They had been walking for two hours and more. Tamsyn had run ahead. The dog would charge off in a direction and then circle back to them, seemingly with endless energy. Elise even gamely moved along. She had assured him the blisters no longer bothered her. She had sacrificed her cotton stockings, using them as bindings around her feet. Apparently the extra padding helped protect the raw and tender places because she had not hobbled once.
Kit was not so graced. Granted, his ribs no longer pained him, and even the bruising around his black eye was just tender, but he was hungry. He and Elise had found some wild strawberriesand a thicket of blackberries, but that was not enough sustenance. Not for him.
He now trudged on, going in the direction he thought the road lay, hoping to reach either it or a village before he perished from hunger.
Meanwhile, Elise acted as if a handful of berries had obviously sated her. A bit ago she’d been busy collecting a bouquet out of the oxeye daisies, ragged robin, and cocksfoot. He knew the names because she babbled on about them. She’d even started wandering off in her pursuit of something “pretty” to add to it.
Her wandering around truly annoyed him. It had taken all of his willpower not to roar at her. They were on serious business. They needed to reach the posting inn—andfood.Realfood, meat and bread and ale.Goodfood. He’d give his arm for a beefsteak.
And now she was asking forhis story?
“I don’t have a story,” he answered.
“Yes, you do. You had a life before this moment.” She batted at a thistle head. Kit wanted to tell her not to do that because it would spread thistle seeds, and also because he was irritable. And sweaty. The day was warm.
“Why don’t you tell meyourstory?” he grumbled back.
“I did yesterday. You know I have sisters. I told you about my father and that I’m traveling from London to County Wicklow. But I know nothing about you.”
“Seems a dilemma,” he replied dryly. She didn’t need to know anything about him. He was No Man, a person who felt honor-bound to keep her out of trouble and nothing more—
“Are you married?”
Kit almost stepped into a rabbit’s burrow over her intrusive ask. He frowned his answer back at her.
Elise was undeterred. “It is a good question. I should know.”
Should she? For some reason, it felt like a dangerous question.
Or was it thatshefelt dangerous?
Elise didn’t appear to sweat at all. If anything, she looked like Our Lady of the Meadow. She’d undone her braid, leaving her hair to fall in large golden waves, which she’d caught up high on her head with what looked to be a swatch of the lining from his jacket she still wore. Her eyes against the field of green grasses appeared bluer than cornflowers. A sprinkling of freckles spread across her gently sun-kissed cheeks.
Her curiosity about him suggested a deeper motive. That perhaps she found him as attractive as he found her—?
What the devil was he thinking? And then he knew what was truly on his mind as his little beast stirred. That is how Kit thought of his penis. A demanding little beast that had already led him astray one time too many. However, right now, he was sober. He had control.
Kit drew a deep, steadying breath and told his impudent, strong-minded organno. There had been a time, not too long ago, when he would have acted upon his desires. He wouldn’t have forced himself upon her, but he would have been in hot pursuit.
“I’m not married,” he said in a curt tone, answering her question. He started tromping through the grass toward the line of trees ahead. “And the other thing you should know is that I am not that good a man. You shouldn’t trust me, or any of us.”
There, he’d given her fair warning.
“It is too late. I already trust you,” she answered, walking up behind him.
“You shouldn’t.” If she knew some of the things he’d done...
“But I do.”
He ignored her. This was not an argument he could win. What was it with women that you state a fact, and they answer that you are wrong?
They had almost reached the trees. Almost to shade.
Elise said, “I’ll tell you what I do know about you.”
Kit could have groaned his frustration. He didn’t. What would be the use?
“I know that you are well-educated,” she said confidently.
