“Shrewish?” she shrieked (rather shrewishly, to her own horror). Several people riding past glanced her way, and she ducked her head beneath her riding hat.
Derrick clicked his tongue, and his stallion quickened his pace. She had to urge her horse to keep up with his.
“Is there a masculine word forshrewish? Because I would love to callyouthat,” she fired back.
“I’m afraid there isn’t one,” Derrick said with a laugh as he rounded the corner and dodged carefully around a pair of coaches coming down the street. Arianna raced after him.
“Well, that’s unfair,” she said as they halted to let a pair of racing curricles shoot past them. The young men whipped their reins on the necks of their horses and hollered insults at each other as they rode at a dangerous pace.
“Fools. They’ll break their bloody necks,” Derrick growled.
Arianna noted his unamused manner at the recklessness of the other men. It hadn’t been that long ago when he and Lucas had been careless and wild. She remembered all too well being abandoned by them whenever they went on masculine adventures forbidden to her gender.
“I distinctly recall you and Lucas racing curricles one summer.”
“We weretwenty. Men do reckless things at that age. I am much older and wiser now.” He did look older, but in a way that had removed his boyish innocence. He looked far more masculine and more intense and intimidating than ever.
“So old and wise at twenty-eight.” She couldn’t resist teasing him. “Yes, you’re practically ancient. I imagine they’ll build monuments and temples in your honor in another few years.”
“You’re lucky we aren’t alone,” he said. His eyes glowed much like Solomon’s had, but his intense gaze didn’t create a blossoming fear in her; rather, it stirred something else to life. Something just as dark and primal, but more empowering than frightening.
“Why? So you can put me over your knee like some unruly child?” she challenged.
“There are other things a man can do to a woman when he wants her to stop talking, things you might actually enjoy.” His warning was so charged with heat that she sucked in a breath. Was he alluding to a kiss? The thought of his lips over hers, silencing her by kissing her, made heat race along her skin.
“Come along,” he said as the road cleared.
They trotted down the lane of respectable townhouses. When they finally reached hers, she was ready to dismount on her own, but he was already there, sliding her down between him and her horse. Her breath froze in her lungs as she gazed up at him. She had forgotten how tall he was, even compared to her. The top of her head only came up to his chin.
“Safely and soundly delivered,” he said softly, still holding her in his arms.
Arianna wanted to rage, to scream, to yell at him and tell him about every conflicting emotion she’d endured over the last two years while he’d been gone from her life. But instead her lips parted and she found herself gazing at his mouth. Those full lips and chiseled face that had captivated her all those years ago. How was it that a man could look more attractive as he aged? It wasn’t fair. She wanted him to be less muscled and far less charming, a man she could be certain would not break her heart again. But alas, Derrick Seabright was still a gloriously perfect specimen of man.
“You had better not look at me that way,” he whispered, his dark lashes fanning as he half closed his eyes.
“In what way?” she whispered back.
“In the way that says you need a proper and thorough kissing.” The words left his lips in a soft warning growl that sent delicious shivers down her skin.
She let out a soft little sound, and his arms on her waist tightened their hold ever so slightly. “And if Iwanteda proper and thorough kissing?” she mused aloud, unable to get the sudden breathless image ofhimkissing her in the shadows of Scandal Lane out of her head.
Derrick moved closer. “Arianna...”
“Arianna! What do you think you are doing with that man?” Arianna’s mother cried out as she opened the front door of the townhouse hard enough for it to crash open.
Arianna groaned, and Derrick immediately released her to step away.
“Good heavens! Is that you, Derrick Seabright? I thought she was about to kiss some dreadful stranger and cause a great scandal. But thank goodness it’s you. You simply must come in for tea.” Martha rushed down the steps in a flurry of colorful skirts and gave Derrick a motherly smile. A footman rushed to take charge of their horses.
“Mrs. Asgil. It’s lovely to see you, but I’m afraid I can’t—”
“Of course you can, my dear. You won’t say no to dinner, either. Look at you, skin and bones. Let my cook feed you.” Martha clucked and plucked at Derrick’s muscled arm as she fussed over him.
Arianna did her best to rescue him from her well-meaning mother. “Mama, he’s dining at his club this evening.”
“Club? Nonsense. Whatever they cook at your club must be dreadful. No, I insist you stay for dinner.”
“But, Mama, Lucas is—”
