Page 31 of The Heir
“I may be feeling winded,” he said, offering her his arm, “but by now Pericles should be well rested.”
Anna took his arm, glancing over at him cautiously. The sensation of his finger sliding down her breast had been enough to make her heart kick against her ribs. God in heaven, he knew how to touch a woman, but it didn’t seem to wind him at all, contrary to his words.
“You are quiet, Anna,” he remarked as they climbed aboard and gained the road.
“I am overwhelmed,” she said. “I think I must be a very wicked woman, my… What do I call you?”
The earl urged Pericles to the trot. “Today, you call me whatever pleases you, but why do you say you are wicked?”
“I should be remonstrating you, making you behave, chiding you for your lapses,” Anna informed him, warming to her topic. “Our lapses. But my self-restraint has departed for the Orient, I suppose, and all I want…”
“All you want?” The earl kept his eyes on the empty road.
“Is to forget every pretense of common sense.” Anna completed the thought, and now—now that he was all cool composure beside her—she was uncomfortable with herself. “To share more lapses with you.”
“I would like that, Anna,” he replied simply. “If it would please you to lapse with me, then I would enjoy it, too.”
“It can’t lead to anything,” Anna said miserably, “except more and worse mischief.”
The earl glanced over at her but had to keep some focus on the road. “Why not just enjoy these hours as we choose to spend them? I will not take liberties you deny me, Anna, not today, not ever. But for today, I will enjoy your company to the fullest extent you allow, and I will do so without regard to whether today leads to something or merely rests in memory as a pleasurable few hours spent in your company.”
Anna fell silent, considering his words. If Westhaven’s brother Victor could have had such a morning, able to breathe without coughing, would he have fretted over a few kisses leading to nothing, or would he have seized the hours as a gift? Knowing he could well have been riding to his death in the next battle, would Lord Bartholomew have demurred, or would he have stashed a bottle of wine in the hamper?
“And now,” Anna said after a time, “you are quiet.”
“It is a pretty morning.” He smiled at her, including her in that prettiness. “I am in good company, and we are about a pleasant errand. Just to be away from Town, away from Tolliver’s infernal correspondence, and away from Stenson’s grasping fingers is reason to rejoice.”
“I could not abide the touch of someone I did not like,” Anna said, grimacing.
“So I do my best to stay out of his reach and to bellow like the duke when he transgresses,” Westhaven said. “He is getting better, but tell me, Anna, did you just indirectly admit to liking me?”
She drew in a swift breath and saw from his expression that while he was teasing, he was also… fishing.
“Of course I like you. I like you entirely too well, and it is badly done of you to make me admit it.”
“Well, let’s go from bad to worse, then, and you can tell me precisely why you like me.”
“You are serious?”
“I am. If you want, I will return the favor, though we have only several hours, and my list might take much longer than that.”
He is flirting with me, Anna thought, incredulous. In his high-handed, serious way, the Earl of Westhaven had just paid her a flirtatious compliment. A lightness spread out from her middle, something of warmth and humor and guilty pleasure in it.
“All right.” Anna nodded briskly. “I like that you are shy and honorable in the ways that count. I like that you are kind to Morgan, and to your animals, and old Nanny Fran. You are as patient with His Grace as a human can be, and you adore your brother. You are fierce, too, though, and can be decisive when needs must. You are also, I think, a romantic, and this is no mean feat for a man who spends half his days with commercial documents. Mostly, I like that you aregood; you look after those who depend on you, you have gratitude for your blessings, and you don’t think enough of yourself.”
Beside her, the earl was again silent.
“Shall I go on?” Anna asked, feeling a sudden awkwardness.
“You could not possibly pay me any greater series of compliments than you just have,” he said. “The man you describe is a paragon, a fellow I’d very much like to meet.”
“See?” Anna nudged him with her shoulder. “You do not think enough of yourself. But I can also tell you the parts of you that irritate me—if that will make you feel better?”
“I irritate you?” The earl’s eyebrows rose. “This should be interesting. You gave me the good news first, fortifying me for more burdensome truths, so let fly.”
“You are proud,” Anna began, her tone thoughtful. “You don’t think your papa can manage anything correctly, and you won’t ask your brothers nor mother nor sisters even, for help with things directly affecting them. I wonder, in fact, if you have anybody you would call a friend.”
“Ouch. A very definite ouch, Anna. Go on.”
