Oh, no. No, no, no. I can’t say that.
She bit down hard on her tongue, and stopped herself just in time. And thank heaven for it, because what she’d been about to say…well, she couldn’t say it.
No matter how much she wanted to.
And shedidwant to.
Badly.
Even now, the words were trying to leap off her tongue.
Lachlan Ramsey, who hadn’t bothered to hide his boredom during her apology, was now looking down at her with a great deal more interest, his hazel eyes glittering. “I think you do have something else to say to me, after all. Go on, then. The Royal Menagerie alreadywhat?”
“They already have an ass!”
Oh, dear God.
Hyacinth slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. She’d actually said it. She’d called Lachlan Ramsey an ass.
Dizziness threatened as the word echoed in her head, and her knees were quaking under her skirts as she waited to see what he’d do. Would he wrap his huge paws around her neck and squeeze the life out of her? Toss her over his shoulder and drop her into one of the horse stalls? Skewer her with a pitchfork?
He didn’t do any of those things. Instead, something else happened. She watched, dumbfounded, as his black scowl faded, and one tiny twitch at a time, the corner of his mouth quirked.
Then the last thing in the world she would ever have expected to happen…
Happened.
Lachlan Ramsey smiled.
Chapter Five
“Did you just call me an ass?”
Lachlan crossed his arms over his chest and waited, but Miss Somerset’s face had gone scarlet, and instead of answering, her pink lips opened and closed helplessly, like a fish trying to dislodge a hook.
For God’s sake. At this rate, she’d swoon before she managed to squeak out a word. “Did you, or did you not, just call me an ass, Miss Somerset?” He thought she had, but it could have been his conscience shouting at him, since he had, in fact, been acting like an ass.
“Well, yes, I, ah, I did call you that, and I…” she swallowed. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have been quite so…descriptive. I beg your—”
“No.” He held up his hand, the half-smile still tugging at the corner of his lips. “Don’t take it backnow. You’ll ruin it.”
He’d watched her creep into the stables half an hour ago, looking like a guilty child due for a thrashing, and he’d known she’d come for him. He’d expected her to apologize, and she had. He’d expected that apology to be tedious, and it was. He’d expected at some point he’d get too close to her, or sigh too loudly, or blink too aggressively, and she’d scurry off like a terrified little mouse.
Instead, she’d surprised him. She was still here, and this apology was turning out to be far more interesting than he’d expected.
The lady had a temper. Oh, she kept it under tight control, but under that sweet angel’s face, behind the blushes and timid stammering was a lady with the word “ass” just waiting to spring from her lips, and it hadn’t taken much goading on his part to set it free.
Not so angelic, after all.
“What do you mean, I’llruinit?” She braced her hands on her hips. “Do you mean to say you enjoy being called as ass?”
“No, but I like it when someone surprises me, and you’re not the sort of lady I’d expect to call me an ass.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Do you expectothersorts of ladies to call you an ass, then?”
His lips twitched again. “Just Isla. She does so regularly.”
“The more I hear of Miss Ramsey, the fonder I become of her.” She paused, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously, as if she weren’t quite sure she could trust his smile. “Well, then. Do you accept my apology?”
