“Does that feel better?" she asked, not expecting any sort of an answer but feeling nonetheless that she ought to continue with her one-sided conversation. "I really don't know very much about caring for the ill, but it just seems to me like you'd want something cool on your brow. I know if I were sick, that's how I'd feel."He shifted restlessly, mumbling something utterly incoherent."Really?" Sophie replied, trying to smile but failing miserably. "I'm glad you feel that way."He mumbled something else."No," she said, dabbing the cool cloth on his ear, "I'd have to agree with what you said the first time." He went still again."I'd be happy to reconsider," she said worriedly. "Please don't take offense." He didn't move.Sophie sighed. One could only converse so long with an unconscious man before one started to feel extremely silly.”

“What are you up to?" she asked."Why would you think I'm up to anything?"Her lips pursed before she said, "You wouldn't be you if you weren't up to something."He smiled at that. "I do believe that was a compliment.""It wasn't necessarily intended as such.""But nonetheless," he said mildly, "that's how I choose to take it.”

“Why didn't you just let me run home?" she asked."I wanted you here," he said simply."But why?" she persisted.He shrugged. "I don't know.Punishment, perhaps, for spying on me.""I wasn't-" Sophie's denial was automatic, but she cut herself off halfway through, because of course she'd been spying on him."Smart girl," he murmured.She scowled at him. She would have liked to have said something utterly droll and witty, but she had a feeling that anything emerging from her mouth just then would have been quite the opposite,so she held her tongue. Better to be a silent fool than a talkative one."It's very bad to spy on one's host," he said, planting his hands on his hips and somehow managing to look both authoritative and relaxed at the same time."It as an accident," she grumbled."Oh,I believe you there," he said. "But even if you didn't intend to spy on me, the fact remains that when the opportunity arose, you took it.""Do you blame me?"He grinned. "Not at all.I would have done precisely the same thing."Her mouth fell open."Oh,don't pretend to be offended," he said."I'm not pretending."He leaned a bit closer. "To tell the truth, I'm quite flattered.""It was academic curiosity," she ground out, "I assure you."His smile grew sly. "So you're telling me that you would have spied upon any naked man you'd come across?""Of course not!""As I said," he drawled, leaning back against a tree, "I'm flattered.”

“She slid a slim volume of poetry off the shelf and returned to her chair, swishing her rather unnattractive skirts before she sat down.Benedict frowned. He'd never really noticed before how ugly her dress was. Not as bad as the one Mrs. Cabtree had lent her, but certainly not anything designed to bring out the best in a woman. He ought to buy her a new dress. She would never accept it,of course, but maybe if her current garments were accidentally burned..."Mr. Bridgerton?"But how could he manage to burn her dress? She'd have to not be wearing it, and that posed a certain challenge in and of itself..."Are you even listening to me?" Sophie demanded."Hmmm?""You're not listening to me.""Sorry," he admitted. "My apologies. My mind got away from me. Please continue."She began anew, and in his attempt to show how much attention he was paying her, he focused his eyes on her lips, which proved to be a big mistake.Because suddenly those lips were all he could see, and he couldn't stop thinking about kissing her, and he knew- absolutely knew-that if one of them didn't leave the room in the next thirty seconds, he was going to do something for which he'd owe her a thousand apologies.Not that he didn't plan to seduce her. Just that he'd rather do it with a bit more finesse."Oh, dear," he blurted out.Sophie gave him an odd look. He didn't blame her. He sounded like a complete idiot. He didn't think he'd uttered the phrase, "Oh,dear," in years. If ever.Hell,he sounded like his mother."Is something wrong?" Sophie asked."I just remembered something," he said, rather stupidly, in his opinion.She raised her brows in question."Something that I'd forgotten," Benedict said."The things one remembers," she said, looking exceedingly amused, "are most often things one had forgotten.”

“What are you smiling about?" Benedict demanded.She didn't bother to glance up as she replied, "I'm plotting your demise."He grinned-not that she was looking at him, but it was one of those smiles she could hear in the way he breathed.She hated that she as that sensitive to his every nuance. Especially since she had a sneaking suspicion that he was the same way about her."At least it sounds entertaining,"he said."What does?" she asked, finally moving her eyes from the lower hem of the curtain, which she'd been staring at for what seemed like hours."My demise," he said, his smile crooked and amused. "If you're going to kill me, you might as well enjoy yourself while you're at it, because Lord knows, I won't."Her jaw dropped a good inch. "You're mad," she said.”

“I love you, too,” she said.He took her face in his hands and kissed her, once,deeply, on the mouth. “I mean,” he said, “I really loveyou.”She quirked a brow. “Is this a contest?”“It is anything you want,” he promised.She grinned, that enchanting, perfect smile that was soquintessentially hers. “I feel I must warn you, then,” shesaid, cocking her head to the side. “When it comes tocontests and games, I always win.”“Always?”Her eyes grew sly. “Whenever it matters.”He felt himself smile, felt his soul lighten and his worriesslip away. “And what, precisely, does that mean?”“It means,” she said, reaching up and undoing the buttonsof her coat, “that I really really love you.”

“I would be pleased to participate in this conversation to a greater degree," he drawled, "except that you have not seen fit to share with me any of the details of your life.""It was not an oversight on my part."He clucked disapprovingly. "So hostile."Her eyes bugged out. "You abducted me-"Coerced," he reminded her."Do you want me to hit you?""I wouldn't mind it," he said mildly. "And besides, now that you're here, was it really so very terrible that I browbeat you into coming? You like my family, don't you?""Yes,but-""And they treat you fairly, right?""Yes,but-""Then what," he asked, his tone most supercilious, "is the problem?"Sophie almost lost her temper. She almost jumped to her feet and grabbed his shoulders and shook and shook and shook, but at the last moment she realized that that was exactly what he wanted her to do.And so instead she merely sniffed and said, "If you cannot recognize the problem, there is no way that I could explain it to you."He laughed,damn the man. "My goodness," he said, "that was an expert sidestep."She picked up her book and opened it. "I'm reading.""Trying,at least," he murmured.She flipped a page, even though she hadn't read that last two paragraphs. She was really just trying to make a show of ignoring him, and besides, she could always go back and read them later, after he left."Your book is upside down," he pointed out. Sophie gasped and looked down. "It is not!"He smiled slyly. "But you still had to look to be sure, didn't you?"She stood up and announced, "I'm going inside."He stood immediately. "And leave the splendid spring air?""And leave you," she retorted, even though his gesture of respect was not lost on her. Gentleman did not ordinarily stand for mere servants."Pity," he murmured. "I was having such fun."Sophie wondered how much injury he'd sustain if she threw the book at him. Probably not enough to make up for the loss to her dignity.”