Page 32 of A Bonny Pretender
“It is creamier, my lord.”
“Hmmm.”
When the toilette was complete, the valet walked to the connecting door and paused. “If you would you like me to create a list of my likes and dislikes, please let me know,” he said in his deadpan voice. “However, I would expect the same in return.”
The door clicked shut, and Frank guffawed. So, Barker had a dry wit. Who’d have thought?
*
That afternoon
Hyde Park
A light breezeruffled the lace edging of her bonnet. Brigid wiped her palms on the velvet seat of the open carriage and filled her lungs with the sweet spring air. She was alone with Lord Raines. Birds chirped, squirrels dashed from tree to tree, and her heart soared.
“I wish we were alone,” he said, the husky tone sending a shiver through her.
Visions of their kiss last night heated her face. “I do too.”
It was everything she could do not to throw her arms around him and plant her mouth on his. If only she were at home, where these strict proprieties were meaningless. The Scottish handfasting ceremonies had only fallen out of practice in the last hundred years. A kiss in public wouldn’t shock her family or any of their neighbors. But she wasn’t in Scotland, and Lord Raines was a proper Englishman.
Her conscience poked at her again at the wordproper. Brigid needed to tell him that she wasn’t a demure or gracious lady. She would be honest and admit that she climbed hundreds of trees in her lifetime, competed against her brothers in foothill races, rode her pony bareback and astride, strung a bow faster than many of the village men, and beat them in most competitions. She couldn’t cook well, hated sewing, and until London never cared about her appearance.
Saints and sinners! Ye’ll scare him off faster than a hawk snatches a rodent.
As she considered remaining silent, a discussion with her mother came back to her.
“I dinna see my grandmother bowing to her husband. And he’s the clan chief.”
“Ha! Ye’re right. She was never weak, but her behavior was a wee different when they first met. Yer grandfather was a good mon but arrogant. She eased her outspoken ways into the marriage.”
They rode past other vehicles, nodded, and waved at familiar faces before Frank pulled to the side. He parked near the woods where they’d kissed. Her belly churned with excitement. Did he mean to kiss her again? Unless all her flaws sent him running. For the first time in her life, she didn’t want to push a man away. Yet, her candid nature insisted she be forthright.
She would listen to her mother and ease into it. Give him one piece to the Brigid MacNaughton puzzle at a time.
“I have a confession,” she blurted.
“It sounds ominous,” he said, eyebrows raised. “Tell me you’re not secretly married.”
“Och, no!”
“Then there is nothing else that could sway my opinion of you.” He winked. “Unless you are in love with someone else?”
She was in love but not with someone else.
He looked over his shoulder before brushing his lips against her cheek. “Tell me your worst flaw.”
“I’ll tell ye one but perhaps no’ the worst. I climbed more trees than I can count,” she said, eyes downcast.Ease him into it,warned the voice in her head. “As a child.”Truth, she thought.
“I don’t doubt it with three brothers and no sisters. You’ll have to do better than that.” He hopped down from the carriage and looped the reins over the brake. “Care for a stroll?”
“Oh, yes.” He walked around and held a hand to assist her. She ignored it. “I’m feeling a wee dizzy. Perhaps you should grip my waist and help me down.”
With a grin, he raised his arms and lifted her by the waist and lowered her oh-so-slowly to the ground. Her body slid against his as he set her feet on the grass. “How was that? Or should we try it again?” he murmured in her ear.
She closed her eyes; that familiar movement began in her belly. It was like a harp’s strings inside her, and Frank’s fingers were making the music. He lifted her hand onto his arm. She opened her lids to find him studying her, caught the vulnerability in those silver orbs.
Her hand reached up to brush a stray lock from his forehead. “There’s a troubled soul hiding in there.”
