She saw the flash of white teeth.
“I know, and very pretty they are too. I particularly like the lace.”
“You can’t watch.”
Zach folded his arms and didn’t move.
She had two options. Sit there until he left or climb. She’d be frozen to this branch if she chose the first option. Zach was as stubborn as she. She knew he would likely stand there for as long as he felt he needed to. Getting to her feet, she started to climb.
“I’ve lost ten years off my life tonight,” he muttered.
“Oh, for pity’s sake,” Mary hissed, looking down at him between branches. “I am not your concern.”
“I think we’ve just established you are.”
“What? No, that was momentary madness.”
“Climb the tree, Mary, and I will stay here to catch you if you fall,” he said. “But you will promise me never to take this risk again.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Oh, you will,” he stated softly.
She did not want to feel the little thrill at him watching over her. No one in her family really did that. Her father, but only sometimes as he was most often not around. But no one cared what she got up to.
She shimmied along the branch, then stepped off and onto the ledge. She reached the window and climbed through.
Leaning out, she looked down. He was still there and watching her. She closed the window and then pressed her forehead to it.
What was she to do now? More importantly, what wouldhedo now?
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Zach had thought long and hard what to do about Mary as he lay in his bed this morning, and he’d come to only one definite conclusion. He had to immediately tell his brothers everything… not everything, he wasn’t mentioning the kisses and her straddling his lap, because that was not their business, but the rest they should know.
And now he was hard as stone and confused. Just the thought of her lovely body settled on his thighs had his eyes crossing.
He needed to talk to her today, as soon as he could get her alone, which of course would not be easy, especially as she would have no wish to speak to him.
Mary, the woman who had been his nemesis since he’d first met her. Their relationship at best could be termed uncomfortable. But now he wanted her. In a very short space of time, everything between them had changed, no matter how much she denied otherwise.
But what did that mean for him? Them?
There was also the matter of Plunge. Zach needed to talk to him also. All of them likely did.
He still could not grasp the fact the man was likely not the raving imbecile Zach and the rest of society thought him to be.
Rising, he called for his horse. A ride would clear his head before talking with his family. After he’d dressed, he headed downstairs.
“Are you wishing for breakfast before you leave, sir?”
“Not today, Stubbins. Hard as it is to grasp, I have very little appetite this morning,” Zach told his butler. “I shall return and devour food after a good ride.”
“I will ensure there is plenty waiting for you.”
“Stubbins, is there a Mrs. Stubbins?” Zach felt this was something he needed to know. But then how could the man possibly have a family when he was here all the time and lived here also.
“My wife passed away five years ago, sir.”
