That was not precisely the welcome he had been hoping for, either.
“It is familiar of me, I realize,” he said, feeling his chest constrict and his heart begin pounding.
Damnation, all he needed was for his affliction to hit him now.
“It is very familiar,” she said, stuffing the book she had been reading beneath her rump.
Curious, that.The action was so odd, in fact, that it distracted him enough to rein in his madly galloping emotions.
“Are you sitting on your book?” he asked, genuinely perplexed.
The color in her cheeks heightened.
“No.”
He cocked his head. “I saw you stow it beneath your bottom just now, Christabella.”
She huffed a little sigh, looking somehow extra lovely in her pique. “What I have done with my book matters not when you are going about, invading my chamber in the midst of the day. What if someone were to see you?”
“No one saw me.” At least, he did not think anyone saw him.
Wisely, he kept that thought to himself.
“We are fortunate indeed that Lady Adele has promised not to tell anyone what she witnessed earlier,” Christabella said. “Now, here you are again, tempting fate.”
He was tempting everything, and most especially himself, with his presence here. Still, he did not go.
“I came to inquire after your ankle,” he told her, belatedly offering her a bow.
He was not certain of the proper etiquette for visiting an unwed lady in her chamber. But at the very least, genuflection was in order.
“It is well enough, thank you,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically prim.
“Good.” He nodded, knowing he should leave before anyone found him within her chamber.
Instead, he moved closer, drawn to her as ever.
“Gill,” she protested. “What are you doing?”
“Sitting alongside you,” he answered as he settled at her side.
The warm scent of summer blossoms greeted him.
Divine.
“You should not be here.” Her voice was soft, almost hushed.
“I know.” He felt stiff and out of place. Part of him wondered why he had sought her out at all. For it was foolish and reckless, as she had so rightly pointed out.
And he had never been foolish.
Nor reckless.
At least, he had not been until he had crossed paths with Miss Christabella Winter.
“However, I am glad you are here.”
Her confession startled him, but not nearly as much as her next action did. She took his hand in hers and laced their fingers together, so that their palms touched. Rather like a kiss. And his heart seemed to clench in his chest.
