" He kissed her bottom lip, stroked it with his tongue. “You are so beautiful. When is the last time someone told you that?”
“Hmm, I believe a gentleman on a London street may have suggested something of the sort,” she said, with faux sweetness. He loved her sauciness. “In deed if not word.”
“He should have said it out loud,” Cross murmured. “In front of everyone. He should have shouted it from the street corner, to all who would listen. Cherry Lambe is a beautiful, beautiful woman.”
“Yes, I’m sure that would have gone over well,” she whispered. “I can see the headline now. Duke draws attention to himself over infatuation with female journalist gone rogue.”
“Infatuation?” he said, delighted. “Is that what you would describe this as?”
He could almost hear her blushing in the shadowy room.
“Well, I did not mean to presume…” She sounded wonderfully embarrassed.
He lowered his lips to her ear. “It is all right, Mrs. Lambe. I assure you. It’s true. I am infatuated with you. Consumed, in fact.”
Lovesick. Besotted. He could go on, but decided it would be unwise. "

― Fenna Edgewood , The Duke Report