Chapter 4

She was already caught, so there was no need to pretend otherwise. Eleanor acknowledged the truth openly.

“Was my act that bad?”

She tried to sound cheeky, but she could feel beads of sweat rolling down her spine. She would need to leave the estate with as little ruckus as possible if she still hoped to collect her prize, and her standing would be greatly damaged if word were to spread that she’d forced her way into the duke’s estate and then had been kicked out.

“It wasn’t,” he replied.

Thankfully, Ryan didn’t seem like he was about to drag her out immediately.

“Are you... angry?” she said, letting some of her nervousness show.

“No.”

Why wasn’t he upset? That worried her, but what worried her even more was the continued intimacy of their position.

His amethyst eyes continued to pin her in place, and, it being difficult to stare back at him, her eyes continued to dart around the room. It was hard for her to maintain balance in this situation.

“Er...” she said carefully, “How about we maintain an appropriate distance, so we can converse?”

For an instant, it seemed as if he frowned. She tensed, fearing that she’d made a mistake, but his expression smoothed once more and he leaned away from her accordingly.

“Go ahead and speak,” he said. He relaxed against the chair, in the exact position he’d assumed when he’d first taken his seat. “What were you planning to say to me?”

At this point in the story, Ryan still had no idea of Aileen’s intentions toward him. If Eleanor were to rashly implore him to propose to Aileen, he might end up avoiding her instead and completely ruin her plans. Instead, he needed to remain unsuspecting so that he could get caught in the princess’s trap and end up spending the night with her in the same room.

“I’m sure you have a good idea,” she said, remaining deliberately vague.

Ryan’s handsome visage creased in a slight frown. “Is it about marriage?”

It seemed as if the duke had repeatedly nagged his son on the matter.

“I have no intention of marrying a woman I have no interest in,” he said, sounding rather curt.

It would make things difficult as well if he remained too obstinate. To that, Eleanor replied, “Affection grows when you live alongside and touch another person within the same household.”

Ryan’s eyebrows lifted at that statement.

“There are many women in this estate,” he said. “Yet I have no desire to propose marriage to any one of them.”

She guessed that there were at least fifty servants employed within this vast estate, but she didn’t give up, and instead seized on the point that he’d skipped over.

“But you haven’t touched any of them... Skin to skin.”

She thought it a rather trivial point of argument, but surprisingly, he looked intrigued.

“Is that how one falls for another?” he asked.

“Pardon?”

“If we lay skin to skin, is that how we’d fall for one another?”

He didn’t seem to be that sort of man, but his words had an undertone to them that made her hesitate. However, she couldn’t refute her own statement, especially when she’d said it scarcely a minute ago.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “That’s right.”

It really was the day to say whatever she wished.

“I am a soldier,” said Ryan. “I don’t believe in theories that haven’t been tested in practice.”

She knew it was ridiculous, but she knew what she should say to him next. “Then why don’t you test it out?” she suggested. “You can see whether your affection grows when you lie next to someone.”

She spoke lightly, knowing that it would soon be proven true once he got entangled with the princess. Eleanor expected him to refuse, so she added, “When it becomes possible to do so, of course.”

Ryan’s reply, once again, took her by surprise.

“I wouldn’t mind experiencing it.”

He wouldn’t mind? Was he truly meaning to lie next to a woman in order to see if he grew affectionate for her? She was astonished, knowing how aloof and indifferent he was.

However, she managed to keep her features composed and said, in a polite tone, “It’s unfortunate that there is no suitable partner around. Otherwise, you would immediately learn the truth of my advice.”

“But there is a suitable partner.”

A suitable partner? Where? He wasn’t about to summon some sort of prostitute, was he? Eleanor looked at him in confusion until it slowly dawned on her the precarious nature of her situation and his implication. There were only two people in this room—Ryan and herself...

And he was practically devouring her with his eyes. Eleanor bowed her head lower, feeling extremely nervous.

“Are you... speaking of me?” she finally asked.

“A theory is best put to practice with the theorist herself in attendance.”

She swallowed at the provocative glint in his eyes. With her florid tales of love and steamy scenes, not one person knew the truth that Eleanor had not let a single man be with her since her husband had passed, years earlier.

Even in her past life, she’d thrown all of her energy into her career and was an expert in theoretical romance. She’d never had much actual experience.

“Perhaps it’s true, but... I believe it’s better not to test it, in this instance,” she said, fervently trying not to sound as if she were cowering. “If we do... Then you... you might end up falling for me, my lord.”

Ryan laughed out loud, and Eleanor immediately felt incensed.

“What?” she snapped. “Are you saying there’s no chance of that?”

“I don’t know,” he said, still fighting a smile. “I am rather inexperienced in those matters, so there’s no telling. Truly.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that.

“And there’s no other way to check.”

Those words seemed rather suspicious to her, and she thought that the look he gave her seemed rather arrogant—it was as if he were taunting her.

He’s naive about women, building impenetrable walls to keep them out. He’ll get scared and leave the room as soon as I make one move on him. In a fight of wills, the one who backed down first was the loser, and Eleanor did not want to lose.

“I have no problem confirming my advice,” she said airily. “That is, if you’re fine with it, my lord.”

Ryan’s lips creased into a smile once again.

“I am,” he declared.

What? This was going in a strange direction—wasn’t he the untouchable man who’d never even looked a woman in the eye? Why was he being so casual with her?

Perhaps she was over-analyzing, but she felt that there was a suggestive tension flowing between the two of them. Their eyes caught and lingered, and she felt her mouth dry out, and little tingling sensations rose up all over her as she continued to stare at him. He truly was wondrous to look at, enough to tempt her to want to draw close to him, at least for a moment.

There was no one else here... Would it be such a problem if she drew close to a man this perfect, pressing some of her skin to his... just a touch? No one else would know. Her mind raced, and, realizing that there was nothing to limit them at the moment, Eleanor decided to set some safety precautions in place first.

Swish.

She loosened the scarf tied around her neck, and she instantly felt Ryan’s gaze fix on the long, slender line of her neck and collar that was now exposed.

“Please hold both hands behind your back.”

Ryan looked skeptical. “It will become troublesome if you lose your senses to my expertise, my lord, so I wish to tie your hands.”

Eleanor was taken aback once more when he demurely placed his arms behind him and turned to her so she could tie his wrists together.

Ryan turned back and looked down at her. “Do you do this often elsewhere?” he asked.

How could she possibly do such outrageous things? If it were any man but Ryan, she’d have been frowning outright from the moment he came a foot too close to her.

“No,” she said. “There aren’t many people who are this suspicious and difficult to convince.”

She’d declared him difficult and hard to convince, but Ryan laughed as if he were delighted. Having now tied his hands, she sat in front of him and leaned close. She saw him bite his lip slightly. She then saw the tips of his ears grow red, and she realized that he was just as nervous as she was. Strangely, seeing this grown man behave as shy as a young boy made him look somewhat adorable in her eyes.

Feeling a little more relaxed now, Eleanor slowly placed her hands on top of his broad shoulders, and, sliding her fingers gently along, she grabbed hold of his cravat and loosened it, pulling it away from him.

Ryan swallowed as the silk slithered against his skin, and she thought the sight of his pale Adam’s apple bobbing was terribly seductive.

“Am I not allowed to see?” he murmured as she tied the cravat around his eyes.

She’d leaned in closer to tie it around his head, and she felt his breath warm her face delicately. It was so sensual that she nearly trembled.

“It’s... my rule,” she managed to say.

Actually, she’d covered his eyes because she knew she’d feel way too nervous to do anything if he continued to stare at her with that intense, violet gaze of his. Finally done with her precautions, Eleanor sat back and, for a moment, contemplated exactly what she’d done. She’d started all this, but...

What exactly was she to do? She stared, unsure of what to do with the sight in front of her. The most beautiful man in the empire was sitting in front of her with his hands tied and eyes covered. She could see the firm lines of his neck beneath his shirt, falling open slightly in the absence of his cravat.

What now?