“Ah, well, that is not something a gentleman wishes to mention when he is courting a beautiful, talented woman,” he replied, chuckling softly. For reasons unknown, the sound of that laughter annoyed Leah. Was the thought of courting her,trulycourting her, really so amusing?
“But we arenotcourting,” she said stiffly.
He paused, frowning down at her. “No, but for us to be believed, I suppose we must behave as if it is real.” He tilted his head to one side, making her squirm beneath the heat of his gaze.
“What are you looking at?” she grumbled, meeting his gaze with narrowed eyes.
He smiled. “You. I am trying to figure out how you became a spinster. It is unfathomable to me that a gentleman—nay, a thousand gentlemen have not sought your hand in marriage.” A funny laugh escaped his throat, partway between a choke and a hiccup. “You are remarkable, Leah. So, I cannot understand it.”
“You should be able to if you think hard enough.” Leah brought her knees up to her chest, resting her chin in the dip between the peaks.
Nathaniel scoffed. “Because that wretched weasel jilted you? No, that is not reason enough. If any gentleman has been granted the honor of an evening in your company, they would surely follow it with a marriage proposal, regardless of what happened between you and Jonathan.”
“No gentlemanhasbeen granted my company until you,” Leah replied cautiously, uncertain of how much to reveal. “Itisbecause I was jilted, but not in the way you might think. After that day, I vowed never to trust a man again in any capacity, and the easiest way to ensure that vow is to avoid them all together.”
“You do not trust me?”
She shrugged. “Not too much. That is why we have a contract.”
“If I had suffered as you have, I suppose I would feel the same,” Nathaniel said, but he did not sound sure. “Apologies, Leah. I do not mean to spin in circles with you, but are you quite certain you did not love Jonathan? Why would you close yourself to the possibility of meeting a better gentleman if he did not have some sort of hold upon you?”
Anger flared in her chest, her cold hands clenching. “There was no love, and I shall not tell you again. I trusted that cretin with my reputation, and he destroyed it. Imagine what he would have done with my heart had I been foolish enough to give it?”
He nodded sagely, but that doubt still lingered in his expression. The longer it stayed there, the more irritated Leah became, for it was like trying to insist to a constable that she had not committed a crime while being hauled away in manacles, her pleas ignored entirely. He did not believe her, and deep down, she did not believe herself which only made it more infuriating.
“You heard the lady,” a voice drifted out from the dark, startling Leah. “He has always been stubborn, Lady Leah.”
Nathaniel jumped to his feet. “Colin, is that you? What have I told you about hiding in the gardens at night? You almost scared Leah to death!”
“Scared you, you mean,” the voice replied, laughing. “Frankly, I am just glad you were not kissing in secret. That would have made our first meeting rather awkward.”
Heat flooded Leah’s cheeks, even as the cold wind nipped at them.Kissing?The notion should have made her frown or laugh, yet it swirled in her mind like a dream, offering a glimpse of impossible possibilities.
Nathaniel grimaced. “Colin, come out here at once.”
“As you wish.” A figure blended out of the shadows up to the left of the pavilion where tall privet hedges cut the garden in half. A basket dangled from his arm, and there appeared to be a bird upon his shoulder.
Leah stood up, smoothing down her skirts. “You are the brother I have been hearing so much about?”
“Nothing damning, I hope.” The skinny, impish boy smiled. He had the same dark hair as his brother, but his blue eyes were lighter, like sea ice. And though he would one day be handsome, he still had the awkwardness of youth in his features—something to grow into. “He is always telling me I should engage in more gentlemanly pursuits, but I prefer to be in the gardens or out on the moors or wandering through the forests.”
Nathaniel groaned. “No, I am always telling you to at least wander with a friend, for it is not good to be alone so often.”
“I am not alone.” Colin put a fingertip to the thin legs of the bird on his shoulder, the creature hopping onto his finger. “This is Robin.”
Leah smiled. “But he is not a robin.”
“No, he is a sparrow.” The boy chuckled. “He finds it amusing, and so do I. My brother does not.”
The sparrow trilled and fluttered back to Colin’s shoulder.
“I do not think you should carry a bird around,” Nathaniel grumbled. “That is all. I find many of your exploits amusing, but when that creature swoops in out of nowhere and steals a corner of my toast, I am less entertained.”
Leah approached the boy and his bird. “I think Robin is beautiful. May I?”
“If he will allow it,” Colin said, turning his shoulder toward Leah.
Hesitantly, she lifted her finger, realizing how desperately she wished to be chosen by the sparrow. The creature seemed to understand, and with a ruffle of his feathers, he hopped onto Leah’s finger. From there, he walked up her arm until he found her shoulder where he settled comfortably into the puff of her capped sleeve.
