She should scramble to the opposite seat or call out to Prudie,anything! Yet deep down she didn’t want to twist away from him no matter how much she knew she should. His closeness mesmerized her. Her heart raced faster with every second she anticipated his lips touching hers.
Except he didn’t kiss her, his mouth so close that his warm breath caressed her lips…andthen unexpectedly, curved into a rueful smile.
“You’re right, of course, it’s none of my business.”
He released her chin and leaned back against the seat, heaving a silent sigh that made his chest rise and fall. She could but stare at him, as stunned by his abrupt change in manner as from what he’d said to her only moments ago.
“How could it be otherwise?” he continued, almost as if speakingto himself. “I’m a doctor with my very first practice and only what I earn to my name, while you’re a parson’s daughter with two duchesses for sisters. Two. Every door in London will open for you. All the eligible gentlemen will flock to dance with you—”
“Perhaps they will, and perhaps not,” Linette broke in softly, finding her voice at last. “My sister Marguerite hated her first Season. Theladies of thetonwere so cruel to her because she was a parson’s daughter, and the gentlemen who asked her to dance the worst sort of fortune hunter. She only returned for a second Season because that time she had the family surrounding her at Almack’s…Donovan and Corie, and his brother, Nigel, the Duke of Arundale—God rest him, he passed away only a few weeks ago from a riding accident. Nigel’swife, Charlotte, was in attendance that night as well, and Corie’s dearest friend, Lindsay, the Countess of Dovercourt, and her husband, Jared. None of them for a moment would have allowed anyone dare to be unkind to Marguerite…and of course the man of her dreams was there, too.”
“The man of her dreams?”
His voice very low, Adam looked closely at Linette again, which made her face burn withfamiliar warmth.
Oh, dear, first she’d lost her tongue and now she was chattering on so ridiculously! Yet he clearly awaited an answer, and she found herself nodding at him.
“Walker Burke…Jared’s closest friend, and now the Duke of Summerlin. Years ago Corie and Lindsay made a pact that they would not marry anyone less than the man of their dreams—and Lindsay urged all of us to do the same.They’re both happily wed, and so is Marguerite. It’s only by the strangest of happenstance that my two sisters have become duchesses, truly!”
Linette fell silent as Adam seemed to absorb everything she’d said, and her quick glance out the window told her they were near to the manor house from the lights flickering through the trees. Again, Adam’s chest rose and fell as if weighing what he mightsay next, and then he once more met her gaze.
“Do you think you’ll meet the man of your dreams in London?”
His voice now held a harsh tinge that surprised her, though she didn’t see any such dark emotion on his face.
“I don’t know, but it’s what I’ve imagined for so long. All the arrangements are made. I won’t have everyone surrounding me like Marguerite, as they all have young children nowand are so busy. I’ll be chaperoned by Lindsay’s aunt Winifred, the Dowager Baroness Penney, and I’ve already an invitation to Almack’s. My sisters and I only have a modest fortune left to us from our mother, but perhaps because of Corie and Marguerite’s position in society—”
“Ifanyman wants you for a reason other than love, whether your fortune or your family’s social standing, then he’s theworst sort of scoundrel,” Adam cut her off vehemently, taking both of her hands in his.
Linette winced, he held them so tightly, but he drew her closer until her face was only inches from his own.
“Beware, Miss Linette Easton. The one you perceive to be the man of your dreams may become your worst nightmare. So it happened to my mother. So it could happen to you.”
He released her then so abruptlythat Linette could only gape at him, stunned tears misting her eyes, but she had no chance to say a word as the carriage rumbled to a halt. Adam at once retook his seat opposite her and just in time, too, as Prudie snorted awake and looked dazedly around her.
“Are we at the house, Miss?”
Linette nodded, her blurred gaze following Adam as he didn’t spare another glance at her, but thrust openthe nearest door.
This time he didn’t wait gallantly for her to rise or to offer his assistance. Instead, he jumped to the ground and was gone into the darkness. She imagined to fetch Samson from the stables, their journey today too long for his horse to trot all the way behind the carriage.
“Forgive me, Miss Easton, did I sleep very long?”
Linette shook her head, trying desperately not tocry as she brushed past Prudie and took the footman’s outstretched hand to help her down from the carriage. Thankfully only another footman awaited at the front door, Donovan and Corie no doubt putting their children to bed, one of their favorite family rituals.
That only made fresh tears burn Linette’s eyes.
Ducking her head, she rushed into the house and up the stairs. She didn’t stop untilthe door to her room was shut firmly behind her and she collapsed against it, covering her mouth with her gloved hand to muffle her sobs.
***
“Dammit, man, why couldn’t you give her a moment to answer?”
Furious with himself, Adam stuffed the pillow under his head in a vain attempt to become comfortable, the night ahead promising to be a sleepless one. And not because of the lumpy bedhe slept upon or that the slack pillows needed more goose down!
He could not forget the look in Linette’s eyes when he’d thrown caution to the wind and told her that she had bewitched him. She’d been utterly surprised, yes, but there had been something more.
A flicker of longing. Her breath caught, her softly rounded chin trembling when he’d come so close to kissing her.
