“I see you’ve not outgrown your tendency to trip.”
Heat flooded her face even though Crisp was not wrong. Vanessa could trip on air if she wasn’t mindful, and she’d never been a graceful dancer. At least being a wallflower afforded her a place to remain each evening, thus fewer chances of stumbling.
Vanessa pushed against his chest, the enjoyment of being held by him gone, nor was he getting an apology from her. Not if he was going to tease her so.
Turning, she sniffed and left the carriage house and waited for him to join her.
When she was where Crisp could not see, Vanessa smiled at a past memory of how they had met. She’d tripped stepping out of a carriage before a shop on Bond Street. Crisp happened to be walking by and literally caught her. Why the footman hadn’t prevented her descent onto the pavement was beyond her, but without Crisp, she would have had a nasty fall, just as she may have today.
When Crisp did not follow her out of the carriage house, Vanessa returned inside. “Whatever are you doing?”
“We searched the coach, so I decided to search the carriage as well.”
She should have thought to do so as well, but in all honesty, every thought had left her when she’d fallen onto Crisp. Unfortunately, he had been unaffected, unlike her. “Did you find anything?” Vanessa prayed that he hadn’t because then she’d not win the wager and she hadn’t even asked him for what she wanted. After falling into his arms, she wanted to win even more.
“Nothing of importance,” he answered, much to her relief.
Five
Crispcouldstillfeelthe heat of Vanessa pressed against him as if she’d branded him. Her soft, full breasts pushed against him, as had her stomach and thighs. She was softer and a bit more rounded than she’d been at seventeen, and if he wasn’t mistaken, her breasts were even larger. What desire he’d had thought was buried, was no longer dormant, but there was little he could do but simply enjoy her company for the time they were together.
His catching her had been automatic, but he intentionally kept himself in check when all he wanted to do was feel her arms about him as he kissed her deeply.
He'd thought Vanessa had been a temptation at seventeen. That was a childish infatuation compared to the stirrings he fought within himself and the very reason he had not placed his lips against hers. He knew that he wouldn’t have wanted to stop with just kissing, not when she fit perfectly against him.
Instead, he drew on a memory and teased her and was rewarded with the reaction he had hoped.
After they reached the orangery, they searched every flowerpot, bush, and tree, but there was no ruby. With a sigh, Vanessa settled into a chair, tapping the card they’d retrieved from the pineapples as she glanced about.
“It’s likely the ruby is somewhere in the manor,” she decided.
“With the maids seeing to the cleaning and upkeep, wouldn’t it have been discovered already?” Crisp countered.
“Not if it fell between cushions as the handkerchief and glove did in the traveling coach.”
Vanessa was probably correct, but if they were going to go about searching the furniture for a ruby brooch, they’d need to do so when no one else was around.
This was all rather frustrating, and it was only the second day of searching. “I am usually given more clues when I’m asked to find something. The ability to ask questions always leads to more sources until I can follow the trail of an item and recover it. Lady Osbourne hasn’t even given me a place to begin other than her large estate.”
“We,” Vanessa said. “You saidmewhen it iswewho are searching.”
“I thought we had a wager of who would find it first?” Crisp tilted his head and studied her. “You have yet to say what you wish to win, though I’m certain I will find it before you.”
Color flooded her cheeks and Crisp wasn’t certain if she was angry or embarrassed. He was only teasing. This was a friendly wager and even if he lost, not that he expected to, he was having a most pleasant time spending these past few days with Vanessa. In fact, he enjoyed them far too much.
The desire and longing may have been rekindled but Crisp wasn’t certain if it was wise to continue. Their lives were so different and there was the chance that these renewed emotions could be nothing more than the familiarity of a long-ago friend.
“Have you decided what you wish to win?” he asked.
The smile fell as she grew serious, almost pensive. What could she possibly want from him?
“You kissed me once. Long ago,” Vanessa said.
Crisp’s heart warmed. “I remember.” It was his last night in London. He was boarding a ship the next day for Greece. The one and only time that he’d had the nerve to kiss Vanessa.
“It was sweet.”
“We were young,” Crisp reminded her. It had been one of the tamest kisses he’d ever shared with a woman. He’d been so smitten, and she’d been so sweet, and they had been young.
