A whirlwind gusted inside her, but the world surrounding them seemed utterly still. Soundless. “Something like that, I think.”
“A perceptive woman. Do you fear yourself with me?”
Oh heavens. Right now, yes. In the garden, yes. Did he really expect her to admit it? “You toy with me to feed your own conceit. What does it matter, as long as I do not fearyou?”
“Not even a little? How insulting.” His face came very close to hers. “And how untruthful.”
He was going to kiss her again. “We should return to the coach,” she said haltingly. “We really should.”
His arm dropped. He stepped away, retreating from her and into himself. They began walking back. She fought to achieve some steadiness. “Anyway, Lady Ingram insisted on a companion for me. She is not a woman to be denied when she sets her mind to something.”
“That sounds a lot like you. No wonder Sir Cornelius thinks of you as a daughter.”
“He does?”
“He said as much while we talked.”
She had seen them retreat into a tête-à-tête. She had assumed they spoke about Sir Cornelius’s scientific work.
“He spoke of you most admirably, and expressed the opinion that it was a crime that you could not study medicine. He said you hoped to still help the sick to the extent you are able. I think he sought to influence me to help you do that.”
“Unless you can purchase a university, that is unlikely.”
They had reached the coach. Miss Ingram’s profile showed her still reading.
“Not that part. The other plans you have.” He opened the coach door and handed her in, then spoke to her through the window. “Why did you not tell me about your plans for the property?”
“That is not a plan. That is a dream, and one unlikely to come true even if I retrieve the land.”
He subjected her to a long consideration. She hoped Miss Ingram did not choose this moment to put down her book, because no one who saw that look in his eyes would doubt what he considered.
He glanced at her companion. “We will stop tonight north of Sterling and go the rest of the way tomorrow. I will see that Miss Ingram has her own chamber so she does not impose on you.”
“That is not necessary,” she hastened to say.
He had walked away before she finished the sentence.
Chapter Fifteen
“Some call me a witch.”
Miss Ingram announced this in the middle of their dinner at the inn. Her voice broke an awkward silence. Eric had been surprised and displeased to see the older woman descend the stairs beside Davina. She had not even brought her book.
Which meant that the dinner took on a formality he had not wanted. Not that heexpectedinformality. A dinner of increased intimacy might play out like a theater piece in his head, but he doubted Davina would be agreeable. He had not expected her to force her companion to join them, however.
Perhaps he frightened her in the inn’s yard. Short of controlling his impulses regarding her, which increasingly he could not do, he doubted that could be avoided. His situation confounded him. Normally with women, he did not have to be subtle or tread a path from enemy to dear friend. He started at the latter point, and the only move necessary was to bed. No subtlety needed at all.
“Maybe I am a witch. I don’t think so, but who knows?”
“I think witches, if they even existed, would know they are witches,” Davina said.
“It is because I have two cats. For some reason, people think cats mean a witch.”
“It is not common to keep cats as pets, but hardly only done by witches,” Eric said to help out the conversation. Anything to slice through the thick cloud of expectation hanging between Davina and himself. She felt it too. It was why she managed not to look at him. “Have you had them long?”
Miss Ingram pondered that, angling her head and frowning beneath her white cap’s significant lace brim. “Let me see. Lucifer has been with me for seven years and Mischief for five.”
“Let me guess,” he said. “They are black, aren’t they?”
