He watched her closely. “You mean you have done this before.”
She nodded once, having the grace to look abashed. “I am the youngest of five siblings. Two of which are brothers.Verycompetitive brothers.” She paused for emphasis. “I learned at a young age that ofttimes it was easier to let them win, than to deal with the sulking when they did not.”
He could not help but admire this. “And they have never found you out?”
Esme put her head to one side. “I love my brothers dearly, both of them, despite their faults.” She raised her eyebrows comically. “Tristan and Jonah are quick-witted and smart. They have never doubted their ability to win.”
He leaned closer, imitating her air of conspiracy. “That is a failing of sorts.”
“Indeed, it is.” She nodded seriously, before laughing once again. “But you caught me out, Adam. Clearly, you are a man without failings.”
“I would not make that claim.”
But he took another mouthful of wine, rather than allow his aggrieved mind to begin listing them.
“There is more expected of brothers than sisters.” Esme gazed into the fire, oblivious of the pretty picture she made, with her golden hair gleaming in the candlelight. “Girls do not have to be quick-witted and smart. They do not have to win. They merely have to smile obediently.”
Adam recalled the way Esme had argued her cause for remaining at Ember Hall. “You will forgive me for asking this, but is obedience truly a quality that your family hold dear?”
“To a point, aye.” Her expression grew serious. “But I know I have gotten away with a great deal in life, mainly because I am the daughter of a very wealthy man.” She met his gaze with something like defiance sparking in her blue eyes. “Perchance that is the quality most sought in a woman, even over obedience.”
He had not anticipated such philosophy from one so young and seemingly unburdened.
“Coin?” he clarified.
She nodded. “I have oft thought how much simpler my life would be without it.”
He could not answer this. Not without remembering another young woman with a radiant smile, whose family’s lack of coin had cost her dearly.
Instead, he made his voice light. “I am but a warrior, who makes his living with his sword. But I have oft thought that the offspring of wealthy men can do much as they please.”
He knew this was not entirely true. Rory Baine had once been a wealthy man, but young Callum had been twisted several ways by the dictates of familial responsibility.
Esme matched his more jovial tone, picking up her goblet and taking a long drink of wine. “The sons, mayhap.”
“But not the daughters?”
He should bring this interlude to an end, not indulge with banter that was becoming flirtatious.
“You saw yourself what an almighty fuss was made over my simple desire to remain at Ember Hall. When the continued presence of Jonah is never called to question.Heis one who can do as he pleases.”
Adam pictured the young man with a face sharpened by pain.
“Do you really think that is true?”
Esme looked away from him, fixing her gaze once again on the fire and sighing deeply. “Nay, ’tis not so simple. Jonah has troubles of his own. We all do.” She shrugged.
Adam found himself moved by this show of vulnerability. It tugged at his heartstrings and brought him even closer to danger.
“I am sorry to hear that, milady.”
Her response was swift. Immediately she moved her hand so that it covered his. “Nay, do not call me that. You have been doing so well.”
He should move his hand away, but Ye Gods, he did not want to.
Esme’s fingers were long, slender and warm. The warmth went straight to his heart. As seconds ticked by and neither of them moved, tension began to fill the air between them. Adam dared not raise his head to meet her eyes. He dared hardly breathe.
It was Esme who finally lifted her hand from his and spoke up as if naught amiss had occurred. “Tell me, Adam, what is it that you would do differently, if you could live life as you pleased?”
