Page 20 of An Unwilling Earl
She dragged her gaze from the remaining sandwiches. “That’s what it sounds like. Some people would love to have a title and all the freedom it gives you.”
“Freedom? I’m learning that there are many rules to being an earl.”
She shrugged a thin shoulder. “There are too many rules when you aren’t an earl, too.”
“What rules would those be?”
“No talking to the opposite sex. No going out in public alone. No wearing revealing clothes. You must pray four times a day, at least, if you don’t want to burn in the fires of hell. Don’t enter your cousin’s room. Stay away from the cellar.”
She was obviously referring to her aunt’s rules. “Is that what your life was like?”
She turned her face away to stare into the hearth. Firelight danced across her cheeks, dousing her eyes in shadows and creating dark hollows under her cheekbones, making her appear otherworldly.
The corner of her lips lifted slightly, but he wouldn’t go so far as to call it a smile. “It wasn’t pleasant.”
“Is that why you left?” he asked softly.
He waited in vain for her to answer.
And when the silence stretched to uncomfortable proportions, she stood so suddenly that it startled him. “I need to go.”
“Don’t go.” He held out his hand to stop her, and she recoiled, her frightened gaze bouncing from his outstretched hand to his face. Quickly he pulled back. “You can stay here.”
“That would be entirely improper.”
“I didn’t mean…” He was making a mess of this, and he hoped to God she didn’t take his offer the wrong way. “I have extra rooms. Surely it’s better than where you’ve been staying.”
“I have responsibilities. People who are expecting me to come home.”
He paused, surprised.People?“Who?”
“That’s none of your concern, Mr. Baker. Or rather, Lord…”
“Ashland, but you don’t need to call me that.”
“It’s your title, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“You can’t deny who you are.”
“I’m not denying it…” But wasn’t he denying it? And postponing the inevitable?
She almost smiled then. Almost. But it faded before it really started. “You can’t deny it forever.”
“You can’t run forever.”
Her cheeks turned pink, and her eyes narrowed. “I need to get home before dark.”
“Will you come back?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“My door is always open to you.”
“Will you tell Mrs. Smith that?”
“Yes. Of course.”
