They walked quickly up the hill, where a welcome breeze began to blow. “You’re right, there aren’t as many up here.”
“Not at the moment, but I wouldn’t stand still for too long.”
“You mean we can’t stop to catch our breath?”
He shook his head, his brows creasing in a teasing way. “Not a wise thing to do on a wet day on the marsh.”
By the time they reached the top of the ridge, they were both breathing hard with exertion.
Madeline’s voice was light and airy as she spoke. “That was a good walk. I feel exhilarated now.”
“Exhilarated? I could hardly keep up. I think I need to rest my weary bones.”
“Well, don’t do it here, the mosquitoes will have you for dinner.”
“You’re quite right, and I wouldn’t want that. Then I would miss the spelling bee you have planned for tomorrow evening. Wonderful idea, Madeline.”
They reached the gate, and Adam opened it for her. She brushed by him but stopped. “Ouch!” She slapped her neck and inspected her hand. “Another one! He bit me! Cheeky creature. I’m bleeding. Look.”
Adam inspected the squashed mosquito in her hand, surrounded by a few drops of blood. “He certainly had a bellyful. Let me see.”
He moved a few wispy hairs aside and pulled back her lacy collar to examine the back of her neck. Sure enough, there was a red spot already swelling.
Madeline lifted her upswept hair so Adam could see the whole area. All at once, the world around him seemed to disappear, and all he could see and feel was Madeline’s presence before him, her feminine scent, her soft, smiling nearness.
Her skin was smooth, like peach cream. What he wouldn’t have given to touch his lips to the warmth of her neck, then turn her toward him and kiss her mouth, to feel her sigh and whimper with amorous pleasure against him. How he wanted to slowly slide his hands under her collar and ease them down the inside front of her gown, to feel the silky, fleshy texture of her breasts…
He jumped when Madeline spoke. “Well?”
Adam cleared his throat and stepped back. He broke into a sweat under his wool coat. “You’ll be itchy, but you’ll live.”
He thought of what day it was, tried to anchor himself in reality. His proposal to Diana might very well be in her hands at this moment. She might be scrolling her name to become his wife.
God, if Madeline ever recognized the lust he felt for her, she would think him a low, faithless scoundrel who could not be trusted.
What the hell was he going to do?
Whatever happened, however he decided to handle this situation, he had to keep his integrity and his honor intact. But how? What was therightthing to do?
Before he had a chance to realize what he was asking or why he was asking it, he took hold of Madeline’s arm to keep her from going into the house. “Madeline, will you tell me something?”
“Of course.”
“Is Diana still the same? Has she changed at all?”
Madeline’s eyes met his disparagingly. “She’s still very beautiful.”
“No, I mean, has she changed in other ways? Is she still the same person? Does she still like to ride?”
“She and Sir Edward used to go fox hunting quite often.”
“They were close, then? Do you think…do you think she’s over him, andreadyfor another marriage?”
A breeze blew a wayward lock of hair into Madeline’s face. She closed her eyes, then gently pushed the hair away. “I can’t say with absolute certainty, Adam, for we did not speak intimately with each other, but I do know that you were always the love of her life. She said that to me once, years after she married Sir Edward. She said you would always be the man she dreamed of.”
A month ago, that news would have put him in the clouds. Today, it filled him with dread and confusion. “Do you think, when she receives my proposal, that she will come?”
There was something intense in Madeline’s expression, in the color of her eyes and the set of her jaw, as if the certainty of Diana’s arrival was the most elusive thing in the world to her, too.
