“Who said I’m a gentleman, love?”
Love.
He had taken to calling her the sobriquet, and she could not deny she enjoyed the way it sounded in his deep, decadent voice. Nor could she deny that she enjoyed the way he looked at her. As if he wanted to kiss her senseless.
She wanted it, too.
“Fair enough,” she relented. “What is your condition?”
“Tell me why you so often forego your shoes and stockings.”
He had taken note of her peculiar—and most unladylike—habit. It was one she could only indulge in when she was in the country and when Longleigh was not in residence.
“I detest having my toes trapped,” she answered, enjoying the lazy sway of the boat and the coolness of the water licking at her fingers.
“Trapped?” He laughed. “You make footwear sound as if it were a prison.”
“Footwearisa prison. For instance, look at you, still wearing your riding boots. Would you not like to pull them off, dip your toes in the water?”
“Not particularly. A barefoot duchess. I never would have guessed the like.”
“It can be our secret,” she said, sending him a wink and a smile.
He stopped rowing and eased his grip on the oars, settling into a relaxed pose. “One of many, do you suppose?”
His soft query sent a rush of longing through her. It was the first reference he had made to their unique arrangement all week, and while she had been glad for the absence of reminder, she was ready for something more than the chaste tête-à-têtes they had been engaging in.
“What other secrets would you like to keep with me, sir?”
“I can think of many, none of which are polite.”
His grin was wicked. Promising.
Her heart fluttered, and so too did another part of her, between her thighs. “Tell me. I never cared for polite conversation.”
“What you taste like.”
Oh.
She licked her lips. “Perhaps you should discover.”
“The last time I kissed you, you tasted of sherry.”
She had drunk afternoon tea with him. Suddenly, she very much wanted him to lie next to her in the boat’s hull. There was room aplenty.
“Come here.” She held out her hand to him.
His eyes darkened, his gaze fastening on her lips. “How am I meant to row us?”
“We shall float for a bit.”
Floating on the lake was a favored activity for her. Often, she rowed and then allowed herself to gently drift as she listened to the water lapping at the boat’s sides and the birds calling from the trees of the surrounding park. She sketched here or wrote her own poetry in the journal she kept.
But having Robin here with her in her little private oasis brought a new sense of enjoyment to her. She wanted to share it with him, to revel in every moment, every second of their time together. No one had ever made her feel the way he did.
And she liked it.
She likedhim.
