His gaze on her back?
Without the benefit of a habit’s full skirt and a proper train, she must look affright. Her shift was generous, but notsogenerous to satisfactorily cover her ankles.
If hewasstudying her from behind, she was certain to come up wanting.
Not that she expected a man of Hurtheven’s experience to be overcome by the sight of a woman’s ankle. Especially after what he’d seen last night. The thought wastooabsurd.
Unwittingly, she laughed.
“A delightful sound,” Hurtheven said. “You should laugh more often.”
“Mrs. Montrose laughs a great deal,” Fee confided. “When she first came, she hardly smiled at all. I like her much better, now.”
Too much to hope he’d missed the implication...
“Doyoulike Mrs. Montrose?” Fee asked.
Hera’s breath caught.
“Fee—don’t be a meddler!” Delmare exclaimed.
“I don’t see why you should scold, Del.Yousaid Uncle Heven showed Mrs. Montrose a decided partiality.”
“It’s not polite to repeat a private conversation,” Hera said, cheeks burning.
Whatmustthe groom be thinking?
“Why shouldn’t I be partial to someone who takes such good care of my favorite godchildren?”
“Favorite?” Fee asked.
“There’s Thaddeus, too, of course,” the duke replied.
“He’s not a child,” Fee replied. “That means we’re the favorite.”
“He isn’t a child any longer,” the duke responded. “Is he?”
She was grateful he’d changed the course of the conversation, and suspected he’d done so to save her from further mortification. But, when they arrived in a clearing, and the groom assisted her to dismount, she could not, in good conscience, meet his gaze.
She’d difficulty correctly identifying her emotion.
She was tired. Flustered. Confused.
Whyhe’d taken to teasing her was obvious enough from the look in his eyes. After days of fraught denial, he’d finally satiated his need, and now he was quite pleased with his prowess.
Men. There was a little boy in every one of them.
Then again—she watched Fee spread out her skirt and twirl amid the daises, face lifted to the skies—she wasn’t much different.
Fee laughed as she caught her breath, looking very much like Hera felt when she had Hurtheven’s attention. But they had both better take care. Even Karl had never given a reason for speculation to rise in his children or his household staff.
“There!” Fee pointed over Hera’s shoulder.
She turned around and her breath caught in her throat; the sight was so lovely.
From this aspect, the view that had been hidden behind a copse of trees, revealed itself in full splendor. The hills were layered with mists that lent an almost ethereal nature to the whole scene.
She’d thought she was partial to the sea, or at least to mighty rivers, but this—this had its own majesty.
