She startled. “I—” She blinked in quick succession, shaking her head. “I do notdislikeyou. Not at all.”
“Good to know. Your turn.”
She still shook her head as she rose to her feet. She paced toward the edge of the wood at the far end of their field, then paced back. When he could see her face again, it appeared determined. “You,” she said, “like to vex people.”
He grinned and opened his arms wide. “Guilty. However did you know?”
“Because you vexme. Greatly, sometimes.”
“But we barely know one another, my lady.”
“I don’t think it takes long to be vexed by you.”
He patted the space beside him on the stone once more, making his invitation clear. “Tell me, what do you find most annoying about me?”
“You tell me, Mr. Blake. It is your turn to reveal one of my secrets, after all.” She sat primly beside him on the stone.
He suppressed the smile victory tugged across his lips. “You have me there. Let’s see.” He rubbed his chin, as if deep in thought. “You dislike my appearance. Oh, no. I remember, you said you find yourselfattractedto me.” He slid a cocky grin her way.
“Many women must. I’m not ashamed.” She shrugged. “I’ve been taught to admire beauty.”
“So, it’s an objective appreciation of pleasing aesthetics?”
“Precisely.”
“I don’t believe you. That’s another of your secrets.”
She gasped and shot off the rock and away from him.
“Come back,” he laughed and hopped up to stand on top of the rock. At the elevated height, he extended his arms and wailed, “Come back!” Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “If you can trust yourself around me.”
She marched back toward him, pointing a finger that shook ever so slightly in her rage. “That,that, is what vexes me about you.”
“That I’m correct?”
“That you’re so arrogant! You take it as a matter of course that the world exists to amuse you.”
He’d pushed her too far. He’d meant to play a game, learn a bit about her, but he’d hit a soft spot. To let it go or poke it further was the question. He’d never been good at letting things go. “Doesn’t it?”
“No!” She stood right under him, skirts brushing against the rock, head tilted up. Her eyes glowed and her skin flushed. Her full lips curved into a sensuous pout and locks of chestnut brown hair escaped the artful arrangement atop her head. Maggie in a full-out rage was quite the most erotic thing Tobias had ever seen—her pink cheeks, her trembling lips, her dark, tumbling curls. But also, the passion pouring from her, the energy igniting her spirit. She was almost damned irresistible.
He held out a hand to her and when, surprisingly, she took it, he hoisted her onto the rock to stand beside him. But he could not stop there. Even right next to him she felt too far away. He wrapped his arms around her and clutched her to him, laughing.
She struggled against the binds of his embrace.
He whispered in her ear, “What else shall I say to vex you? Do you think I can accomplish it more quickly than that?”
She stilled, looked up at him, and this time when she pushed away, he let her go. To hold her had been folly, anyway. She was not ready for that.
“You tease me.” She put space between them.
He bowed low. “You’ve figured me out, my lady.”
She bit her bottom lip and shook her head slowly. “Here’s a secret. I enjoyed your embrace just now.”
“Even when you struggled like a little bird trying to escape its cage?”
She nodded. “It felt like a game, didn’t it?” She sighed. “I wish you had at least one serious bone in your body.”
