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“Too whimsical?”
“Too deadly serious. Poppies. Papaver somniferum. The seeds are tiny, but…”
She waved her hand, which seemed the only way to finish the sentence, here, with him, a near stranger. This wasn’t the time, or the place.
It had taken her years to understand the scale of the devastation those tiny seeds had unleashed, on India, on China. And it had taken her even longer to understand that her peaceful, disinterested scientific work depended on the British Empire’s exploitation and violence. She’d been too focused on minutiae, too concerned with plants as biological entities, too willing to ignore the fact that nothing was purely natural, detached from social and political realities. If it weren’t for Chen Wei’s cartoons, she might never have recognized that her presence in his garden was less than innocent.
Art was potent and could transform perspectives.
That’s why she needed Griffith now.
He was watching her intently. “Go on.”
She hesitated. Probably his conversational range extended beyond outrageous flirtation. She’d judged him frivolous, but his painting proved he had hidden depths. Perhaps she could talk with him about topics weightier than French lace curtains. Perhaps she would.
If they traveled Cornwall together on bicycles, they’d have plenty of opportunities for conversation. For all sorts of things.
“It’s nothing.” She shook herself and smiled. “Penny, then. But only if I can call you Griff.”
“Griff?” He started. “Good God. It’s catching, isn’t it? Griff.” He shuddered, his wickedly handsome face alight with humor. “You drive a hard bargain.”
He reached out, took her hand, and shook it. His grip was warm and firm, and she could feel his calluses where they pressed the flesh of her palm. She seemed to have more nerve endings in her palms than she could credit. Or was James right about the rain? Perhaps a storm was gathering.
Her whole body crackled with electricity.
“Penny and Griff.” He didn’t release her hand. “Renegades of the Rover. A shame we don’t have badges.”
“We’ll ride together, then? It’s settled?” No hummingbird’s heart had ever beat so fast. “You don’t mind that I inserted myself into this tour?”
“Mind? You’re a godsend.” He let go of her hand and brushed at the chalk dust on his heliotrope jacket. His boutonniere had come through the joust unscathed, a white carnation. “What would I have done if you hadn’t stepped forward?”
Waited five seconds for another woman to step forward.
Her voice was dry as sand. “What indeed.”
He looked at her, eyelids lowering a fraction. “You can ride a bicycle?”
“I’m certain I can.” She straightened her spine. “I cannot say as I have.”
“And you’re just as certain you want to spend hours a day doing so?” He cocked his head, expression suddenly doubtful. “I don’t know the exact route Deighton has proposed, but I do know Cornish roads. They’ll rattle your teeth.”
“I have no worries about my teeth. And also—I have an ulterior motive.” She confessed it with a combination of excitement and dread.
“Ah.” The huskiness of that one syllable made her neck prickle. He arched his brows. “Must you rack up another impulsive activity to please Dr. Raleigh? He wasn’t satisfied by slight seduction?”
Her stomach lurched. Of course, he was too provoking not to refer outright to what had passed between them. Just as well, though. Good to clear the air.
“About that.” She gripped her skirt. “I owe you an apology. It was beyond presumptuous, my claiming to have seduced you. But James had been pestering me about spending too much time on my work.”
“Which meant any rake who strayed into your path was fair game for demonstrations of your commitment to leisure?”
His smile was ironic.
“I made a claim.” She hesitated, cheeks burning. “You performed the demonstration.”
His brows rose higher. “With your participation. To support you in your ruse.”
She smiled weakly. Her ruse? Lord but this was lowering. She knew she’d been spouting nonsense that afternoon. But apparently, in some small, secret, vulnerable pocket of her being, she’d been harboring the flattering delusion that she had seduced him, slightly, ever so slightly. That she’d intrigued and tempted him. That his kiss had been more than a favor.
