She could not resist teasing him a little bit to see how he would react. “But I am all astonishment, my Lord Wennington. To getpraise. Fromyou. Good gracious. Who knew you had that in you?” She clutched at her chest as if overcome. “Myflabberis well and trulygasted. In fact, it is so gasted I am almost speechless.”
He rewarded her with a proper laugh this time and, to her actual astonishment, it suited him. It did lovely things to his eyes; enough that she found herself staring into them as she smiled back. Until his faltered and those mesmerizing dark irises broke contact to dip downward. “Then allow me to take advantage of that rare occurrence by adding an apology to go with that compliment.”
“For what?” She was intrigued as to which one of his many rude misdemeanors he felt bad about. Especially after yesterday, when he had made it plain he thought she was cheating his aunt by wasting time fraternizing when she was supposed to be working.
“Where to start?” Was it her imagination, or did he look sheepish? “I owe you an apology for not looking where I was going in Hyde Park. For not thanking you for retrieving Zeus that same day and barking at you instead. For the unforgivable way I refused to accept your later apology when half the blame for what happened in Hyde Park rests squarely on my shoulders.” His eyes lifted as he winced. “For my curtness over the incident with the soup and the debacle in the pond. For not apologizing sooner.” His smile this time was awkward. And oh-so-disarming. “Basically, for being an insufferably rude oaf every single time we have collided.”
“Gracious.” Lottie was so staggered by his admission she had no other words.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve wanted to apologize from the outset but…”
“But I would try the patience of a saint?”
“I have no doubt that you would, however…” He shrugged and stared at the horses. “It is a pathetic excuse, but I am never at my best when I feel foolish and, when I do, sometimes… most times actually… I react badly.” He inhaled deeply, squared his impressive shoulders, and forced himself to face her. “I’ve repeatedly reacted very badly around you and for that I am truly sorry.”
It was rather big of him to take ownership of his behavior without blaming her for it. His was also one of the prettiest and most sincere atonements she had ever heard. “Your apology is accepted, my lord.” An answer that pleased him enough to earn her another smile.
“Thank you, Miss Travers. That is very decent of you.”
She could not resist teasing him a little bit more. “Does this armistice mean that we need to make an effort to be civil to each other going forward?” She pulled a face as if she could think of nothing worse and he responded in kind with a grave nod.
“Sadly, yes. I believe it does. Within reason, of course, as I sincerely doubt you can curb your annoying forthrightness all of the time.” There was a twinkle in his dark eyes now, and that suited him more than the smile.
“Any more than you could constantly avoid suppressing your inner curmudgeon. Or your outer curmudgeon for that matter too. But I shall grit my teeth and try to forgive you for it.”
He did a poor job of disguising how much her cheek amused him. “Indeed. We must be realistic in our expectations. The best we can hope for, until I celebrate the day that you and my incorrigible aunt leave me in blessed peace, is feigned toleration and not a miracle.”
“You can be as pessimistic as you want, Lord Wennington, as that is your dreary, doom-and-gloom, no-joy-in-your-soul prerogative. However—and I appreciate that this trait in me will only annoy you further—I am aneternal optimist to my core and I am confident in a miracle. So confident, in fact, that I will wager that you will not celebrate the day that I leave.” Before she thought better of it, her errant index finger prodded him in the center of his chest. It was every bit as solid as she’d imagined it. “You will dread it instead. Because I am a veritable ray of sunshine and I amdeterminedto make you—my perennially depressing storm-cloud nemesis—likeme.”
He folded his arms and regarded her with fake pity. “My poor, misguided Miss Travers. While I admire your ambition, you have more chance of touching the moon than you do my joyless soul.” Then as if thoroughly fed up with her presence, he stalked off, tossing a mischievous insult over his shoulder as he went. “Enjoy the rest of your afternoon,Miss Guided. Mine is certainly all the brighter—simply because you won’t feature in it.”
ChapterTHIRTEEN
A grinning Bill deposited a second saddle next to Guy’s in the middle of the training yard. “Others around here might think it’stellingthat you’re suddenly taking Lottie’s advice, but I don’t.”
“Of course you don’t.” Guy tossed the heavy bundle of bridles and reins next to the saddles while biting his tongue. He had decided that trying to argue against his head groom’s constant teasing was counterproductive days ago, because denial had only made things worse. As a day of stony silence hadn’t improved things either, he now planned to blandly agree with everything the riling wretch said and spoil Bill’s fun.
Except Bill was nothing if not tenacious and had redoubled his efforts.
As Guy stalked back to the stables to fetch the last of the equipment, his dog-with-a-bone groom skipped like a crab beside him so he could better watch his reactions. “I told them all that any interest you have in her is mutually and exclusively equine at its heart and not an expression ofyourheart in any way, as the gossips around this estate are suggesting.”
“Thank you, Bill.” Guy marched into the tack room and tried not to scream as his tormentor followed.
“I also told them that there is a big difference in being friendly with a woman and wooing her. Just because you smile more when she happens by doesn’t mean you fancy her.”
Guy agreed to that lie with a disinterested nod as he grabbed a few apples and shoved them in a saddlebag that he looped over his shoulder. Furious at himself for the bad case of unwelcome lust that he was inflicted with that was so strong, it was hardly a surprise Bill had noticed.
“And to all those who accuse you of hanging on her every word, I tell them that I think it’s lovely that you hold her in such high esteem. Professionally, that is. For Lottie knows her horses. Nobody could deny that.”
Guy nodded his agreement again rather than mutter all the obscenities lined up in his throat while he rolled his eyes in frustration. Frustrated at the lust. Frustrated at the minx who had caused it and frustrated—most of all—by the fact that Bill got to call her Lottie while he hadn’t yet been invited to. “Miss Travers does have a unique way with them.” And with people. Everybody liked her. Including him.
Not that he would ever admit that aloud.
“Horses aside.” His head groom was closer than his shadow now that they were indoors and Guy had nowhere to escape, hovering like a bird of prey waiting for some chink in the armor that would allow him to swoop in for the kill. “I’m glad the pair of you seem to be getting on so well. Aside from the mismatch in your temperaments…” How had she described that?The ray of sunshine and the storm cloud.Guy couldn’t deny her summation was likely as apt as it was galling. “You and Lottie have a great deal in common.”
Bill loved to list things on his fingers, so he had shoved them in Guy’s face. “You love horses, she loves horses. You’re both happiest when in the great outdoors. Obviously, we know the fact that she is also a vivacious and beautiful woman to boot is by the by and that you are immune to her physical charms, so pay all those gossips no mind. It would take a special sort of woman to tempt you back into the courting arena and she isn’t it. She’s too pretty. Too clever. Too funny. Too”—Bill rolled his hand as if pondering the conundrum—“vivacious for a staid fellow like you. I know that it is coincidence and coincidence alone that you’ve collided here every day this week at the exact same times as she sets off for her morning ride…”
Because of course his wily head groom had clocked that small shift in Guy’s routine after he’d gone out of his way to avoid her beforehand.Why wasn’t he avoiding the menace now? More importantly, why was he doing the exact opposite and doing his utmost to collide with her? It made no sense when she was everything in a woman he feared. Pretty, funny, clever, and vivacious were all adjectives that could be used to describe Florinda and she had used those attributes ruthlessly to make a fool out of him. But a niggling voice in his head kept reassuring him that his mother was probably right and lightning never struck in the same way twice and this was different.
