Why did she have the feeling that she hadn't won that at all.
"Since we've settled on the terms, I think after supper this evening would be appropriate, even though there will be several people about." There, she thought, enough people to thwart any other thoughts he might have.
"My grandmother will be there as well several others and my fiancé."
"Most appropriate," Zach commented. Then, without warning, he bent over her and caressed her cheek.
"You promised!" Elyse put more distance between them.
"I promised that after our bargain was met I wouldn't go near you again. I said nothing about now."
"You arrogant, rude impostor!" Elyse almost cried out as her arm was drawn up so sharply she feared it would snap.
"One impostor to another? Playing games dressed again?" he reminded her with a look at her riding costume.
"I saw you without the eye-patch," she reminded him. "You weren't wearing it that night..." Her voice broke off.
"How can you be certain? He replied. "It was dark after the storm. We didn't bother with lighting any candles."
She vividly remembered as something tightened deep inside her. She refused to look at him now.
Zach smiled. "I say you're wrong. But perhaps you should visit me again in my bedchamber. Perhaps tonight, just to make certain."
He was staying over?
Abruptly freeing one wrist, Elyse drew back her hand and would have struck him for the suggestion. But he blocked it, his fingers closing around her wrist. They slowly loosened as he stared at her, then focused on her mouth.
Surely not! she thought. Not here, and yet drawn by that his gaze behind the mask, she felt herself drawn to him, wanting to strip that eye-patch away, and...
They both heard the sharp tread of boots crossing the stone entry hall. She was slower to recover, and he steadied her with his hand on her arm, then politely stepped away from her.
"Here you are," Jerrold announced as he entered the great room. He turned to St. James." And I see you've arrived as well."
Zach inclined his head in greeting, the smile on his lips thinning.
Jerrold looked from him to Elyse.
"The house is quite magnificent, don't you think. It's a pity that I haven't been able to be here more often, but that will change after we're married," he said pointedly with a look at her.
"After supper this evening, you must take the grand tour of the house. It has been in our family for almost six hundred years. Though the house is only about two hundred years old." Jerrold's gaze fastened on St. James.
"Of course, you must be able to trace your family lineage back almost that far," he said to his guest. He gave Elyse a concerned look as she was suddenly seized by a fit of coughing.
"Surely you don't intend to spend the remainder of our stay closed away in your room, my dear," he suggested. "It would be a shame."
At that moment, Elyse would have joyfully retreated to her room. But that wouldn't be acceptable for Jerrold.
"Not at all," she replied. "I've quite well recovered."
"Obviously recovered sufficiently to take a ride?" He gestured to her unusual choice of clothes and riding boots with a frown.
"I thought I might join you. But here you are," she added, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.
Jerrold slipped an arm through hers. "Dinner will be at eight," he informed St. James.
"It's to be a costume affair. We're all to dress as a famous person out of history," Jerrold explained as he led the way from the great room.
Elyse turned to him. "I've nothing to wear for a costume party."
