“Behave as you wish,” she said simply. “I cannot tell a grown man what to do. I only ask that you not ... ingratiate yourself with everyone.”
“You fear I am so quick with conversation and friendship?” he said dryly.
“I have put you in a terrible position, I know.” She covered her face and sighed before looking at him again. “It isn’t fair, this marriage I asked of you. You should go now, before my demands get worse. When I decide, I’ll ... send word. Surely your family misses you.”
“Go now, so you can deny that I’m your husband?” he said gently.
“I haven’t let you be my husband. I probably won’t.”
“In the eyes of the law—”
“We don’t know what the law truly says!”
“In the eyes of Society—”
“Stop!”
She put her hand over his mouth, a childish move, but it suddenly felt very adult. He caught her hand and briefly held it there, and when she felt the touch of his tongue tasting her bare palm, she gave a shudder as the sensation burned a path clear into the depths of her stomach. She caught her breath.
He let her go, and when she clasped her hand back against her chest, he leaned toward her. “Has any man made a simple kiss on your hand feel like that?”
“That wasn’t a kiss! It was—it was—” What was it? She couldn’t even describe it.
“I want to taste even more of you,” he said hoarsely, cupping her face with one hand.
Her mouth fell open as she imagined his lips on hers again, parting, and the taste of his tongue. She’d been imagining that taste ever since their first kiss. His palm was hot on her cheek, his face so close she thought he might kiss her again, right there in the open, where anyone could see.
“I won’t be a—athingyou owe my father,” she whispered.
“Though I never saw it coming, what’s between us is so much more than that—can’t you tell?”
“No, I can’t!” She broke away. “Now stand up so I can fold the blanket. I must get back.”
He remained silent on the walk back to the house, and she kept in front of him, not wanting to look at his face, to remember the burning intensity he’d shown her.
Talbot met them in the entrance hall. “Lady Blackthorne, Lord Doddridge has arrived and is already in your study.”
Relief swept over her like cool water over a burn. “Thank you, Talbot, I will go to him.” She glanced over her shoulder at Lord Blackthorne, not meeting his eyes. “Have a good morning, my lord.”
He bowed, the picnic basket in one hand, the cane in the other, studying her with too knowing a gaze. She hurried off to meet with Lord Doddridge, feeling herself again, calm and in control in her study, not like that windswept girl on a hill who didn’t know what she wanted.
Chapter 13
Michael watched her flee, noticed that even Talbot almost arched a brow at the last twitch of her skirts.
“May I take the basket from you, my lord?” Talbot asked smoothly.
“I’ll accompany you to the servants’ wing,” Michael said, handing over the basket.
If that made Talbot curious, he would never reveal it. Together, they walked through the older section of the castle, into the servants’ wing that had been built in the eighteenth century for more modern times. They passed a wine storage room, beer cellar, and the plate scullery.
“What can you tell me about Lord Doddridge?” Michael asked.
Talbot answered promptly. “He has been a gracious guardian to Lord Appertan.”
“But a recent one, according to my wife.”
“I do believe that is so, my lord.”
