Tommy had gone entirely limp by this point, and Jane’s arm was starting to ache. She gave her assent and gently tipped the infant into Eli’s arms without waking him.
“I think she’s downstairs.”
There was something very endearing about watching Eli settle Tommy onto his shoulder and glide toward the door, taking great care not to upset him. It wasn’t that she was mad for babies. It wasn’t that she was picturing him as a father either, or herself as a wife and mother. She couldn’t place it at first, but then she had it.
Men were so rarely tender.
Or perhaps they were, at some time she didn’t see. But in public they were often too busy being brusque or stoic or angry about something. Eli was tender now, with his hand hovering over the peach fuzz on Tommy’s bald head, utterly focused on his goal.
He glanced up at her with a sheepish smile, as if he wasn’t sure he was doing it right.
You’re doing very well,she wanted to tell him.You’re doing everything too well.
From listening to her ideas to fetching her in the rain to beating her at cards. He quietly mastered her without seeming to try. And she was losing her will to resist.
Eli disappeared from the doorframe and his slow stride took him down the hall.
If she waited here, he might come back and seize the opportunity to continue that kiss. There would be no need to stop, save the ever-present risk of discovery. He might even put his hands on her. Might press his hips against hers, as he had at Ankerwycke.
Jane sucked in a shaking breath. It frightened her, how much she wanted this.
What am I doing?
She was letting herself get swept up in the temptation of Eli’s affection again, while there was a house full of people downstairs who might walk in and discover them at any moment. Then she would be ruined, bound to Eli irrevocably, until he left her all over again. No. She couldn’t let that happen.
She was so caught up in his spell, she was forgetting thatsheshould have the upper hand here. Jane drew a long breath to steady her nerves and reached into her pocket to find the forfeit with Eli’s name on it. She had to keep her focus.
Let him come back then. He would find a very different challenge awaiting him.
Fourteen
Eli took the stairs two at a time after he’d deposited Tommy with his nursemaid, who’d plunked the child quickly into his pram and gone outdoors. There was a mass of noise and movement on the main floor, with everyone coming in from the carriages and Miss Linden calling instructions to the cook and housekeeper for the supper preparations. His parents and the Kerrs were taking tea in the parlor. No one should have reason to hunt for Jane in the study-turned-nursery.
She was still there when he returned, but the flush had left her cheeks, and she’d smoothed down the loose hairs that had been creeping free of her chignon a moment before. She looked a good deal more businesslike.
“Please shut the door behind you.”
Eli obliged, his heart kicking into a gallop. His feet carried him across the room quite without any forethought on his part—it seemed only natural to retake his place at Jane’s side—but she held up a hand to still him. A piece of paper was perched between her fingers.
“My forfeit?” This was more direct than he’d expected, but hewouldn’t complain. “I’m at your mercy then. What will you have of me?”
They would have to be quiet, with so many people in the house. But he could kiss her quietly. He could touch her quietly. The only challenge would be holding himself in check. This newfound confidence of hers was entirely to his liking.
“I want you to answer my questions with complete truthfulness. First, were you really abducted by—”
“Wait.” Eli held up a hand, as much to get his bearings as to forestall the interrogation. “You’re using your forfeit to question me? I thought you might use it for something more…”
“Something morewhat?” The edge in Jane’s voice could have cut glass cleanly, but it was making messy work of his pride.
“More…amiable,” he persisted. “Are you still fixated on my abduction? I thought we’d moved on from this.”
“I have no idea why you would leap to such a conclusion. I’ve made my doubts very clear from the start.”
“You’ve been kissing me for the past three days!”
“Not true,” Jane replied. “I only kissed you once on the journey here. Yesterday and today,youkissedme.”
“I didn’t hear you protest.”
