“A feeling in my gut.”
“You are right.” Her gaze flicked to the sky of leaves, then back at him. “Even to this day, I still enjoy reading my books in its branches.”
He glanced up. “In its branches?”
Louisa stepped up to pat a particularly sturdy branch jutting out from the tree. “It’s thick and low enough to enjoy without the fear of falling to one’s death.”
“Fair.”
“It should also provide enough shelter to talk for a moment.” She met his gaze. “You must be wondering how I could not yet have found the book.”
“I am curious, yes.”
Louisa brushed her fingers against her cheek. “I am curious about it, too. I cannot rightly explain it myself.” It was driving her rather mad, to be honest. A light breeze parted the curtain of leaves, and her eyes caught on a scene beyond the duke. She gasped and took a few steps forward to get a better view, stopping beside him. “Are theykissing?”
He turned to follow her gaze. “Who?”
She pointed between the leaves of the hanging tree, parting them slightly. “There, don’t you see them? It’s Milly and John! Dear lord, they are kissing in our garden. In broad daylight!”
He ducked his head, tilting it toward hers. His breath brushed her ear, “Ah, indeed. It is rather shocking behavior.”
Louisa’s whole body went taut.What’s more shocking is your proximity!
He wassoclose.
She took a quick step to the side. “Must you lean this close?”
A brow arched. “Didn’t you want to show me the two servants kissing?”
“That’s...” She hadn’t expected him to look so closely! “Never mind.” What was the point of trying to reclaim a respectable distance when nothing about their encounters was respectable?
A short pause before amusement laced a simple question, “Lady Louisa, are you embarrassed?”
“Are you not?” she retorted, suddenly a bit breathless. “Asking me such a question!”
Their eyes locked, and the devil danced in his. “Why be embarrassed about young lovers embracing?”
“You need an answer for that?” Lawks, why was she so riled by this man? Her heart drummed almost painfully, but she couldn’t help herself. “I am an innocent lady!”
“Would innocent ladies proclaim it so ardently?”
Louisa narrowed her gaze to slits. “What are you saying, Duke? Are you saying I’m not innocent?”
“Merely that the term can be debated.”
“Well, I have never kissed a man before. That makes me innocent, no?”
A lofty brow lifted. “And yet you know enough about kissing to recognize that it’s inappropriate for your servants—and you—to do it so publicly. Some might claim that to be innocence lost.”
“So I am not completely innocent because I am aware of what it means to be innocent or not?”
He shrugged. “It’s a debate to be debated.”
Blast the man. She was outdoors but somehow still needed air. And distance. And possibly a large stick. Hah! She would rather debate with a fence post—it was sure to prove less vexing.
*
Innocence.
