He stopped in the middle of the room and shook his head.
Good God, he sounded mad.
Moving over to the desk, he sat down and dipped the pen in ink. It hovered over the paper on the desk until it started to drip. With a sigh, he set it back down, unused. The likelihood was highly slim that Miss Newton was the famed author of the Rake Review. He realized this was just a desperate attempt to keep his hands to himself.
He leaned his head back against the chair and wondered how he might use his time before the steward arrived. He hadn’t been lying about that, at least. His father had written to him with the news that he would be expected. His sire had decided that his failing health didn’t allow for the hunting box anymore. Elwood had been so busy at his townhouse and carousing in London, that this place was starting to become a forgotten relic of his past. He’d had some good memories here, but perhaps his father was right and it was time for it to be passed on to the next owner. It was nice to know the vineyard was still profitable, so that it might benefit the next owner and gain them a bit more blunt for the efforts. Hopefully, he would be able to find a way to procure a bottle of wine from time to time.
When he heard the sound of Miss Newton’s even step approaching, he tensed, waiting to see if she might knock, but she continued to pass by. He was equally disappointed and relieved that she hadn’t attempted to talk—or further bedevil him.
He walked over to the window when he saw a flash of white from her dress as she passed by. She didn’t wear any sort of outerwear, and he realized he hadn’t offered anything to her. He should have felt very ungentlemanly indeed, if it wasn’t for the fact the weather was still very mild for this time of year. Autumn had always had its particular delights—the foliage offering brilliant colors before the leaves fell from the trees.
Nevertheless, he didn’t wish for her to catch a chill, and while his thoughts were elsewhere at the moment, he couldn’t stopfrom rising from his chair and grabbing his greatcoat on the way out the front door.
Meliah was restless.She didn’t have any other word for it. She wanted to blame her current state on the earl, but she knew it wasn’t entirely his fault. She should be stronger than to allow her inner sentiments to bother her this deeply. One moment she was yearning for Lord Belmont’s touch, and the next she was so frustrated with him that she was at sixes and sevens.
She rubbed her arms and realized that once her emotions had cooled off to a dull simmer, she was starting to feel the brisk wind blowing through the trees. Until now it had been relatively warm, but a glance upward at the waning afternoon sky revealed gray clouds were starting to thicken and roll in. She thought it might rain soon and she shivered. It would mean she could be trapped inside with the earl. How very dreadful that would be, she told herself, and yet, she lacked the proper conviction of that statement.
She stopped to look out over the even rows of grapevines on the upper hill. She thought of the juicy, delicious fruit she’d consumed and decided she’d never enjoyed something quite so much before. It was a wonderful treat that she would likely never get to partake of again.
Her throat burned with the rise of regret within her. She had to succeed with this writing endeavor so that she might procure her own delights now and again. It would be satisfying to know she had only to depend upon herself to gain such luxuries.
Meliah startled when her arms were enveloped with a warm cloak. She turned her head to see Lord Belmont smiling at her. He moved around to face her and said, “I regret that I didn’tpurchase a pelisse for you this afternoon when I was in the village. I fear you will have to make use of my greatcoat until I can make another trip.”
She didn’t want to enjoy the warmth of the garment surrounding her, but she pulled it a bit closer and inhaled softly of the masculine, woodsy scent she had come to recognize as his. “That was kind of you, my lord. And please, don’t trouble yourself any further on my account. It’s not as if you were planning for me to join you in your self-imposed exile. I shall never be able to pay you back as it is.”
“I ask for nothing in return,” he said softly.
She wanted to believe that, but she wasn’t entirely convinced. “Don’t you?”
He frowned slightly as he placed his hands on her shoulders. “What I give you is not charity, nor is it a bribe for some licentious purpose. I am not setting you up as a temporary paramour. You are a guest and as such, I have never denied anyone’s comfort whether it be food, hospitality, or a few garments. Trust me when I say I have paid much more for fancy baubles to impress a female companion.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I shall have to remember that for the article.”
His arms dropped back to his sides. “That I use my wealth in exchange for sexual gratification?”
She appeared to have hurt him and she regretted it. “No. That you are generous when the occasion merits it.”
He regarded her steadily and then offered a crooked smile that made her breath catch. “I appreciate that you are choosing to consider those gifts as more than what they actually were.”
He started to walk forward and she fell into step beside him. “I daresay I have wondered something with each article that appears.” She paused. “Does it bother you to imagine people think the worst of you?”
He glanced at her, and with his ebony hair tousled on his head, and those piercing blue eyes lit on her, she was nearly overset by his handsome appearance. “It bothers me when certain people think the worst of me.” He stopped walking and added quietly, “I don’t wish your opinion of me to be soured, although I can’t readily express why I might care.”
CHAPTER 8
It was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that Elwood had dared to offer another personal truth about himself. A truly honest one that he never thought he would tell anyone. If he started to make a habit of this, he might be crying on her shoulder about the milk he’d spilled when he was a child and the result of his error in doing so. He could have cursed his wayward tongue. That particular organ was supposed to be wayward in other matters entirely, but lately, he found it devoted to speech that he didn’t particularly want to impart.
“Perhaps you care because you know that I am not the usual sort you are used to cavorting with.”
“That is certainly true,” he muttered, although the teasing glint in his gaze belied the heaviness of his words.
A gust of wind had her dress fluttering about her legs and he was offered a teasing glimpse at her ankles. Immediately, his cock jerked in his trousers and he tried to ignore the temptation that she unwittingly offered. As she held his gaze with those adoring green eyes, he realized how grateful he was that they weren’t blue. That was the quintessential shade of most of thedebutantes and while her disposition was decidedly different, he decided that her other characteristics should be as well.
He moved closer to her, unable to resist the urge to do so. She had woven some sort of spell around him and he was powerless to refuse her, although he told himself that he should. She was starting to mean more to him than a night of pleasure. “Meliah…”
“Yes?” Her voice was a breathless whisper and it proved that she was feeling the same intensity of this moment that he was.
“Would you find error in my actions if I kissed you?”
