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gentleman.
    “Very well then. Friends.”
    “Joss,” he prompted.
    “Joss,” she echoed, then preceded him up the summerhouse steps.
    “I hope you have no objection if I call you Lilah? I like it—it’s unusual, and it suits you.” He followed her to the opposite side of the octagon-shaped structure, which looked out over the creek. Lilah stopped there, her knees resting against the built-in wooden bench, her hands closing over the polished railing as she stared unseeinglyat the creek. Her every nerve ending was focused on the man who stood beside her.
    “It’s really Delilah,” she said inconsequentially.
    “That’s even more unusual, and suits you even better. Delilah. What a good thing such an enchanting name wasn’t wasted on a pudding-faced little miss. Your parents must be people of rare discernment—or else you were an unusually attractive baby.”
    Lilah smiled up at him fleetingly. “I don’t think so. My mother died when I was small, but Katy, my old governess, said that I was the ugliest baby she ever saw. She said I was so ugly my father nearly cried when he saw me.”
    Joss grinned. “Time has certainly wrought a miracle, then. Because you are the most beautiful young lady I’ve ever seen.”
    “There you go, flattering me again.”
    He shook his head. “Not a bit of it. May God strike me dead on the spot if I’m lying.”
    “Was that a thunderclap I heard?”
    He laughed, picking up her hand from the rail and carrying it toward his lips. He didn’t quite kiss her fingers, but looked at her provocatively over the curve of them as he held them near his mouth. Lilah turned a little toward him, her eyes meeting his. She was suddenly nervous, but in a nice kind of way. He had promised not to take advantage of her trust and she believed him, so she wasn’t frightened that he might go beyond the line. This giddy anticipation was a new sensation, and her skin tingled with it.
    “You know, you’ve been looking at me all night as if you’re trying to figure out what it would feel like if I kissed you.” There was a hint of laughter buried under his pensive words.
    Her eyes widened, and she felt a blush creep into her cheeks. Was she really that transparent?
    “I—I …” she stuttered in utter confusion, tuggingat her hand. He grinned wickedly, and lifted her fingers to his mouth. His lips just brushed over her knuckles with a pressure so light that the depth of the reaction she felt was shocking in comparison. Her lips parted, and her knees quivered.
    “Does it tickle?” he murmured, lowering her hand but still holding on to it. With her senses so disordered from that fleeting kiss, it took Lilah a moment to understand what he had said. When she did, her blush deepened.
    “How did you know …?” she gasped, then broke off as she realized what she was admitting.
    His grin broadened. “You kept shooting shy little glances in the direction of my chin. At first I thought you were fascinated by my mouth, but then I decided it must be my mustache, I was right, wasn’t I? So does it tickle?”
    “I didn’t notice.” Lilah tried to hold on to her slipping composure, lowering her eyes primly and pulling at her hand again. Instead of releasing it, he caught the other one, then slid both his hands up her arms to just above her elbows. The feel of his warm, strong hands against her bare skin caused a jolt that shook her clear to her toes. Her lips parted, and her eyes flew to his.
    “So you didn’t notice?” He was leaning toward her, deviltry plain in the wicked little half-smile that played around his mouth. Not a handsbreadth separated their bodies. She was so conscious of his nearness that she could barely think. Her eyes locked helplessly with his. For the first time in her life she found herself solely in someone else’s power. She couldn’t have moved or spoken if her life had depended upon it.
    “This time, pay attention,” he murmured, and lowered his head toward hers. Lilah