Page 37 of The Baron Takes a Bet
The corner of his mouth pulled up at her questions.
“Well, I’m considering it. Iamcovered in mud.”
“Oh, well, yes,” she said, her eyes dropping over his body. “I suppose you are.”
Her discomfort was evident, and for a moment, Gavin considered waiting until London to bathe, but then that would be ridiculous. He reached for his travel bag and pulled out a small bar of Pear’s soap. If he had learned anything in histravels, it was that one should always have a bar of soap and a decent pair of boots.
He glanced at Holly as he did so and noticed a faint pink shade creeping over her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. The added color to her cheeks made her look lovely, and Gavin’s heart thudded loudly in his chest. Why he always found himself suddenly aroused by that blush, he did not know, but he tried his best to ignore it. Instead, he decided to focus on making amends for walking out on her in the brewery.
Still holding the soap in his hands, he took a step towards her.
“I want to apologize for abandoning you in the brewery the other day,” he began eyes on her. “I assure you, you did nothing wrong.”
Her eyes squinted.
“Yes, I am aware.”
His mouth quirked up again. He hadn’t expected that.
“What I meant to say is, I shouldn’t have put you in a position where you might have thought I was taking advantage of you.”
Holly stared at him and then dropped her gaze.
“That is considerate of you, I suppose.” Silence. And then, “But I did not think you were taking advantage of me.”
“No?” he asked softly, stepping towards her.
“No,” she said, her hands raised slightly at his advance. “But I am glad you stopped it. We should refrain from participating in any… physical sports.”
He stopped his steps, his brow lifted. He hadn’t expected such frankness from Holly on a subject most ladies would be uncomfortable discussing. It made him curious.
“Have you, well, participated in such sports before?”
Holly’s eyes widened as the pink of her cheeks deepened.
“Absolutely not,” she said quickly, shaking her head.
Gavin swallowed his pleasure at her answer. He nodded, though.
“You’ve a rather easy way of speaking about it, is all.”
“Well, I’m not a child. I’m aware of the world and how it works, even if I’ve never…” She shook her head, looking briefly uncertain. “All I’m saying is, that I believe we should refrain from kissing one another. I fear it will only complicate matters when our annulment comes to fruition. Don’t you agree?”
Not in the slightest.
“Yes, of course,” he said as a knock sounded on the door.
Turning, he opened it as two maids entered with a pair of food trays, setting them down on the small square table in the corner of the room. A round, steady-handed man entered behind them, carrying a Parisian sponge bath, which he placed on the floor in front of the fireplace as Holly moved to take her seat at the table.
“Apologies, my lord,” the man said. “But all our hip baths are occupied at the moment.”
Gavin pursed his lips in displeasure but nodded, eyeing the steam rising from the water. He would have to use a cloth to clean himself as it was more the size of a bucket than a bath. The servants exited the room, and he began to tug at his dirty cravat.
“Well, you are in luck, Holly. You don’t need to fight the urge to watch me bathe completely naked,” he said, walking towards the sponge bath.
The very next moment, though, he heard her laughing. Turning, he saw that she was holding her hand to her chest, laughing as she gazed at him. The sound of it undid him, and at that moment, he would have pledged allegiance to any god that would give him the ability to make her laugh for the rest of his life.
Why was the ability to make her laugh so intoxicating? He didn’t understand this yearning to make her smile, but herlaughter curled around him so that it confused him. Frowning as he tried to comprehend, his train of thought came to an abrupt halt when her hands came up to distract him.
