Chapter 22
Concerning a Disclosure, a Contract, and Unexpected Consequence …
“No. Not yet,” said Phinn as he braced his hand on the kitchen door by Hermina Davenport’s head. “Not until I understand what’s going on.”
His mind was awhirl with confusion. He’d just seized this lovely young woman’s mouth in a passion-fueled kiss—a kiss she had consented to, had claimed to want—but then she’d frozen like a terrified deer trapped in a hunter’s sights.
She’s never been kissed … If Phinn had known, he never would have kissed her that way, like a wild, lust-bitten beast. He would have been gentle. He would have gone slowly.
He would have made it so, so sweet …
God, he could still taste her on his lips. The lingering sweetness of vanilla and sugar and strawberries and cream—and he suspected even ambrosia from heaven—could in no way compare to the divine sweetness of Mina Davenport. And Lord help him, he wanted to taste her again.
He swallowed as guilt lanced through his chest. “Mina … Miss Davenport, how can it be that you’ve never been kissed by anyone before? You have a child … Unless …”
No, no, no! Feck! Phinn’s hands curled into tight fists as white-hot blistering anger seared through his veins. “Who hurt you?” he growled. The blond gentleman who’d been looking in Hatchards’s front window, was he the dog who’d used Mina so callously and cruelly? “Tell me his name.”
But Miss Davenport was shaking her head.
Her eyes were wide with alarm as she said in a breathless rush, “Oh no. No, it’s not what you think, Lord Kinsale.
Nothing untoward has ever happened to me.
No one … no man has ever hurt me, or taken advantage of me, or forced me to-to do anything of a …
of a lascivious nature, if that’s what you’re thinking.
” She drew a shaky breath and her eyes locked with his.
“I’m sorry I’m being so vague. I’m so sorry I haven’t been completely open and honest with you.
I wish I could say more, my lord. It’s just that …
the situation I find myself in … with young Christopher … It’s-it’s so very, very complicated.”
Confusion assailed Phinn again. “I cannot lie, but I’m mightily confused, Miss Davenport.
” He regarded the young woman’s face, the line of worry etched between her elegant brows.
He’d never known her to be dishonest about anything.
Although, that wasn’t quite true. When they’d met aboard the Kinsale Cloud, she’d been vague about her circumstances then too.
He’d always suspected that she was in some sort of trouble. It seemed she still was.
Phinn sighed. He wished she would confide in him.
One thing he wouldn’t do was push her away.
Deep in his heart, down to his very bones, he sensed that Mina Davenport was forthright and good even if she couldn’t divulge her secrets right now.
He had no reason to distrust her. He certainly didn’t want to make things harder for her than they already were.
“I just wish … I wish I’d known you were so inexperienced when …
when it came to kissing,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been so-so overzealous. I would have been gentle.”
Miss Davenport’s hazel eyes brightened with an emotion that Phinn interpreted as relief. “You’re not angry with me?”
Phinn smiled down at the governess. Mina. “How … how could I be?” he said softly, tucking a stray lock of her silken chestnut hair behind her ear. “We’re friends, are we not? Friends who care about each other?”
A soft pink blush rose in Miss Davenport’s cheeks and her eyelids fluttered downward, shielding the expression in her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered. “That’s true.”
Heartened, Phinn continued. “All … all these weeks we’ve spent in each other’s company,” he said, “the way you’ve been helpin’ me with me speech and to master society’s damnably complicated rules, you’ve shown me bound-boundless patience and understandin’.
And before you tell me it’s simply your duty, we both know that’s not the case en-entirely. ”
Miss Davenport didn’t say anything. But her eyes had returned to his and Phinn was mesmerized by their whisky-brown glow.
“I wasn’t lyin’ when I said I’d been thinkin’ about kissin’ you for some time,” he said in a low voice.
“If I haven’t put you off kissin’ with me overenthusiastic effort before, I’d …
I’d like to try again. To redeem meself.
To show you how won-wonderful kissin’ can be. ”
Miss Davenport’s frown was back. “Yes. Yes, I do want that, my lord. I’m six-and-twenty and to be perfectly honest, being kissed—in a romantic way—is something I’d like to experience.
Very much. I also strongly feel that if you and I kiss, we’ll both stop wondering what it would be like.
Our curiosity will be satisfied. At least mine will be.
Only …” She bit her lip and it took everything in Phinn not to groan as he watched her straight white teeth press into that lush pink pillow.
“Part of me is worried you’ll think less of me if I do acquiesce.
It’s not very professional of me to be dallying with my employer.
If Mrs. Temple at the Parasol Academy ever found out … ”
“Well, I won’t tell if you don’t.” Phinn tried to lighten the mood and cast Miss Davenport a rakish smile.
“You could … you could look upon it as a … a kissin’ lesson.
That way it’s a contract of sorts. There are no other obligations.
It would be a once-only offer. Tonight only. No … no other strings attached.”
Miss Davenport’s gaze searched his for one long moment. And then she gave a decisive nod. “Very well, my lord,” she murmured huskily. “I consent to a kissing lesson. Just one. Just tonight.”
Phinn exhaled and a heady feeling akin to exultation flooded his chest. Potent desire rushed through his veins, straight to a decidedly masculine part of his person; a part which twitched with rampant eagerness.
But this time, Phinn would not let lust hold sway. He would take his time with Miss Davenport. He’d meant what he’d said: He wanted to show her how wonderful kissing could be.
“I … I will make this experience good for you, Mina,” he whispered as he slid a hand behind the young woman’s slender back and drew her close against him. Her palms lay flat against his chest, and he wondered if she could feel the wild thud of his heart. “I promise.”
With his other hand, he cradled Miss Davenport’s soft-as-arose-petal cheek.
As he did so, her gaze dipped to his mouth and she parted her sweet lips and dear Lord, she was trembling.
And he was trembling too. Not with nerves but with sharp want and delicious anticipation.
He would not let Hermina Davenport down.
This kiss would be everything she’d ever dreamed of and more.
Lowering his head, Phinn ever so gently pressed his mouth to Miss Davenport’s …
and when she followed his lead and moved her plush lips against his, when she leaned into him and her hands wound around his neck, when her fingers tangled in the hair at his nape and she released a soft breathy moan, he was certain he’d found heaven.
So this is kissing, Mina thought as Lord Kinsale’s mouth moved slowly yet with gentle purpose over hers.
This was nothing like the first wild and far too overwhelming kiss the marquess had bestowed only minutes ago.
This kiss was lingering and heart-meltingly tender. An enticing blend of firmness and subtle coaxing. A combination of teasing brushes and soft silken glides that Mina easily mimicked. It was precisely the sort of swoon-inducing kiss that made one want to moan in a most un-governess-like fashion.
And oh, sweet heaven, Mina did. As a breathy, helpless sound tumbled forth, the tip of Lord Kinsale’s tongue, warm and slick, boldly swept between her parted lips. And she gasped with surprise. And then his tongue delved a little deeper.
Good Lord, the marquess was tasting her.
But the sensation of his tongue entering her mouth, the way he gently stroked her tongue as though inviting her to taste him back, wasn’t unwelcome.
At all. In fact, Mina decided she liked what Lord Kinsale was doing, rather a lot, even though it must be all kinds of wicked.
Who’d have thought that wickedness had a taste, and it was so, so good.
In fact, it was even better than cake.
It was better than anything Mina had ever experienced in her entire life.
Thrills raced through Mina from head to toe and before too long, she found that her knees were so weak, she had to cling to the marquess’s neck lest she fall. Lord Kinsale’s hand, the one cradling her cheek, moved to the back of her head and his fingers speared into her hair, scattering pins.
Oh my … As their kiss deepened, when Lord Kinsale’s tongue boldly caressed hers yet again, Mina dared to accept his invitation.
Their tongues entwined in an intimate dance and oh, how wonderful it felt to hear the marquess groan.
To know that she’d elicited such a response in such a large, powerful man, to think that he was unraveling, just a little bit because of what she’d done, was heady indeed.