She fought a grin. “I'm not to be on that coach. I am to be on the next. On top.”
He did grin. “Even worse. Exposed to the sun, the wind, and the groping hands of that rather oily-looking rector over there. This way you can spend the next few days in the Chinese room at Hedgehog Haven....”
She was surprised into a laugh. “Hedgehogwhat?”
He pulled a face. “Are you making light of my grandmother's house?”
“Your grandmother? Is she the one who named it...that?”
“Good heavens, no. She called it Glenhaven.”
“I know I shall regret this. Then why Hedgehog Haven?”
His grin was piratical. “If you have to ask that question, it becomes obvious you never met my grandmother.”
And suddenly she was laughing and he was grinning and she didn't want to get on that stage. “Poor old lady. To have to put up with you for a grandson.”
His smile was oddly wistful. “She was a right dragon. I adored her.”
Felicity felt the admission twist in her chest. “I'm sorry.”
What she wanted to tell him was how much she envied him. To have had a real grandmother. When she'd been a girl...ah, but that kind of memory was pointless, wasn't it? She didn't have a grandmother. At least not one who'd ever expressed an interest in meeting her.
Suddenly, Lord Flint held out his hand.
“Come along,” he said simply. “Save me from my father's wrath.”
She shook her head, even though she had a sudden overwhelming urge to wrap her fingers around that strong, graceful hand and follow him. “I will not marry you merely to prevent a tantrum. Even from a duke.”
“If you had seen his tantrums, you would not be so cavalier.”
“Was that his mother you named Hedgehog Haven after?”
“Yes. Her legal name was Lady Louise Ellen Margaret Flintrush Bracken. Privately we called her The Terror.”
She nodded. “I imagine she cherished that.”
“She did.”
“Flintrush?’
He scowled. “Indeed.”
She couldn’t help grinning again. “Well, at least it makes a bit more sense now.”
“Another of my father’s ideas. He felt it would ensure that I got an estate outside the entail.”
She just nodded and turned back to the busy yard.
“I agree with you,” he said, sounding so blasted sincere. “It's a damnable thing. But the duke was delighted to give me an ultimatum. If I don't get to know you, I lose the house. And....”
He frowned, and suddenly Felicity was surprised to see an odd vulnerability shadow his eyes.
“…I cannot imagine living anywhere else. From the time I was ten, Gran told me that Glenhaven was my home, that I was responsible for it and its people, none other. And then proceeded to give the duke power over its future.”
Damn if Felicity didn't feel sorry for him, the third son of a duke. How had that happened? How was she to escape the net he was tightening about her?
“A little odd, surely?”
