Oh, his unreformed self was reveling in the light, wasn’t he?
The rake that needed to be desired by every woman whose eyes happened across him.
She gave a little, feminine laugh. “Because you’re a sort.”
“A sort?”
He knew what sort, but he wanted to hear her say it.
Another laugh along with a shake of her head. “Oh, you’re definitely a sort, Lord Rhys.”
He found himself laughing along with her, improbably. “And what sort is that?”
“The love-’em-’til-morning-and-leave-’em sort.”
“And who doesn’t like to be loved until morning?” He held her gaze. “I suspect you, Miss Birdwell, are very much that sort.”
Like that, she froze, and her laughter fell away—as if he’d doused the conversation with a bucket of ice water. “Well, Lord Rhys, you don’t really know the first thing about me.”
She stood, awkwardly, indicating both tea and their conversation were at an end.
As they made their way out of Mivart’s, him hauling her boxes of toys and her holding onto her silence, he understood something.
He wanted to know more about her—and he would.
That desire had already become determination as he deposited her and her packages into a waiting hackney cab, paid the driver, and watched it roll away.
Already, he missed this woman he’d only known for a handful of hours.
This woman who was buoyant light personified.
But he would see her again.
That was the main thing.
She wasn’t out of his life.
She’d even given him an idea for his first noble deed.
“Not many men, noble or otherwise, can be Lord Percival Bretagne.”
She’d told him not to lose any sleep over the fact.
He felt like he’d been dealt the backhand of an insult, for the implication was clear: he wasn’t a man who could be like Lord Percival Bretagne.
A man Miss Birdwell clearly admired.
And if Rhys was the opposite of Lord Percival, then another implication was clear, too.
He wasn’t the sort of man Miss Birdwell could admire.
He liked that even less.
Though hardly any time had passed since she’d spoken those words to him, he already felt haunted by them and that implication.
He was going to lose sleep over it.
But the day wasn’t all bad.
