He was the only man she’d met since Hippolyte whom she could even contemplate kissing so intimately without getting revolted. She stopped thinking about the past, wrapped her arms around his neck, and stepped closer until their bodies touched. Rather than disgust, she felt warm sensuality.

He drew back and before she stopped herself, she blurted out, “If only . . .”

His thumb rubbed across her cheekbone.

“If only?”

Yasmin gave him a sheepish smile. “I like kissing you.”

“I feel the same about you.”

The security and safety she heard in his deep voice filled her with longing. Lydia, his sister, was not pleasant, but all the same, he loved her. When Giles loved someone, he would protect them forever.

Yet marriage required that. Intimacies.

With that thought, she stepped away, ignoring the fact her heart was pounding and her breathing was ragged, trying to summon up a careless smile. “You should leave in order to arrive within the time limit.”

“We have already lost the scavenger hunt,” Giles said. His eyes were steadily fixed on her face.

She had no idea how much time had passed. “Perhaps it was best not to advertise my familial closeness to the emperor, as you suggested. Will you please let my grandfather know that I am safely home? This has been a most interesting afternoon.” She walked toward the door, shivering with embarrassment. What a foolish thing to say.

When she reached out to unlock the door, a large hand stopped her from turning the key. Giles’s eyes were urgent, searching hers. “Yasmin, what is wrong?”

She drew herself upright and raised her chin. “I do not wish to discuss it, Giles.”

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. “May I pay you a visit later tonight? We do need to talk.”

“My grandfather and I plan to have a quiet supper.”

“May I take you for a drive tomorrow morning?”

Yasmin didn’t want to be anywhere private with Giles. His kisses seemed to cloud her mind and lead to extraordinary gaps in judgment. Being seen with him would lead to gossip.

“Perhaps early in the morning. I would enjoy a drive in the park in your curricle,” she said airily. In the open vehicle, she could refuse his proposal expeditiously and have done with it.

“I shall come promptly after breakfast.”

She curtsied. “Good day, Lord Lilford.”

Giles didn’t bow, nor did he show any reaction to the fact she’d addressed him by his title. He brushed a kiss on her mouth. “I wish you a good day, dear.”

Yasmin’s heart thumped. She watched him go, struck by one thought: the woman who would be greeted by that quiet, deep voice morning and evening was so lucky.

But it would not be her.

Chapter Fourteen

Giles walked into his own house a half hour later, certain that Yasmin planned to reject his proposal. The debacle of the condom had changed her mind. He thought hard in the carriage, but until the moment of entry, so to speak, he could have sworn that she was enjoying herself.