large log lay across the path, and before he could offer assistance, she leapt up onto the log and turned to face him. The added height put her almost at eye level with him. Her intelligent gaze was far too direct. Despite the briefness of their association, she had already managed to surprise him more often than he preferred with her open manner and unabashed inquisitiveness.
She tilted her head and there was no artifice or manipulation in the smile that curved her lovely lips. “I am curious to know what would drive you to rebel against your grandmother’s wishes and the duties of your position. What is it you are looking for?”
The air stilled around him as he considered her question.
Though his parents had died when he was barely nine years old, he could recall memories of them fairly well. Even to his innocent eyes, it had been obvious their relationship had been filled with friendship and mutual respect. He would accept no less than what he had witnessed in their example.
But he had no intention of admitting something so personal to this woman. He could not forget she was a Terribury and the last he had to evade in order to finally be free of Lady Terribury’s relentless pursuit. Though the girl before him claimed to have no desire for a husband, he would not discount the possibility that it was a well-designed ploy to lower his guard. He wouldn’t put it past Lady Terribury to implement such a scheme.
As he steeled himself against revealing anything more, she must have misinterpreted his silence and she lifted her hand to rest it gently on his shoulder. He should not have been able to feel the warmth of her touch through his coat, but he did. He shouldn’t have felt a burning through his muscles that urged him to reach out and grasp her waist in his hands, but he felt that too.
“It is all right,” she said in gentle assurance. “Many people do not know what they are looking for. You do not have to answer.”
His gut clenched and inexplicable annoyance clawed up his throat. “It was an impertinent question. I had no intention of answering it.”
Drawing his brows down in a forbidding frown, he lifted her hand from his shoulder as he stepped over the log. He ignored the pleasant sensation of holding her warm hand in his and dutifully assisted her to the ground and then released her and continued purposefully down the path.
“Some people would call it a friendly inquiry,” she argued good-naturedly as she bounced up alongside him.
He could feel her assessing gaze but refused to turn and acknowledge it. “We are not friends, Miss Terribury.”
“Right. How could I forget?” she retorted and then fell quiet as they continued through the wooded landscape. “Do you have any friends, my lord?”
He tossed her a glare of disapproval. “Another impertinent question.”
“Forgive me,” she replied, not sounding or looking the least bit contrite. In fact, his brief glimpse of her face told him she was enjoying her impertinence. “But you can imagine my skepticism,” she continued in a breezy tone, “considering how much you seem to enjoy behaving in a manner more befitting a jackass than a gentleman.”
He came to an abrupt stop. What had she just called him?
“I suppose I must consider the possibility that you are not so rude to everyone ,” she added thoughtfully as she kept walking, not realizing or not caring that he had stopped.
He glared after her, staggered by her audacity in uttering such a blatant insult. And as his intellect struggled to come to terms with the fact that he had just been likened to an ignorant beast, the more basic level of his focus was unexpectedly snared by the sight of generous hips swaying in rhythm to a carefree feminine stride. It struck him how relaxed and unassuming her movements were and how they contained a natural allure he suspected she was completely unaware of.
But he was aware. And that awareness spread rapidly to a particular area of his body he
She tilted her head and there was no artifice or manipulation in the smile that curved her lovely lips. “I am curious to know what would drive you to rebel against your grandmother’s wishes and the duties of your position. What is it you are looking for?”
The air stilled around him as he considered her question.
Though his parents had died when he was barely nine years old, he could recall memories of them fairly well. Even to his innocent eyes, it had been obvious their relationship had been filled with friendship and mutual respect. He would accept no less than what he had witnessed in their example.
But he had no intention of admitting something so personal to this woman. He could not forget she was a Terribury and the last he had to evade in order to finally be free of Lady Terribury’s relentless pursuit. Though the girl before him claimed to have no desire for a husband, he would not discount the possibility that it was a well-designed ploy to lower his guard. He wouldn’t put it past Lady Terribury to implement such a scheme.
As he steeled himself against revealing anything more, she must have misinterpreted his silence and she lifted her hand to rest it gently on his shoulder. He should not have been able to feel the warmth of her touch through his coat, but he did. He shouldn’t have felt a burning through his muscles that urged him to reach out and grasp her waist in his hands, but he felt that too.
“It is all right,” she said in gentle assurance. “Many people do not know what they are looking for. You do not have to answer.”
His gut clenched and inexplicable annoyance clawed up his throat. “It was an impertinent question. I had no intention of answering it.”
Drawing his brows down in a forbidding frown, he lifted her hand from his shoulder as he stepped over the log. He ignored the pleasant sensation of holding her warm hand in his and dutifully assisted her to the ground and then released her and continued purposefully down the path.
“Some people would call it a friendly inquiry,” she argued good-naturedly as she bounced up alongside him.
He could feel her assessing gaze but refused to turn and acknowledge it. “We are not friends, Miss Terribury.”
“Right. How could I forget?” she retorted and then fell quiet as they continued through the wooded landscape. “Do you have any friends, my lord?”
He tossed her a glare of disapproval. “Another impertinent question.”
“Forgive me,” she replied, not sounding or looking the least bit contrite. In fact, his brief glimpse of her face told him she was enjoying her impertinence. “But you can imagine my skepticism,” she continued in a breezy tone, “considering how much you seem to enjoy behaving in a manner more befitting a jackass than a gentleman.”
He came to an abrupt stop. What had she just called him?
“I suppose I must consider the possibility that you are not so rude to everyone ,” she added thoughtfully as she kept walking, not realizing or not caring that he had stopped.
He glared after her, staggered by her audacity in uttering such a blatant insult. And as his intellect struggled to come to terms with the fact that he had just been likened to an ignorant beast, the more basic level of his focus was unexpectedly snared by the sight of generous hips swaying in rhythm to a carefree feminine stride. It struck him how relaxed and unassuming her movements were and how they contained a natural allure he suspected she was completely unaware of.
But he was aware. And that awareness spread rapidly to a particular area of his body he
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