“Aye,” she whispered.
“I do not like it when you are cross with me.”
She swallowed. “Then you should stop doing things that make me cross.”
He shifted a little on the rock so he was facing her. His blue eyes shone with sincerity. “I shall make that my mission over the coming days.”
Her heart beat so loudly she feared he might hear it. “Then we shall be friends once more,” she said, as lightly as she could.
Tristan kept his eyes trained on her face. “Ah. We shall have to be more than friends. We are a betrothed couple, do not forget.”
Mirrie reached for her composure, but it was difficult to find beneath Tristan’s all-seeing gaze. “I am unlikely to forget,” she managed. “Even your men treat me differently now.”
“They treat you with the respect you deserve.” His hands travelled to her arms, holding them lightly. “As I shall try to be the husband you deserve.”
Mirrie’s throat had constricted so it was difficult to breathe. She concentrated on the ripples on the lake, visible over Tristan’s shoulder. She thought of the sharpness of the rock, pressing into her thighs. She noticed the sun on the back of her neck and the distant coo of a woodpigeon. But none of it was enough to distract her from the man she loved, sitting so close.
“You’re flirting again,” she breathed.
Tristan laughed, but it only served to weave the spell closer around her.
“Honestly, that was not my intention.” He leaned a little nearer. “I was still telling you the truth. Methinks the practice has grown addictive, or perchance it is you, sweet Mirrie, bringing out what is good and honest in me.”
Her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. Mirrie fought for words, but Tristan mistook her silence for denial.
He cleared his throat. “In these last days I have learned that I would do aught within my power to see you smile.”
Mirrie would never know what made her do it. But before her rational self could intervene, she closed the gap between them and kissed him.
Tristan’s lips were soft and warm. She felt him stiffen with surprise, then came a delicious moment of unity when their mouths melded together and his hand came lightly against the small of her back. She breathed it all in—his face, his touch, his scent; then she pulled back, before she lost her mind entirely.
She wanted to move away, but Tristan’s hand on her back did not shift. He kept her close, his searching eyes mere inches from hers.
“Well, that was a surprise.” His voice came out as a croak.
Mirrie took a breath. “I wanted to show you that nice ladies can be surprising sometimes. We are not always dull.”
“Lesson learned.” A devilish smile flickered around his lips, making her heart pick up speed all over again. “Is there anything else you would like to teach me?”
Mirrie rapped her palm against his chest, closing her mind to the hard ridge of muscle she encountered beneath his shirt. “You are flirting again.”
“Under the circumstances, you shall have to forgive me.”
She must bring this wild interlude to a close. It was not at all what she should have done. In fact it was everything other than sensible. If coming to Wolvesley as Tristan’s pretend betrothed would risk her heart, this was a sure way to break it completely.
But oh, how good it felt.
She shot him a severe look and firmly pushed him away. “We should return to the keep.” Mirrie rose up from the rock, praying that her knees would not give way beneath her. The sun was hot on the top of her head and she was conscious that she wore neither a bonnet nor a headdress. She had intended merely a short walk in the gardens, but it seemed a lifetime had passed since she left her bedchamber.
I kissed Tristan.Broke the boundaries that had always existed between them. Mirrie fixed her eyes on the lake and bit down on her bottom lip. Everything had changed, and yet naught would differ. For he was still the man she loved.
And he loved her.Like a sister.
Which meant she needed to hold her head high and go about her day without showing the turmoil she was feeling. The story she had conjured, aboutnice young ladies, would hold true.
Tristan came to stand by her side, stretching his arms above his head and rotating his shoulders.
“You are sure I cannot tempt you to paddle?”
