“After you swept the table clean last night?” he reminded her.
For the first moment since he’d met her, she appeared somewhat contrite. “That wasn’t my wisest move, was it?”
“Not the best,” he agreed easily.
“I lost my temper.”
“Isn’t there a limerick about a lass and a temper?” he wondered.
“Not one that should be repeated, I’m sure.”
“Fortunately,” he confessed, “I learned long ago to not keep one’s winnings on the table. Not unless you wish to start bad feelings. I’d been slipping some into my pocket from the first hand I won.”
Her face lit up. “You are the most clever, wise, remarkable person I have ever met, Kit Cox,” Elise announced, her praise raining on him like the most blessed of benedictions. “I am famished.”
And he liked the feeling of not only pleasing her but surprising her. “Come, let’s see if we can find a good meal.”
From the public house, they purchased three cold pork pies and tankards of foamy ale. They ate them outside on a stretch of grass in the afternoon sun. Tamsyn sat between them, and they broke half a pie into pieces that she thoroughly enjoyed.
Two neighbor women wearing aprons over their dresses and the wide-brimmed hats of the gardener were gossiping across the stone fence between their cottages. One held an arm full of roses, which the other admired. While Elise had a moment to herself, Kit approached them, a coin in hand.
By the time she rejoined him, he was holdingone of those wide-brimmed straw hats with a low crown. It was a shabby thing that had probably seen many hours in its former owner’s garden, but Elise acted as if the hat had come from a London milliner. She smoothed her hair back and put it on her head, giving it a rakish tilt.
“What do you think?” she asked, looking up at him from under the brim.
What did he think? That she was beautiful. Perfect, actually. Her smile alone could hold him spellbound. He’d also never known a woman who could be so pleased with a secondhand hat.
That was her gift, wasn’t it? Her obvious enjoyment of life.
“It suits you,” he said.
She took off the hat, picked at a piece of the weaving that was coming undone, and then said, “My sisters and I searched for hats like this. We’d buy them for a pence and then we’d spend hours refashioning them with whatever we could find.” Her gaze swung up to his. “Thank you, Kit. I feel a proper gentlewoman. Everyone needs a hat.” She set it on her head.
As a duke, back in London where he enjoyed servants and all the best of life, he could afford to buy her a thousand hats. But this hat was special because she took so much pleasure in it—and it had been purchased with moneyhe’dearned.
As they left the village, they waved at the village women who’d been watching him give Elise the gift. They waved back. Then Kit offered Elisehis hand and they were back on their way to Moorcock.
***
Kit had surprised her with the gift.
Elise didn’t know why this made her so happy, but it did.
She wasn’t a fool. She knew when a man was attracted to her. Kit was showing all the signs—the touching, the thoughtfulness, the hat.
He had to know they were of two very different classes. She was landed gentry. She was expected to marry well.
And what of him? She knew little of his story, but she saw how worn the heels of his boots were.
Still... he was like no other man she’d ever met. Quick-witted, protective, and not only open to her opinions, but he also understood her sense of humor. She’d never considered that an important quality before. However, now, listening to him laugh when she said something outrageous or clever made her feel appreciated. After all, looks would fade—but a man who acted as a counterbalance to her?
That man was to be valued.
The single country lane was a well-traveled one and soon ran into a better, wider road. Kit claimed he now had his bearings. He explainedthat Moorcock was close to Stoke-on-Trent. He asked questions of fellow travelers and learned there was a posting inn several miles up the road. “The stage will take us the better part of the way,” he told her.
Tamsyn had stopped bothering them with a stick. Instead, she trudged alongside them.
“We must take Tamsyn,” Elise insisted.
