“It would only give you more fodder for your own entertainment.”
“I take it you didn’t appreciate the nickname I gave you.”
“Of course, I didn’t appreciate it!” she exploded. Oh, Lord, getting a rise from her was just too easy. “So, help me, Gabriel Fellowes, if you are teasing me again!”
He’d definitely drawn her ire this time. She’d even gone so far as to address him by his given name. Something even his mother never deigned to do. Rather than being irritated, he could hardly contain his laughter.
When she swung around to look at him in astonishment, he gripped both the reins and her waist tighter. Teasing her wasn’t worth getting them both thrown.
“Hush.” Perhaps he’d gone too far. If not for Stanton’s warning, he’d have quieted her with a kiss. Outraged and disgusted with him, she’ managed to present the most kissable lips…
“Don’t you hush me! I swear, I’ve had it with men today. First Luke Junior hid his brother’s only toy all afternoon, then Mr. Smith takes it into his head to speak with my father. And then my father has the gall! And now—you—this!”
He squeezed her even tighter. “If you want my honest opinion, I love your eyes. Both of them.” His voice came out a rasping whisper as he spoke the words beside her bonnet-covered ear.
This quieted her easily enough. Stunned her more likely. But the moment the words left his mouth, he realized the truth in them. In all the time he’d left, he’d not forgotten the color. Nor the energy behind them.
When she finally responded, her own voice carried a more conciliatory tone. “You don’t have to lie. But if you’d like to apologize, I’ll contemplate accepting it.”
“I did not lie. And for the record, I never lie about anything that matters.”
“But you admit that you do lie?” She turned to stare at him accusingly. Those indigo eyes of hers crackled with vitality.
“As I said, not when it matters. You have the most annoying habit, Miss Redfield, of twisting the words that come out of my mouth.”
“Well, you shouldn’t lie about my eyes.”
“Your eyes matter. And therefore, I was not lying.”
Again, he succeeded in silencing her for all of twenty seconds, finally giving him the opening he’d waited for.
“And I’m sorry about before. For the nickname. I only did it because you were so adorable.” Again, the memory clarified itself in his mind at his words. Damn, but he’d acted like a twelve-year-old with a crush. Instead of treating her with extra kindness, he’d made fun of her. “Which is no excuse. Your adorableness, that is.”
Her silence had lengthened into longer than a full minute by now.
“Some have not forgotten it,” she mumbled. She seemed as though she’d like to tuck her head against his chest, but then, instead, lifted her chin and watched the road before them. “But I accept your apology.”
If he ever came across anyone giving her grief, he’d like to pummel them something fierce. Ah, the irony, though. She suffered their insults because of him.
“Now, tell me what Mr. Smith did to anger you? Is this Luke Smith, the newly widowed fellow who works at the mine? What did he say to send you running?” Gabriel knew little of the man himself, except that he was one of his best workers and seemed good-natured enough.
Nonetheless, he’d throttle the lout if he’d hurt his little Lazy-eyed—ahem—Miss Redfield. Gabriel would throttle any man who took it upon himself to harm a helpless lady.
This helpless lady nodded, bumping her head on his chin in the process.
Moving his head to the side, Gabriel wondered that any man was safe around this urchin. “Are you going to tell me what he did to annoy you?” Surely, Smith wasn’t her beau? The man’s wife had been in the ground for less than a month.
“I am helping with the care of his children.” Gabriel let out a sigh of relief for some reason at this news. He didn’t like to think of Miss Olivia Redfield being courted by the hulking laborer. She required a man of her own class. Someone kind and gentle. Someone she could run roughshod over if she saw fit.
“Isn’t he showing the proper appreciation?”
“Oh, he appreciates me well enough.” And then, upsetting Gabriel’s imagination completely, she added, “So much so that he asked my father for my hand this afternoon.”
Chapter 5
AFriend
Olivia didn’t knowwhy she was telling him all of this. Except that he was being kind again, and she enjoyed his sense of humor.
