“Shh,” she hissed. “You’re scaring the poor dears.”
“Shh,” he hissed. “You’ll give us away.”
She darted to her feet. “Hell.”
“Precisely.” He swept hay from his buckskins. “Now you see.”
Now she saw. Whatever it was they were doing in the hay, he could not do it, did not have time for it.
She brushed the hay from her skirts in frantic motions, but when he stepped near, she stopped moving all together, stopped breathing, too. So near. Their chests nearly touching, his gem-like gaze roaming over her face as he lifted a hand and pulled a bit of hay from her hair. He stepped away and rubbed his fingers together, sending the hay fluttering to the floor.
Yes. Now she saw. She saw she did not want him to step away. She saw she’d come here not for the country or for Christmas but for family. Forhim. Her friend who made her smile and feel less hollow, her friend who felt like the closest of family, like the person who kept her safe and warm and happy. Every day. Every night.
Where was her coveted independence now? The thing she held closest in the world?
She wanted to holdhimcloser. Because he held her tight when she needed it, unsteady on blades sliding across ice, and let her go when the time was right so she could glide alone on her own two legs. Because he kept his distance yet held her steady, punched men not to claim her but to help her claim the life she wanted, a life alone.
Did she want that?
Maybe not so much. Maybe not anymore.
Curse it.
Of course, she’d fallen for the only bachelor in England who didn’t want her in return. And how exactly had it happened? Somewhere between cake and fake insults and pretending they belonged to each other, she’d realized she actually did belong to him.
Hell indeed.
ChapterSix
“The marital act is a waste of time. Learn how to please yourself.”—The Masculine Inconvenience: Memoirs of a Superior Lady
Josiah had been a heated breath away from letting his hand wander lower on Georgie’s delectable body, find the hem of her gown, and rake it up the length of her legs. Without thinking about it, he’d meant to find the very core of her and explore its wonders. Before that, the shapely length of her legs in her impractical silk stockings and the curve of her hip. And after that, he would have brought her to the peak of pleasure with his fingers. He would have felt her writhe, and heard her scream, hopefully his name. And then… and then what?
Thank God they’d been interrupted.
He strode out of the stall.Please stay put, Georgie. Stay the hellhidden.
He strode right past the wide-eyed Miss Darlington and toward the stable doors. “Looking for me?”
“Ah, Mr. Evans. Where is Lady Georgiana?”
“I’ve not a clue. She left immediately. She despises dirt and fur and such.”
“Ah. Of course.” Her smile brightened. “I am delighted to have metyouhere, though. It was truly you I was looking for, after all.”
He leaned against a post and crossed his arms over his chest, his legs at the ankles. “I feel I must be direct with you once again, Miss Darlington. I am not in the market for a wife.” There. Let her take that how she would.
She kept her grin, gave a little shake of her curls. “And what of Lady Georgiana?”
“What of her?”
“If you’ll allowmeto be direct, Mr. Evans. There are rumors about the two of you, but no one in your family, including your eldest brother, will confirm the truth of them. And don’t all bachelors say they hate the idea of a wife? Until they have one.” Her grin widened. So many teeth! “And so, Mr. Evans, until the banns are read proclaiming some other woman to be that wife, I say there is hope.”
He straightened and took a step toward her.
And the bang of a stall door hitting the wall made him jump.
Georgiana stood elegant and icy calm, her gaze riveted on Miss Darlington. Then it swung to him. She marched down the aisle and stopped directly beside him, while a smile like a pleased cat curved her lips. She walked two fingers up his arm and over the slope of his shoulder before sliding her warm palm behind his neck, pulling him down and kissing him soundly on the lips.
