“You make excuses for him, Laura.”
She shrugged. “He’s my only sibling. We are a small family, with just us and Aunt Gertrude.” She popped the grape into her mouth, drawing his attention to her lips. He fought a powerful urge to lean over and kiss her to taste the grape on those sweet lips. “Now it’s your turn, my lord,” she said, distracting him from his thoughts. “I should like to hear about your childhood.”
The question unsettled him. He feared his voice would betray him. It was still difficult to talk about his past without giving in to melancholy, and he didn’t want to be sad today. Laura deserved better than that. “Not much to tell, really. No brothers or sisters. I went to boarding school at ten, then Oxford.”
Her blue eyes looked grave. “And after that?”
“I toured the Continent, Italy, Greece, and on to Constantinople. My tutor and I were in France when Bonaparte escaped from Elba, and we had to come home.” He had wanted to join up and fight for his country, but his health had prevented it.
“And then you returned to Beechley Park?”
He swallowed as he watched a flock of birds in a tree making a great fuss about something. “Yes.”
Laura waited for more and when he didn’t offer it, she turned to look at the sea, and thankfully, asked no more questions.
He rose and offered her his hand. “Shall we take that walk?”
She reached up to take it, and he helped her to her feet.
They walked over the grassy verge, saying little.
With a peal of laughter, Laura pointed. “Look at Penny!”
Brendan swung around. The maid had removed her stockings and, holding up her skirts, waded in the water. He laughed. “Good thing she won’t be a lady’s maid for long. I don’t know if a proper mistress could handle the scandal.”
As the meaning behind his words became clear, he swung around to meet Laura’s eyes. She shrugged. “I think Penny makes a perfect lady’s maid. I envy her the freedom to do as she likes.”
Falling silent, they walked on while Brendan tried to remember when he’d laughed so heartily before.
Silences with Laura were comfortable and companionable. He glanced around to discover the carriage and his servants were out of sight. No one was about. He took Laura’s hand and drew her in among the trees, which hid them from the row of shops and houses over the road.
Easing her back against the smooth bark of a birch, he looked into her eyes. “I will miss you. This time spent together has been special for me. Has it been for you?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her gold-tipped lashes hiding her expression from him.
What would he find in her eyes? Regret? Sadness? Had she come to care for him? Did any of it matter? With a sharp breath, he bent his head to hers and kissed her.
Laura grasped his shoulders to stay upright on the uneven ground as he angled his mouth over hers. He nibbled her full bottom lip, drawing a sigh from her. His hands slid down her back and over the curve of her hip and pulled her against him, as need, unfulfilled, made him hard.
He drew away, searching for that elusive control which threatened to desert him, and with a deep breath, smiled. “Shall we play cards or a game of chess after dinner?”
“Chess,” she said. “Papa and I played regularly. I can give you a good game.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Your competitive spirit coming to the fore?”
She laughed, acknowledging she’d accused him of precisely that when they’d played billiards. As the memory of last night hovered between them, Laura’s eyes grew sad. She reached up and stroked lightly over his cheek.
He could bear anything except to see her sad. Brendan caught her hand and kissed her fingers. He was about to say more when a voice hailed them. He sighed. “My servants think we have become lost. We’d best go back.”
As Brendan and Laura walked toward the coach, Penny appeared from behind it, wearing her shoes and stockings again, a huge grin on her face.At least one person got what they most wanted today, Brendan thought.
In the midafternoon, the coach deposited them back at Beechley Park.
“I still expect Robert today,” Laura said before she left Brendan to go upstairs to change her gown.
Netterfield! It brought Brendan back down to Earth. He went to his library, his place of solace. But today, the somber room offered him nothing, apart from the loud ticking of the clock on the mantel. A damnable quiet which left him alone with unwelcome thoughts. He sat in a leather armchair, and Hunter, sensing his low mood, came to lick his hand. As he patted his dog’s silky head, his thoughts remained on Laura. Her warm gaze as she leaned back against the tree. How he wanted to make her his. Tomorrow, she would be gone.
Laura was correct to assume her brother would arrive today. For an hour later, through the library window, Brendan saw a coach with the baron’s crest on the door drive past. He braced his shoulders and left the room to greet Netterfield.
