Page 42 of Too Sinful to Deny
“How do you know that, you little sneak?” she squeaked. “You werespyingon us! That’s the only way you could’ve known!”
“Why, that’s a much better rumor to spread than ‘Miss Stanton kissed Evan Bothwick.’ After all, who hasn’t?” Miss Grey put in helpfully. She put her hand to her mouth and stage-whispered to her friend, “I think ‘Miss Stanton spies through windows on people’s private lovemaking’ is far more damaging. That’s the sort of juicy rumor that can follow a girl right back home to London. As long as she can’t prove anything took place in any chicken sheds, it’s our word against hers.”
“Oh, I’ll have plenty of words,” Miss Devonshire seethed, finding her voice at last. “Don’t even think about breathing a single syllable of what you saw, Miss Stanton. After I walk out this door, you’ll wish you had never laid eyes on me through those spectacles of yours. No one in this town will come within sight of you ever again.”
She spun on her well-turned heel and marched out of the apothecary.
Miss Grey snatched up her umbrella. She paused on her way out the door to turn back with a chillingly calm smile to add, “And if that doesn’t do the trick... plenty of accidents happen to strangers here in Bournemouth, Miss Stanton. It’d be a shame if one happened to you.”
Chapter 17
What the devil had he beenthinking?
Evan hurled another rock into the ocean, not bothering to try and make it skip across the crashing waves, and faced the truth: He hadn’t been thinking. Not one single second. The only idea he’d had in his brain from the moment he’d laid eyes on Miss Stanton had been,Kiss her. Now.End of story.
Except it almost wasn’t the end of the story, now, was it? If he’d been caught like that, with her in his arms and their mouths locked together... A shiver deeper than the chill of the sea slithered between his shoulders. He’d be married, that’s what he’d be. Leg-shackled. Good as dead.
He turned from the stormy waters and made his way to the narrow walkway winding up the steep cliff. He couldn’t lose sight of his mission: answers—and justice—for his brother’s murder. The only intelligent thing to do was avoid Miss Stanton like the scurvy.
Naturally, when he hit the midpoint of the trail, there she was.
Evan cursed his damnable luck. Wasn’t this why he had intended to avoid any intimacy with her in the first place? Because he wouldn’t be able to help seeing her again... and again... and again? And if that wasn’t bad enough, she was alady.
He paused to watch her wander along the path. Granted, the actual sight of her wasn’t the problem. A backside that swayed that temptingly could never be a problem. Well, unless it was attached to a virgin, a lady, or a man-hunting debutante. Of which, she was likely all three.
Just then she turned, blinking in surprise. But she didn’t flee. Or offer a greeting.
Resigned, he trudged closer. “We meet again.”
“Not on purpose.” She backed up a small step, as if afraid the kissing could recommence at any moment. His blood warmed. The idea was sound.
No. No, it wasn’t.Evan reined in his wayward thoughts and offered his elbow. Although, to do so was surely folly. If she touched him again, even as innocently as fingertips on his forearm...
She did not. She jerked her hands to her sides and glared at him from beneath her lashes, although her cheeks were now flushed and her breathing suspiciously shallow. “Don’t touch me.”
He held out his hands in silent surrender and sidestepped her in order to continue up the path. Would she follow, perhaps fall into step beside him? No. He heard nothing. Not even retreat. And then:
“I do not wish to be caught alone with you, Mr. Bothwick.”
He stopped breathing. She didn’t wish to becaught,did she? Interesting. If they weren’t in plain view of pretty much every pair of eyes on the seashore, he’d have had half a mind to find out just what she didn’t want to be caught doing.
As it was, however, he called backward without slowing down, “As you can see, madam, our goals are the same.”
Problem was, he was a little worried that was true. The way she’d kissed him...
“Then do stop following me,” her voice rang out.
He did stop. Moving forward, that was. He turned and stared at her in disbelief. How could he be following her if he were the one ahead and she the one behind? Was she just provoking him to prolong the interaction?
“It may surprise you to know that not only am I assuredly not following you, I also haven’t the least desire to accompany you, wherever you might be going.”
“Oh, really?” One of her thin eyebrows arched over the tops of her spectacles. “As if you’re not headed to Moonseed Manor.”
“As it happens,” he informed her with complete honesty, “I am not.”
Her jaw clicked shut. She seemed to war with herself for a moment, then jogged up to meet him. “You’re... not? Why not? Where are you going?”
He shrugged a little to saythat’s my business, isn’t it,and turned his attention back to the trail.
