“We never established rules. I am impressed.”
“Was the way I saidacquiescewhat gave me away?” she asked.
“It was. And your accent, there is something forced about it.”
“That is a disappointment. I thought it was quite natural.”
“I have one for you. If Lady Grayson is always matchmaking, why is she not trying to matchyou?”
I earned a half-hearted chuckle. “Oh, she has tried. Though, I suspect she has washed her hands of me.”
“Why is that?” I had missed the slight stiffening with my last question, but now she turned statue-like beside me—her smile nowhere to be found.
“Are you trying to determine what, precisely, is wrong with me?”
I bit back a curse. How had I managed to butcher this? “No! Of course not. I was, rather clumsily, trying to determine your marital status.”
“I see…” She drew the word out, long and slow. “What were you intending to do with that information? Once you had gathered it?”
“Probably find a different manner in which to bungle this.”
She huffed a single chuckle. “I have no present attachments you need be concerned with.”
That was very precise language.
“Do you, sir? That is, do you have any attachments at present?”
Sallow, impossibly pale skin, charcoal hair, and sunken eyes, the clearest of blue, flitted through my mind. It was strange. I had thought of her more this evening than I had in months. My instinct was a decisive yes, but… Was it ever really an attachment? And if it was… it had been seven years.
“The question was not meant to be a trick,” she added.
“No, I have no attachments.”
“Are you certain? The answer required a great deal of consideration.”
“I have never been wed,” I assured her.
Her eyes narrowed behind the mask, studying me, testing the truth of my statement. Perhaps she parsed my own overly exacting language. She returned to her perch against the railing, this time leaning her back against it, risking the delicate fabric of her gown.
“I see. No attachments for either of us. I ask again, what did you intend to do with that information once gleaned?” Her bare hand settled against the railing. Her littlest finger an inch, maybe less, from my own. My skin hummed with interest at her proximity.
“I don’t… I hadn’t considered that far.” Jade eyes bored into the side of my head. The flush was sliding down my neck now. She straightened abruptly.
How had I ruined it this time?
“You’re shy!”
“What? No!” I protested.
“No, you are. That is delightful.” Even though it was at my expense, her grin was infectious. “You were all right at first, when you were peeved with me. And when we were playing our game. But now that you’ve established that I’m flirting with you...”
“Are you?” I asked before I could think better of it.
“Am I what?”
“Flirting with me?”
“You cannot tell? I am losing my touch. I suppose I should make it more obvious then.” Her hand slid atop mine. Soft, gentle fingers slotted between my own, pressing us both into the rail below.
