Page 40 of A Rogue to Resist
“You would think so,” Katherine replied dryly. “Yet you’d be surprised how quickly ‘legitimate estate business’ transforms into ‘inappropriate attachment’ in the minds of bored villagers with little else to discuss.”
His frown deepened. “Then perhaps we should be more circumspect in our public interactions.”
The suggestion was perfectly reasonable—exactly what Katherine herself had been thinking—yet she felt an inexplicable pang of disappointment.
“That would be wise,” she agreed nonetheless.
They had reached the edge of the market where their horses waited. Drake helped her mount, his hands steady at her waist as he lifted her into the side saddle. The brief contact sent an unexpected flutter through her stomach, a physical awareness she had not felt in many years—if ever.
“Though I must admit,” Drake said as he mounted his own horse, “there’s something... energizing about debating with someone who challenges my assumptions so thoroughly.”
The compliment caught her off guard. “Even when I’m questioning your methods at every turn?”
“Especially then,” he replied, his smile more thoughtful than flirtatious. “I’ve spent years surrounded by people who agree with me because they have to. You disagree because you have better ideas.”
Katherine felt a flush of unexpected pleasure at this acknowledgment. “And you... don’t find that bothersome?”
“Bothersome?” Drake considered this as they began riding toward the manor. “No. Stimulating, perhaps. Challenging, certainly. But not bothersome.”
“How refreshingly honest,” Katherine replied, and was surprised to find she meant it.
Katherine didn’t know how to respond to his unexpected admission. There was something dangerous in the way he was looking at her—with genuine appreciation.
As they rode back toward Greythorne Manor, Katherine found herself replaying their market confrontation in her mind. It had been mortifying, yes, but also strangely exhilarating.
For years, she had carefully controlled her words and actions, first as Edmund’s wife and then as his widow. To speak her mind so openly, even in anger, had felt like breaking free of invisible constraints she had worn for so long she’d forgotten they existed.
And Drake’s response had not been to silence or dismiss her, but to engage—to argue back with equal passion and then, surprisingly, to acknowledge where she had been right. It was unlike any interaction she had experienced with a man of his station.
As they passed a group of field workers who touched their caps respectfully, Katherine caught the knowing glances exchanged among them. One leaned to whisper to another, and though she couldn’t hear the words, the meaning was clear enough.
They were being talked about. Speculated over. Gossiped about in every cottage and field from the village to the manor.
The proper response would be mortification. Dignity wounded, reputation at risk—these were the concerns that should occupy her mind.
Instead, Katherine felt a strange, rebellious thrill. Let them talk. Let them wonder.
For the first time in years, she felt fully alive, engaged in something that mattered, matched with someone who saw her as an equal—even if that equality manifested as spirited opposition.
She glanced at Drake, riding tall and confident beside her, and found him watching her with that same curious intensity she had noticed earlier.
“They’ll be talking about us for weeks,” she observed, nodding subtly toward the workers they had passed.
“Undoubtedly,” he agreed. “Does that trouble you?”
Katherine considered the question seriously.
“It should,” she admitted. “Yet I find I’m both mortifiedandstrangely exhilarated.”
Drake’s surprised laugh was genuine and warm. “A contradictory response worthy of our contradictory relationship, Lady Katherine.”
“Is that what we have? A relationship?” The question escaped before she could consider its implications.
His smile faded into something more thoughtful.
“We have... something,” he replied carefully. “Though I confess I’m not entirely certain what to call it.”
As Greythorne Manor came into view, its stone walls golden in the afternoon sun, Katherine found herself equally uncertain—about Drake, about her role at Greythorne, about the unfamiliar emotions their market confrontation had stirred.
