Gabriel swept his hand through the space separating them. “But I am not even touching you.”
“I know. But your thoughts are. And that’s how I know.”
She was not wrong but what could he say? Yes, he wished to kiss her. Yes, he wished to touch her with more than his thoughts. He swallowed hard and jumped on the first subject he could think of in order to change the direction of this conversation.
“Have you ever been treated by a physician?”
It was obvious he’d confused her this time. “For kissing?” But then she realized what he meant, and she moved her gaze from his eyes to the buttons at the top of his shirt. “Once.”
“You don’t wear spectacles. Is your sight not affected?”
At this question, she raised her arm and draped it across her forehead, effectively blocking him from reading her very expressive face. “Before William was born, the doctor gave me a patch to wear. And I did so, diligently. Unfortunately, I wore it over the wrong eye. My mother had told me to cover the bad eye when the doctor intended me to cover the good one. A year later, the same doctor came through town and informed us that I’d done it irreparable harm. I tried wearing the patch over the good one, hoping it could still make a difference, but my mother forbade me to do that.”
Garrett had heard of such treatments. Something to do with strengthening the weaker eye. And the poor thing had worn the patch on the wrong eye for an entire year in hopes of seeing improvement.
“Can you see out of your left eye?”
She closed the right and stared straight ahead for a moment with her left. “It’s blurry by itself.” She opened the other eye again. “I ignore it. I look at most things with my right.”
She scrubbed one hand down her face and turned away. He’d made her uncomfortable again.
“Do you swim?”
* * *
Olivia wasgrateful for a different topic to discuss.
Yes, she swam. Surely, he wasn’t suggesting…?
She’d swam in her chemise dozens of times, at this very watering hole, in fact. Always with Louella looking on, too afraid to step into the water. And today, she wore the very chemise she’d swam in beneath her gown.
Had she been wrong to assume he’d wanted to kiss her? Uncertainty swept through her. And embarrassment.
“Swim?” she managed.
He was laughing at her again, in that way that somehow didn’t seem insulting. “In the water.”
She was a good swimmer, an excellent swimmer, in fact. And for some reason, her skin felt as though it was burning… as was something inside of her.
That heavy warm feeling he’d caused suddenly left her feeling sticky and hot. A swim sounded rather invigorating right now.
But surely, he wasn’t suggesting they swim… together?
Just as he’d lured her with the promise of their lovely picnic, the water, the freedom that came with paddling around in a cool pond, had her considering something she really ought not…
“I swim,” she offered cautiously. Perhaps he wasn’t suggesting they swim together. Perhaps the question was simply a general one, such as, did she paint? Or did she like to sing?
But he’d sat up and was removing his cravat. He’d already removed his jacket earlier, before they’d sat down to eat.
“Don’t tell me you don’t swim with your friends, Miss Redfield?”
She had only ever swum alone, with Louella sitting on the bank, but she was not about to tell him that.
While she eyed him jealously, a drop of perspiration trickled down the back of her neck.
She twisted her mouth into a grimace. Theyhaddecided to be friends. And he had not admitted to wanting to kiss her. She may have been all wrong about that.
As she sat contemplating her decision, Gabriel Fellowes, the Earl of Kingsley, silently removed all but his breeches and then dashed across to the sandy bank and disappeared with a splash.
