“Oh!” she said, startled as she stood up. She was just about to flee when a familiar cold nose pressed into her hand. “Jaco? Oh, damned if you didn’t frighten me.”
Faith dropped to the ground without thinking about her gown and hugged the shaggy black animal around the neck.
“The charm of this garden always seems to catch me off guard,” Logan’s deep voice echoed behind her. “But hug a man’s dog and he’s liable to fall in love with you.”
Faith twirled around awkwardly from her crouched down position to find Logan leaning against the apple tree.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked, standing. “And what’s Jaco doing here?”
“He’s rarely too far from me whenever I leave Harris House, even if I explicitly instruct that he be kept indoors while I’m away.” Logan bent down as he came forward, scratching the dog between the ears. “When he was still a pup, I would fish early in the morning, leaving him in the kitchens because I believed hewas too young to follow me. But he always got loose and found me.”
“He followed you?”
“Yes. He has a hell of a nose, this one,” Logan said, tussling the dog’s head back and forth playfully before standing up.
“And what about you?” she asked. “What are you doing out here?”
“Trying to find a moment’s peace from the party,” he said, kicking an unseen stone down the water’s edge. “What are you doing out here?”
As he approached, the moonlight highlighted his silhouette, and Faith’s breath caught. He really was dashing in his kilt and evening clothes, and she vaguely remembered how she once loathed how beautifully proportioned his mouth was. He wasn’t frowning at her as he once did, though the knit in his brow made her curious.
“The same,” she said softly as he came around the bench. To her dissatisfaction, he sat next to her. “But I was not searching for any company. Particularly not yours.”
He shook his head and looked forward.
“I do not know how to redeem myself in your eyes. I did not seek outOdalisque Reclinedknowing your connection to it. If I had, well…”
“If you had, you’d have paid doubly for it, I’ve no doubt.”
“Oh yes, because your half naked body is exactly what I want hanging about my home.”
The rumble of his voice as he mentioned her body made her dizzy, but she ignored the thunderous beating of her pulse.
“If it is so grievous to you, I think you should have no want for it.”
“And what should I do with it?”
“Burn it,” she said emphatically.
The offended expression that crossed his handsome face caused Faith’s stomach to clench.
“Out of the question.”
With her temper rising, Faith stood, eager to be out of his reach.
“I don’t see why not. You don’t even like me—”
“I like you.” She made a disbelieving sound, and he stood. “I do,” he insisted, “albeit not in the usual way.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
His hand lifted to the back of his neck, and he rubbed it, trying to find the right words.
“I don’t know. You’re combative, always have been since the moment we first met.”
“Me? You’re the one who has been rude from the start.”
“Regardless of all that, it doesn’t detract from my feelings toward you.”
