hand to her chest, hoping to correct the fact that she couldn’t breathe properly. What a kiss that had been! Entirely knee-weakening. Just as she’d hoped it would be. Just as she’d dreamed it would be. Ooh, perhaps being daring was an acquired skill. She certainly liked it so far.
“I kissed you because I thought you were going to slap me.” Owen eyed her as if she were some exotic species of animal he’d never seen before.
But the unspoken words hung in the air, too, along with the lust from their kiss. He’d kissed her far longer and with far more aplomb than he’d needed to in order to simply be staging a kiss from an overactive suitor. She wanted to ask him why he hadn’t stopped, but at the same time she didn’t want to know. She couldn’t bear it if he told her he hadn’t wanted to kiss her. No. She would just leave it alone.
“I forgot to slap you,” she admitted.
They stared at each other. Attraction leaped between them. Alex looked away first. What else could she say to him?
He scrubbed his hand against the back of his neck. “I suggest you take my original advice. Stay away from suitors who ask you to go anywhere with them alone.”
All she could do was nod jerkily and press her burning lips together.
“Do you have what you need to court Lavinia?” she asked with a slightly shaking voice.
“I think so.”
“The ball is tomorrow night,” she breathed. That was an idiotic thing to say.
“Do you think you can employ what we’ve discussed?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Is the man whom you fancy going to be there?”
“Yes,” she breathed. Unexpected tears stung Alex’s eyes at the thought of their meetings here in Cassandra’s ballroom coming to an end. What if everything Alex had told him didn’t work? What if Lavinia changed her mind and fell madly in love with him? What if her parents forced Lavinia to marry him regardless? Oh, there were so many possibilities. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted him for herself. Why had she thought any of this was a good idea?