Page 35 of Teach a Rogue New Tricks
“Lord Albee, may I ask…”
“Anything,” he choked out.
“Do you feel better after this excursion?”
He turned and pressed his forehead into the cool bronze of the statue. Did he feel better? He pushed away from the statue, needing to push her away, too. “Should a single outing cure me, Miss Cavendish?”
“No, of course not, but—”
“No, I am not better.”
She stepped all the way into the sun, but her bonnet brim still shadowed her face. “You’re determined to be miserable. You’ve decided you’re the scourge of the earth, and you will not consider any other possibility for a moment, will you? I think—”
“Miss Cavendish—”
“No, Cassius, do not interrupt me.Again. If you must know, that’s rude, too.”
He had the urge to hang his head. He held it higher. And he took a step nearer her because… she used his Christian name and hearing it on her lips drew him forward like some cursed incantation. He added a mental note to his notebook—When lecturing a scoundrel, never use said cad’s first name. It might make them want to kiss you.
“As I was saying,” she said, “I think you hurt yourself as much as you hurt others when you do things like ruin your inheritance or kidnap a lady.”
“I’m aware of the decimated state of my own soul, Miss Cavendish. I thought we were forgetting the past in favor of the present.”
“I think,” she continued as if he’d not spoken, “you could be charming if you so choose.” She tilted her head, let the sunshine into her bonnet, and damn, but he wanted into the world of hesitant determination illuminated on her face. It damn near knocked him to his arse.
“Charming. I can be charming.” He wanted to be charming. Just a moment. For her.
“Not fake charming, Lord Albee, with cringing grins and smarmy winks. Truly charming where you consider others’ pleasures before your own and seek to give joy.”
Cringing grins and smarmy winks? Ladieslovedhis grins and winks. But he’d give her version of charming a try. For that sunshine, to assuage her curiosity and see it bloom into certainty. Maybe he’d even get her to say his name once more.
“I can be charming,” he repeated. “But we’re stuck here unless you wish your father to know whom your acquaintances are.”
Her eyes flashed across the courtyard then back to Cass. “He’s currently busy.”
Cass didn’t dare look again. He knew how the baron spent his time. “What about Pansy and the twins?”
She looked over her shoulder then back to him. “They’re with the ducks.”
He peered behind her, and there they were—three children running after ducks who were, in turn, chasing them, an infinity loop of feathers and quacks, squeals and delight.
“I see.”
“We have a moment,” she said. “And this is as good a place as any to view a charming masculine display.”
He looked around them and swallowed. Despite being in the middle of the Tower of London, they were quite alone and unnoticed. Safe enough for the moment.
He inched back into the darkness behind the statue. “Who do you think he is?” He nodded toward the statue. “Our host?”
She inched into the darkness, too, and looked up, squinted. “The Regent?”
He laughed. “No. Too slim.” He offered a cocky grin.
She repaid him with a playful look. “Precisely. He’d cut off the head of any artist who dared present him otherwise.”
He laughed outright.
Together in the statue’s shadow, hidden mostly from the bustle of the Tower, he felt like he’d entered a fairy world, a place apart from reality where he was different, unburdened of his past and pleased only by the smiles of a beautiful country miss. This Cass would court his miss softly, patiently, passionately, with light touches and kind words. Ha! A fairy tale indeed.
