“I was meeting with a Bow Street runner to arrange for the capture of Mrs. Morgan,” he hissed, moving up beside her to avoid the possibility of one of the servants hearing. “It was necessary. And I was just up the bloody hall. As for being safe, you don’t know that. Findlay could have been planning to run off with you at any moment.”

“I don’t think running off with me was the plan,” Lisa said calmly as she reached the landing and started up the hall.

“No. He was too busy kissing you,” he muttered.

“Trying to kiss me,” Lisa corrected mildly. “However, you do keep interrupting his attempts. I wish you would stop that, Robert.”

“You wish . . . You want him to kiss you?” he asked with outrage.

Lisa stopped at her bedroom door and turned to face him as Bet opened it and entered. “Of course I want him to kiss me. Why wouldn’t I? He’s handsome, eligible and I’ve never been kissed. I should like to see what it’s like. After all, I wouldn’t want to marry him do I not enjoy his kisses.”

“Marry him!” he squawked with amazement.

“Well, that is what I am in town for, Robert. To find a husband, and Lord Findlay is the handsomest of the options so far. So, I should like him to kiss me so I can see if I like it, or if I should turn my attentions to one of the other men instead, one whose kisses I might like better.”

“Are you telling me you intend to just let him kiss you? Then if you don’t like it, allow someone else to kiss you, and then someone else?” he asked with slow disbelief.

Lisa nodded. “That seems the most sensible plan to me. If I find them physically attractive, then I talk with them to see if I like their personality, and if so, well then I should see if I like their kisses.”

“What?” he asked with horror.

She rolled her eyes with exasperation at his expression. “There is more to marriage than sitting across the table every morning talking,” she pointed out. “It does seem to me I should see if the man I plan to marry can stir some passion in me. I should like a marriage as wonderful and heated as Christiana and Suzette were lucky enough to find.”

“Dear God,” Robert muttered and then shook his head. “Lisa, you cannot simply run about allowing every man in London to kiss you until you find the one who—”

“Why not?” she interrupted. “It is just a kiss, but according to Sophie, a kiss can tell you a lot about what kind of lover a man is. Surely I’m not expected to go into marriage just hoping I will enjoy my marriage bed?”

Robert’s mouth moved briefly with nothing coming out and then he asked with irritation, “Who the devil is Sophie?”