Sublime

“How you landed her is beyond understanding,” Whit said. Devil’s smile was nearly audible. “I wonder at it every day.”

Everything about Garrett Gibson was . . . delicious. The dissecting gaze, the voice as crisp as the icing on a lemon cake. The compassion that drove her to treat the undeserving poor as well as the deserving. The purposeful walk, the relentless energy, the self-satisfaction of a woman who neither concealed nor apologized for her own intelligence. S

He’d known it was her from the moment she’d stepped into the ballroom, in a dress that fell in lush emerald waves to the floor, despite the mask covering everything but her beautiful kohled eyes and the dark wine color staining her lips, and the wig that stole her flame-colored curls from him. He presumed she was trying for disguise, as though he’d

Hester said the lady begged you not to, and you went soft.”

coveted?”

Rhys tried to imagine what his mother would make of this subtle, incandescent creature with a mind full of books and music in her fingers.

“I love you,” he whispered again. “I love you. You’re my future.”

“We are either partners in life or we are not. I do not care if we are poor as church mice. I don’t care if all of London refuses us entry to their homes. I don’t care if we’re never invited to another ball as long as we live, so long as we are together in it.”

For the first time in her life, as she heard the words my lady, she wondered what it would be to actually, honestly be someone’s lady. What might it be like to stand by his side? To touch him at will? To have him touch her?