“Civilized people!” she scoffed. “Those refined ninnies in the ballrooms do this kind of thing in the back gardens of every venue during the Season. I stumbled upon more than one tryst while escaping the stuffy rooms and simply trying to get a little air.”
He laughed again. “I’m sure that made you extremely unpopular. Imagine how we’d feel if a snoopy Miss So-and-So barged in upon us at this moment.”
“Snoopy! I never barge,” she declared. “And we are doing far less than what I saw others doing, believe me. Sometimes girls were lying back on a bench or even bent forward over a stone wall with their skirts over their heads, and the men were—”
“I get the idea,” he said, sounding displeased. “You were probably outside too much for your chaperone’s liking.”
“At least I was alone,” she said, then felt her cheeks heat up. She sounded like a prudish innocent.
“Mostly alone,” she added, hoping she sounded more worldly.
As if he hadn’t heard her, he said, “I respect you too much to continue down the path we’re on, no matter how pleasurable.”
With Grayson struggling to get up while she sat on him, Eleanor had no choice but to climb off or be dumped unceremoniously onto the ground. It was impossible not to be annoyed as all the wonderful sensations ceased, and she was left with only longing and frustration.
He took her hand as they rose to their feet.
“We are a sorry sight,” he said.
She didn’t care. He had rejected her, and easily, it seemed. For him, it had beenmerelypleasurable. For her, it had felt earthshattering, and she’d been prepared to give him all of her.
Now, he was worried about appearances, and she wanted to scream.
Withdrawing her hand from his, she decided she could be as calm as he was, and she set about to smoothing her skirts. First, she pulled them from the waistband and let them fall around her feet again. Then she reached behind her and shook her cloak, all without looking at him.
He respected her, did he?She would rather he’d been so overcome with desire…and love…he couldn’t help himself from making her his woman in that most intimate way.
“Your hair,” he began, but she stopped him with a look.
“I will tuck it up under my hat. Where is my hat?”
They both spied where it had fallen, and retrieving it before she could, he held it out to her. She snatched it without a word of thanks, which wasn’t like her.
“And then I will put my cloak hood over the entire mess,” she added testily, “until I get back safely in my room.”
He still stared at her, absently wiping his large hands down his pants and over his jacket to remove any stray clumps of dirt.
“I hope you realize why we had to stop. I fear you are too young to understand what nearly occurred.”
She had been looking out into the pouring rain when he spoke those loathsome words. She whirled around to face him.
“That is the stupidest thing you have ever said to me, Mr. O’Connor. I am leaving.”
With that, she fastened her cloak at her neck, raised the hood over her hat, and walked out into the storm.
Let him deal with the picnic basket, and let the devil take him!
Chapter Fifteen
Gray watched Eleanorstride ahead of him, radiating fury, and he didn’t attempt to catch up. He had inadvertently offended her. Some part of him still wanted to protect her from…himself.
He knew she was a woman—God, did he know!—but the part of him that recalled the innocent girl from five years earlier definitely didn’t want her first time to be on the dirty floor of a fishing lean-to.
He was absolutely certain, nonetheless, he wanted her first time to be with him. And every time after that. For the rest of their lives.
Clearly, she didn’t care he was the son of a servant. They treated each other as equals, and a marriage between them would be a satisfying union. But he didn’t want to blurt out his intention after having gone to so much trouble to set up the game.
Wondering how to make amends, he kept her in his sights on the long walk back, though she could hardly get into trouble marching hell-bent toward Angsley Hall.
