“Point taken. But in my defense, my only intention was to give you, your brother and your friends pleasure.” He shook his head. “I seem to walk through a minefield of thoughtlessness in your company. It doesn’t seem to happen with anyone else.”

“Perhaps no one else has the courage to tell you.”

His lips twisted into a wry grin. “Touché, Miss Rutherford. That is one very sharp tongue you’ve developed.”

“I’ve always had it,” she told him. “But ten years ago I was too young to see when I needed to use it.”

“And again.” He threw up his hand in a fencer’s gesture acknowledging a hit. “So, what now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are we to be at odds forever, or can we put this bone of contention behind us too?”

“I don’t like being at odds with people,” Petra replied obliquely as the cab pulled up outside her house.

Guy jumped down, reached up to take her by the waist and swung her to the ground. He held her for a moment, his hands on her waist, looking down into her upturned face. “I suppose I can take some comfort from that.” Swiftly he bent and kissed her mouth. The kiss was firm but fleeting and he’d lifted his head almost before Petra realized what had happened.

“Kiss and make up,” he said. His eyes seemed to deepen and glow as he still held her at the waist, still looking down at her, his mouth soft. “You are quite lovely, Petra. Thank you for having lunch with me.”

Petra struggled with the surge of unwanted feelings. His tenderness had thrown her off guard, the desirous glow in his dark brown eyes made her want to throw caution to the devil. Her anger, irritation, resentment fell away and for a moment she wanted him to kiss her, to lose herself in his kiss, to feel his body hard against hers.

She stepped away from him, shaking her head as if to dispel cobwebs. “Thank you for lunch, Guy.” She turned and hurried up the steps to her front door, which opened before she could get out her key. “Thank you, Foster,” she murmured hurrying into the sanctuary of her house feeling as if she’d escaped a monster, but Guy Granville was not the monster.