Page 38 of Her Rogue to Ruin
“You mean for the next fortnight.” She suspected that he’d already considered, as she had, how they might spend time together when they all traveled to his family’s country estate. She’d agreed to go because the viscountess and Louisa had seemed so eager for her to, but the prospect of seeing Phin in the place he’d grown up appealed to her too.
But if they were caught…
“There is a complication with the trip to Seastow.”
“Oh? What complication?”
He pressed his hand over his mouth as if he wished to keep the answer inside.
“You were angry at Louisa’s arranged betrothal,” he finally began. “Rightfully, I might add. But mine was arranged too.”
“Yes, I know. Louisa told me.”
He shot her a look that was shockingly open and raw. She glimpsed the turmoil he usually kept locked away behind his charm.
“She’s coming, isn’t she?” Portia said around words she found hard to get out. “Your fiancé is coming to the house party.”
“I know you’re considering not coming now.”
“Do you really think I should?”
“I do not think in terms ofshouldwhere you are concerned, Portia. I do not think at all. You may consider me a frivolous rogue, but I am usually capable of rational thought. So this is new. You are new.” He pressed a fist to the center of his chest. “With you, I simply feel. And want. And I desperately want you to come to Seastow.”
“Then I will.” Whatever he asked of her, her immediate impulse was to give it to him.
But she couldn’t deny her own inner voice anymore either. And her intuition told her that the consequences Phin mentioned were waiting for both of them in Sussex.
* * *
When they’d assembledtwo carriages in front of Pemberton House and decided who would travel with whom, Phin conceded to Louisa’s insistence that she travel in whichever conveyance Portia did. Since they were transporting Selkirk too, Phin was simply pleased she hadn’t asked to travel with his best friend.
Phin felt the same way Louisa did, of course. There had never been a question in his mind. He would travel in the same carriage as Portia. Regardless of the raised brow look that had earned him from his mother.
Now, however, nearly an hour into the journey, he realized he’d condemned himself to hell.
She was just inches away from him. Indeed, his boot was tucked up beside the bell of her skirt. Every now and then, her bergamot perfume would scent the air, or she’d flick her gaze his way.
And he couldn’t do a damned thing about it.
He’d barely had a chance to speak to her since Louisa had carried on a lively conversation with her almost from the moment they’d set off.
In the last few minutes, however, Louisa had shown signs of growing tired, and he suspected she’d tilt her head back against the squabs and doze for the remainder of the journey as she often did on trips to Seastow Hall. But that still didn’t mean he could pull Portia onto his lap as he wished to.
“It’s curious to me that we didn’t take the train,” Portia mused she looked out at the passing countryside.
“Mama,” Louisa got out before laying a hand over her mouth to cover a yawn. “She likes the tradition of traveling this way. Though I agree. A train ride would feel much more adventurous. Much more modern.”
“The real problem was that it wouldn’t be fair to ask the porters to manage thetwo trunksworth of frocks you brought with you,” Phin teased.
Louisa narrowed her eyes at him and knocked his boot with the toe of hers. “We’re having guests at Seastow. A lady must be fashionable.” She looked at Portia for confirmation. “Don’t you agree, Lady Hastings?”
Portia glanced down at her blue traveling costume as if she wasn’t certain it measured up to Louisa’s notions of fashion. It featured no frills or ruffles or beads as Louisa’s did, but it fit her curves deliciously, and a sinuous strip of velvet cut across the bodice, continually drawing his gaze from her neck to her hips.
“It’s fetching,” he murmured before he could stop himself.
Louisa blinked, looked at him, and then back to Portia.
“Oh, it is,” she finally said. “A very pretty color. Matches the hint of blue in your eyes.”
