She glanced over at him. “What an admission. I should have you write my biography since you are capable of such poetry.Arabella Comerford brought her lovers back to life.”
“A fine opening for a wicked memoir. And I’m sure the sentiment is true and not just for me.” He shifted a little in his seat. “You seem the kind of woman who would shock any man to life. Even the ones who would claim not to wish it.”
She seemed to ponder those words at a deeper than surface level, though her expression betrayed nothing of her thoughts on the matter.
“I suppose I’m known for my wild,” she said after a pause. She glanced at him apologetically. “My sisters and I used to call it that. My wild.”
“Your wild,” he repeated, letting the word roll on his tongue. It suited her. “I assume you mean your personality. That brightness to you.”
She dropped her head with a soft chuckle. “And after one night he thinks he can spot it. And perhaps you can at that. I think it is also my tendency to laugh too loud and long, to do what I please without thinking of what is proper.”
“To me, that only sounds like a woman who knows how to live well. I admire it.”
“Thank you. I’ve always thought so too, but most men wouldn’t agree. My father didn’t, a very long time ago. And later, many of my lovers tended to want to squeeze every drop of it out of me. To tame it so that I would be more appropriate and palatable even though I was the woman they took to their beds.”
They had slowed now and he moved his horse off the path and turned him to face her head on. “That’s ridiculous. What fools. That…you called it your wild, yes?”
She nodded and was watching him through a hooded, speculative gaze that made him think he should choose his next words very carefully. He considered doing that, but in the end, he simply said what he meant.
“Yourwildis obviously what draws people to you. That very spark you describe is a candlelight glow that brings people in. To think someone would have the honor of capturing that light even just for a moment and then only work to snuff if out is enraging, honestly.”
He wasn’t sure if he meant that purely on her behalf or if he was taking in some of that upset for his own, as well. After all, he contained a great measure ofwild. It had been his defining characteristic for most of his life and he, too, had experienced many a person try to break it out of him. Occasionally violently.
“You certainly know the right words to say, Silas,” she said softly. “And perhaps you mean them. I suppose it doesn’t matter since we’ve determined that whatever we share will be fleeting, won’t it?”
He hesitated. Hehadsaid that the night before, as they lay tangled after the first time they made love. He knew it was the correct offer, he felt no more equipped to be her long-term lover than he had in those heated, powerful moments. And yet when she repeated the sentiment back it felt bleak. Like he was losing an opportunity.
“Indeed,” he said. “And perhaps that limited-time exploration is a perfect place to be wicked with the wild in both of us.”
“Oh,” she said her face lighting up. “That sounds like a challenge is about to be laid forward. What do you have in mind?”
He looked around. Those in the crowd were still watching, whispering, perhaps even more so now that Arabella had joined him. He supposed she brought her own kind of attention, after all. Together they might make the heads of some of the stuffiest gentry outright explode. What fun that would be.
“Are you an experienced horsewoman?”
She blinked. “I have no idea if you’re asking me that as a euphemism or as a real question.”
He laughed at her dry tone. “I know the answer in the first instance, don’t I? No, I’m referring to real skill in riding an animal.”
“Well, in that case, I’d say I am. I grew up around horses and rode them from the time I was very young.”
“Excellent, then I propose a race, Miss Comerford,” he said with a tip of his hat. “Back toward the Corner Gate.”
“Themaingate?” she said with a little shock to her tone. “Silas, the park is crowded with the gentry and they’re already all watching. We’ll shock the crowd if we race there. Plus, it’s hardly safe.”
“Oh, do you wantsafe, Arabella?” he asked with a wink. “What happened to all that wild?”
Her gaze narrowed. “What will I win when I best you?”
“A wager?” he gasped out. “I hadn’t thought of it, though I have no idea how. It is the perfect place for one. Let me see...” He pondered the stakes for a moment and then laughed. “If you win, you’ll come back to my home and I will do whatever you wish.”
She arched a brow, but there was no denying the wicked interest that flashed through her gaze at that suggestion. “And if you win?”
“Then you come back to my home and I will do whatever you wish,” he repeated with a wink for her.
She threw her head back and laughed so loud and hard that anyone near them who hadn’t been watching certainly was now. He could help but stare at her, too. She was really something when she laughed like that. Untethered and glorious. “You have a wager, sir. It appears I cannot lose.”
“We’ll see about that,” he called out as he turned his horse and urged him to jump forward into a gallop.
