She only wished he’d not dissemble aboutloving her eyes. Because surely, he was dissembling. Nobody, except for perhaps Louella, had everlovedher eyes.
Her parents had bemoaned the left one on more occasions than she cared to remember.
“He wants to marry you? Good God. Is Smith delusional? Your father told him to bugger off, of course?” Lord Kingsley stiffened behind her, and the horse jerked to the side in response. “Sorry, old girl.” He reached around her to pat the mare’s neck. When he did so, his scent had her remembering those moments they’d danced together in the gazebo. Spicy, dark. Not clean, like soap, but warm…
“My father gave him his blessing.”
The earl stiffened again. Not so abruptly this time as to distract the mount beneath them.
Olivia did not think Luke Smith was delusional. Likely, he knew her prospects as well as she did. “Who else would be willing to marry a spinster, of five and twenty, with… such as myself?” The minute the words flew out of her mouth, she wished she could summon them back. They sounded so… self-pitying.
“Someone of your own ilk, I imagine.” He spoke through clenched teeth.
“You sound angry,” she pointed out. “Remember, my life is no concern of yours.”
“Unless, of course, you present me with an afront such as this. You are not considering accepting him, are you? Four children? Good God, Miss Redfield, you’ll work yourself to death before you reach the age of forty.”
“I had thought of that,” she conceded. “But there are other things to consider.”
“Convince me it’s a good idea and perhaps you’ll convince yourself. I don’t mean to slight Smith, but… I simply don’t see it. Unless,” he slid her a sideways glance, “you’re madly in love with him. Or perhaps in the family way?”
Again, with his teasing. She ducked her head to hide a smile from him. How utterly absurd! “I am not. And as to the second, I most definitely am not.” They rode in silence, each contemplating their own thoughts for a few hundred feet. “Louella told me you’d been traveling a great deal. Do you ever get lonely?”
“Is that why you would marry a man so far beneath you? You are lonely?”
“Can you not simply answer my question?” Were all earls this infuriating?
He shrugged, and in doing so, rubbed his arms along her. “When I find myself in want of company, I have no trouble finding it.”
“Not like that.” How could she explain? “Somebody who is a foundation to your person. Keeps you from feeling as though the ground can be swept out from beneath you.”
“I have a mother, a sister, and two younger brothers. Is that what you mean?”
Louella’s trusting smile came to mind. Yes, that was precisely what she meant. “I suppose I’m feeling melancholy with my sister marrying.” The admission made the reality of the future all too real.
“But you’ve a mother and a father. And you’re not completely obnoxious. You must have a few friends who live nearby.”
“Ever the flatterer, Lord Kingsley. And I’ll have you know that I have more than a few friends.” There was Eliza, and the vicar, Mrs. Markham… and… others in town.
She and Lord Kingsley had been riding along for several minutes now, and he’d turned onto her father’s property, Thistle Park. “You may set me down here. I don’t want anyone to see—“
“See you riding with a disreputable rake such as myself?” Well, she hadn’t considered that at all. “Allow me to take you to your father’s door. I don’t like the idea of you walking in the twilight all alone.”
Anyone who might see her riding along atop a horse with thegreatly exaltedEarl of Kingsley would laugh at her audacity. And nearly as much as she hated being pitied, she hated being laughed at.
Perhaps the reason Lord Kingsley got away with his teasing was that he laughedwithher, rather thanather. Even when he’d called her that horrible nickname, he’d had a twinkle in his eyes, almost as though he considered it an endearment.
Foolishness!
The incorrigible man!
Everything was a joke to him. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made his arrogance tolerable.
“I no longer live in my father’s home.” She pointed down the small trail leading to the dower house. “I live alone but for my maid.” When he hesitated, she added, “It’s not far. I’m perfectly safe.”
He stared at her curiously but then relented and assisted her off the side of the horse. When her feet landed on the dirt, her legs shook for no reason at all. And she felt oddly bereft without his solid person beside her.
“Thank you, again, My Lord. For both the ride and the apology.” Despite an absurd reluctance to part company with him, she turned toward her house.
