Page 39 of Her Rogue to Ruin
Portia smiled. “You can both stop. I’m actually quite fond of this traveling suit, but it’s years old. Perhaps not quite fashionable anymore.” She offered Louisa an indulgent grin. “But I agree. For a country house party, a lady wants to be prepared, and it’s not our fault if fashion dictates that we have a different gown for every little event.”
“That’s it exactly,” Louisa said before giving Phin a triumphant grin. Then she settled back with her arms crossed and began to nod off.
Portia had brought a sketchbook with her, and once Louisa was still, she began to put down a few lines, capturing the rarity of his sister not being in motion.
Phin felt a moment of peevishness, a yearning for her artist’s eyes to be watching him with such intensity.
“What’s the book?” she asked quietly, keeping her gaze locked on her sketchbook.
Phin realized she was speaking to him and retrieved the book that had fallen down between his thigh and the carriage wall.
“I haven’t started it yet,” he admitted. “I’ve been rather…distracted the last few days.”
That got her to lift her gaze to his, and he smiled, hoping she understood that he relished the distraction she had become in his life. Whatever the consequences.
“Mmm, me too.” She pointed with the tip of her pencil. “But what’s the title? What sorts of books do you read, Lord Pemberton?”
Hearing her address him formally irked him now, but he understood that she did so in case Louisa might be listening to their exchange.
“It’sJane Eyre.”
“Is it your first time reading it?”
“Not at all, but it’s a new edition I’ve recently acquired, and I thought I might bring it with me.” Phin would always associate Seastow with books. The library there had been a refuge where he would sometimes hide from his father when he was in a mood, but it had also become an intellectual escape as he’d allow himself to get lost in the books on its shelves.
“So you enjoy romantic fiction?” Portia said with a teasing glint in her eye that made him yearn to reach for her and kiss her senseless.
“Does that you shock you, Lady Hastings? I read science and history and adventure novels too if that puts your mind at ease about my reading tastes.”
She smiled broadly and it was as if his entire being felt lighter.
“What do you prefer to read?” he asked her once she’d tipped her head back to her drawing. He realized he was being greedy, but now that Louisa was napping and they could converse, he found he wanted more of it. “Books about art, I suspect.”
She arched one auburn brow. “I am multifaceted in my reading habits too, Lord Pemberton, I assure you.” She gestured at the book again. “And I have read Charlotte Brontë’s novel, though my edition isn’t quite that pretty.”
He had the urge to gift her the copy on the spot. “You enjoyed the story?”
“Enjoyed? It’s quite bittersweet, even tragic in many ways. A man who makes dreadful choices and must live with the consequences.” She shot him a pointed look at that. “But it’s a story I return to.”
“Yes.” She understood perfectly. “Compelling even with the tragic parts. And Rochester does have a happy ending of sorts.”
“Of sorts,” she agreed and then lifted her gaze to his before returning to sketching again.
“Are you sketching me now?” he asked with a perhaps too hopeful lilt in his voice.
“I am,” she said with a mischievous smile.
“May I see?” Phin reached across the carriage and couldn’t resist brushing his fingers against hers where she held her sketchbook. The moment he did, he no longer truly cared about the sketch. Now he only wanted to keep touching her.
She thrilled him by twining her fingers with his and stroking his palm with her thumb.
“It’s not finished yet,” she whispered.
Phin leaned a bit further and dared to raise her hand to his lips, kissing each of her knuckles in turn.
“Please,” he breathed against her skin.
He heard her breathing hitch when he nipped at the edge of her thumb, then chased his tongue over the spot. The sound only made him ache for her more.
