He held up a staying hand. “Thepicarois not wrong in this instance, I have no doubt. I am afraid I am woefully ignorant in such delicate matters. Forgive me, Miss Olivia, my lady.”
His wife’s lips pursed, and he could tell she was doing her damnedest to squelch a smile. “You are forgiven, my lord.”
“Ah, but am I forgiven, or am Iforgiven?” he could not resist asking her, gratified when her color instantly deepened and she averted her gaze.
She knew precisely what lay behind the hidden meaning in his words.
“Haven’t you seen the way she makes eyes at you, Lord Rayne?” Olivia asked.
“Olivia,” Catriona chastised, pinning her charge with a severe frown.
He found himself grinning. A lightness he had not felt in as long as he could remember settled over him. Perhaps it was brought about by the sun’s rays. Perhaps it was the warmth of the day. Or the prospect of surprising his wife and thepicarowith the endeavor he had planned. Perhaps it was just the way he felt when he was in Catriona’s presence. Near enough to touch her. To kiss her.
Dios, he missed those lips.
The way she tasted.
The way she kissed him back.
But he could not afford to linger upon any of that, for he had a plan to put into motion. Still, he could not resist taunting his wife, who had been doing her best to keep him at a distance these last few days, making him want her all the more.
“How does she make eyes at me?” he asked.
“Rayne,” Catriona snapped.
“Wife,” he countered, still grinning at her. “You have something you wish to impart? Some gem of wisdom, perhaps?”
She tilted her head and raised a brow at him. “I do not make eyes at you.” And then she cast a glance toward thepicaro. “I do notmake eyesat him, Olivia.”
He winked at the imp. “She does.”
The imp grinned back, revealing a gap between her two front teeth. “Aye, she does.”
It occurred to him this was the first time he had seen the child smile. And this, too, filled him with a curious happiness.
“Why are you here, my lord?” his wife asked acidly.
“Marchmont is my country seat,” he told her seriously. “I am in residence.”
She blinked, looking distinctly unimpressed at his attempt at sarcasm.
Well, it had been a long time, and he was out of practice. He could not recall having been so inclined to joke. Levity had been lost upon him for many years. Indeed, this odd sensation swirling within him now was something he had not felt since…
Not since Maria.
The reminder of his past, juxtaposed with the false brilliance of the day, was enough to sober him. To force his mind back to his original plan.
“What I meant,” probed Catriona pointedly, “is what are you doing in the gardens, Lord Rayne? I have not seen you out here often.”
She had all but implied his absence in the gardens was her reason to linger there. Beyond his reach. Out of his presence.
“I have a surprise for you and Miss Olivia,” he told her, all the more pleased with himself for his idea.
Why had he not thought of it sooner?
“A surprise.” His lady wife did not appear impressed.
Thepicaro, however, was a different story. She began bouncing, quite literally, on the overgrown path. “I love surprises! What is it, my lord? What is it?”
