“True enough,” he said and stepped inside my room.
My eyes widened. “You can’t be in here. What if someone sees you?” What they might think!
“The door is full open, and we are not standing anywhere near each other.” Damon walked to the vanity table and perched on the edge. “Besides, we grew up sleeping in the same nursery, Hannah.”
I clenched my teeth. The last time we’d shared a room, he’d cut my hair while I slept. I trusted him about as much as I trusted a highwayman. “We are not children anymore.”
“No, we are not,” he said. “May I speak candidly?”
“I would prefer it.” The sooner he got on with it, the sooner he would leave and I could resume packing.
Damon looked about to say something when a light pelting sound came from the window.
No! I hurried over and pushed back the curtain. Rain. If it continued for long, the roads would become soaked and our journey home would be delayed. I said a quick prayer that the rain would stop, and then I let the curtain fall closed and turned back to my unwanted visitor.
“Something occurred to me last night during dinner,” Damon said.
“What is that?”
Damon rubbed his jaw. “I will tell you, but first, answer me this: why did you come to Summerhaven?”
He knew exactly why I’d come. How ungentlemanly of him to ask me to voice it. “Because your mother invited me.”
“Yes, I know, but why didyouaccept her invitation?”
“I wanted to be away from the chaos of city life. London can be quite stifling.”
He gave me a knowing look. “That is not why you came. You are here because you wish to marry Ollie.”
I gasped at his audacity. He well knew that fact to be true, but to say it out loud was beyond the pale. Heat crept up my neck and settled in my cheeks. “My feelings are much changed after last night.”
“Would that were true, but alas, your feelings for my addled brother arenotchanged. It is only your pride that has been wounded.”
The heat in my cheeks became a roaring fire. “I’d thank you to leave my room now.”
“Don’t be cross. I didtryto warn you.”
Perhaps he had, though he could have tried a little more intently. “What is it you want?” I asked again.
“Your help.”
Doubtful that we could help each other do anything other than go mad, I raised an eyebrow. “How exactly do you want me to help you?”
“I want you to allowmeto court you.”
A most unladylike snort escaped my nose. If I had been sipping tea, I would have spewed it all over his cravat. “You cannot be serious.”
“I assure you, I am in earnest.”
He was mad.
“You have as much interest in courting me as you do the stable boy,” I said.
“My planisstill brilliant.”
“Except that I have about as much interest in being courted by you as I do in a horse.”
“That would make you an exception to the rule.”
