Page 23 of Lady Elizabeth's Winter Stranger
She narrowed her eyes on him.“Papa calls me wayward and headstrong.”
Tom shrugged.“If you think that’s going to deter me from courting you, you need your head fixed.I don’t want a docile little cipher of a wife.I want someone who turns my life into an adventure.”
She kept her defensive pose with her arms folded, although with every second, her outrage became harder to hold onto.“Wife, is it?”
He shrugged, as if he hadn’t said anything of great significance.“Probably a discussion for a later occasion.”
“There mightn’t be a later occasion.”
“Because you’ll be in Scotland with Great-Aunt Agatha and the pugs?That sounds frightful.Is putting up with my company really a worse alternative?”
Elizabeth didn’t answer that.Instead, she studied him with confusion in her heart.His gentle teasing chipped another layer off her resentment.“If you knew who I was, why didn’t you say something?Why didn’t you tell me who you are?”
He ran his hand through his hair again.It seemed to be a characteristic gesture.“You had to go.”
“Yes, I did.I’d already taken enough chances.If I’d been capable of a moment’s logical thought, I’d never have left the house at all.”
“I assume you left home in high dudgeon because of your father’s letter?”
She sighed, more of her tension draining away.“I’d been at a house party just outside London, but I came home early because my maid was sick.The letter was waiting for me when I arrived to an empty house.After I read it, I felt ready to explode.I was in such a fit, I decided to ignore good sense.A walk in the park seemed a preferable alternative to smashing every piece of the family china.Especially when Mamma was expecting guests.”
“I wondered why you were on your own.”
“I took a shocking risk,” she said, bracing for him to berate her for breaking society’s rules.
He didn’t.“Perhaps, but it was lucky for me.”
“Because you had a chance to see what I was like before you had to present yourself as a suitor?”
This time, he folded his arms and regarded her with an ironic eye.“I don’thaveto present myself as anything.Our time together in the park changed my mind about courting Guy’s sister, however pretty she was.Instead, I wanted to court the lovely girl who kissed me behind a holly hedge.”
She blushed.He made it impossible to remain in a snit.Her shoulders came down, and the tight clenching in her stomach eased.“So you didn’t set out to trick me?”
“When I found out you were the Elizabeth Tierney I was meant to meet tonight, I decided fate worked in my favor.I hoped you might feel the same.I’m sorry if you think I was playing spiteful games.That’s not my style at all, which I hope you’ll discover as our acquaintance develops.”
Her sigh would alert him that she surrendered.“I might give you the benefit of the doubt,” she said begrudgingly.
Several rooms away, the carolers beganI Saw Three Ships.More bells.Tom regarded her with unhidden relief.“Does the benefit of the doubt extend to a kiss?”
A thrill ran through her, although she hadn’t altogether yielded to the Christmas romance in the air.“We’ll see.”
That charming smile appeared for the first time since they’d come into the library.“I should have borrowed some mistletoe from the drawing room.By George, I doubt there’s a bunch of mistletoe or a sprig of holly left in Cumbria.”
A faint smile lengthened her lips.“The family loves Christmas.You’ll have to get used to that if you’re marrying into the Tierneys.”
His eyebrows rose, although a light in his gray eyes reminded her of how he’d looked after he kissed her in the park.“Am I marrying into the Tierneys?”
“I’ve known you for less than a day.”
“And you’ve spent far too much of that time being angry with me.”He stretched his hand toward her as he stepped closer.“Am I forgiven?”
After a hesitation to make the point that she hadn’t fallen completely under his spell, Elizabeth curled her fingers around his.She liked how his hand felt in hers.It was pleasantly warm and firm and the calluses on his palm hinted at an active life.The Stanton Morley-Bridges she’d imagined had been weedy and soft and pale as a daisy.She was very glad that he wasn’t the Stanton Morley-Bridges she’d imagined.
Unable to resist, she heaved a much more theatrical sigh.“I suppose so.”
“Thank you.”This time, his smile was one of the happy ones that set her foolish heart dancing.“May I kiss you now?Our quarter hour is nearly done and if I’m to play propriety from now on, I’m not sure how much kissing is ahead of us.”
“If you must,” she said, as a tide of expectation made her breath catch.
