Between a Rake and a Hard Place Read Online Free PDF Page B

next to her head and leaned toward her. “Since I risked a bit to get you out of there, I think I deserve to know why you were in the club in the first place. Never say it was for the coffee. I could plainly see that you didn’t care for it.”
    â€œYou’re right. It was as bad as that punch.”
    â€œThen why masquerade as your cousin and invade Boodles? And may I remind you that you owe me?”
    His face was only a hand’s breath from hers. “If I tell you why I was there, will it cancel the debt?”
    He nodded.
    â€œVery well.” She straightened so he could see she wasn’t intimidated by his nearness. “I did it so I could cross it off the list.”
    â€œWhat list?”
    This was trickier ground. “You’ll laugh.”
    â€œPerhaps, but tell me in any case.”
    â€œIt’s my list of forbidden pleasures. Things I wish to do simply to revel in having done them,” Serena said. “Haven’t you ever wished to do some secret thing?”
    â€œI don’t consider pleasures forbidden.” His smile was wickedness itself. “And if I want something, I make no secret of it.”
    She blinked hard at that. “Well,”—she swallowed back the strange tightness in her throat—“in the case of my exploits in Boodles, the pleasure was overrated. Men’s clothes are not nearly as comfortable as I’d imagined they would be, and as you said, the coffee is not as high a quality as I can find in my father’s dining room.”
    â€œMaybe so, but you have to admit the company was pleasurable.” The wickedness was gone from his smile, but it was no less engaging.
    She couldn’t resist smiling back. “I’ll allow the company was tolerable.”
    â€œOnly tolerable? Hmph. I can do better than that. Perhaps you’ll concede that a man cannot be at his best when he finds himself awash in Orange Fool.”
    She laughed, despite her determination not to encourage him in his interest in her. He liked her because she was different, he said. He too was very different from other men of her acquaintance. The viscounts and earls and foreign dignitaries that graced her father’s home were polished and poised.
    And patently false, she realized.
    Whatever else Jonah Sharp was, she sensed he was letting her see a side of him he normally hid from the rest of the world. Known for gruffness and being taciturn to the point of rudeness, this Sir Jonah was…unconventionally charming.
    â€œWhat else is on that list of yours?” he asked.
    She bit her lip, wondering if she should tell him.
    â€œVery well, don’t tell me the whole thing. Just the next one.” He leaned in and whispered, “What forbidden pleasure will you try?”
    His breath washed over her neck, but even though it was warm, it left a shiver in its wake. She pulled his tailcoat tighter around her. “You’ll laugh.”
    â€œI didn’t laugh before, did I? Besides, your secrets are safe with me. I won’t tell a soul.”
    The man had helped her out of a deucedly awkward scrape. She decided to trust him. “I’d like to smoke a cigar.”
    This time he did laugh. Then when she didn’t join him, he sobered immediately. “You’re serious.”
    â€œAs an apoplectic fit.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause after a formal dinner, smoking cigars is something men retreat into their secret enclave to do while the women are relegated to tea and cordials in the parlor. I’d just like to know what’s so appealing about it and why it’s forbidden to my gender.”
    â€œA good cigar is a fine thing, but I suspect you’d find it as overrated as Boodle’s coffee.”
    â€œBut unless I try one for myself, I’ll never know for sure,” she argued. “It’s one thing to be told what it’s like to do something. It’s quite another to do