Page 27 of Who’s That Earl

She half-turned and glanced over her shoulder at Thomas. “Are you ready to return to Dunnock, sir?” The treacle in her voice almost made him miss this morning’s tartness.

But the square set of her shoulders promised that he’d be treated to the other side of her tongue again as soon as they were alone.

“Aye, Mrs. Higginbotham,” he said, offering a wink and a nod to Ross, who was fighting down laughter. Jane spun on one foot, providing Thomas with an unexpected opportunity to admire the curve of her hips beneath her swaying skirts as she preceded him to the doorway. “Lead the way.”

Chapter 10

Despite the breadth of Balisaig’s only thoroughfare, the distance between Mr. Abernathy’s apothecary shop and the Thistle and Crown was short. Too short for Jane to be able to reach any decisions about Thomas before she found herself once more walking up the rough path toward Dunnock beside him.

The more she considered the facts, the more certain she grew. She hadn’t the faintest idea how it might have come about—oh, these Scottish laws were strange!—but Thomas Sutherland, lieutenant in His Majesty’s army, must now be Lord Magnus.

What to do with this knowledge? Accuse him? Admonish him? Of all the fibs and fractured truths she’d told and been told in her life, she could recall none like this. An earl, pretending to be a commoner!

“Did you learn anything of value in the pub, Mr. Sutherland?”

He hesitated before replying. “I made a start.”

The glance he’d exchanged with Mr. Ross popped into her mind, the sort of amused, knowing look only old friends could share. He’d spent his boyhood summers in Balisaig, he’d told her. Now, he was sneaking about, spying on his own tenants. For what possible purpose?

Until she found out, she intended to maintain a proper distance between them. She thrust her hands deeper into her muff to discourage Thomas from offering her his arm.

“From the pace you’re setting, I ken you’re unhappy with me about something, lass,” he said after a moment.

She had to slow her steps and draw breath to reply. “I don’t know what you—”

“Tell me,” he said, ignoring her instinctive denial, “are you angry that I tried to kiss you? Or that I didn’t finish the job?”

She turned to look up at him and found him watching her with that familiar quirk about his lips and twinkle in his eyes. The burning sensation in her chest now blazed up into her cheeks.

“Contrary to your ridiculous speculations, Mr. Sutherland, I haven’t spent the last seven years—or even the last hour—thinking of your kiss.”

Yet another lie. Was that all they had for one another? But she could see no other path forward, at least not one that wasn’t treacherous in the extreme.

He tipped his head to the side, and that dratted dimple reappeared as he regarded her with playful skepticism. “Oh, aye?”

The heat in her cheeks made the cold air sting her face as she resumed her purposeful stride toward the castle. He easily matched her pace.

“I suppose it would be useless to deny that there’s always been a certain, uh...spark between us,” she confessed after a moment, wishing she didn’t sound so breathless.

The crunch and squeak of snow was loud beneath their feet. “But you wish you could deny it.” It wasn’t a question, exactly, though the words were tinged with something she was tempted to call disbelief.

Did she? She didn’t know anything to a certainty, not anymore.

Well, perhaps one thing.

“You didn’t come to Dunnock because of that letter.”

Surprise flickered into his eyes. Surprise, and even a little shock. As if he’d half-expected her to see through his story, but had not expected her to call his bluff.

But how long could they both go on holding all their cards close to the vest?

“So why did you say you had?”

The quickness of his response proclaimed its honesty. “Because when I saw it lying there, I was alarmed. I can only excuse myself with saying that my protective instinct took over.” A sheepish smile curved his lips.

“It’s only words on a piece of paper.”

“A simple letter can be the harbinger of far more serious things,” he insisted, even as she lifted one brow in an incredulous arch. “I suppose it’s in a soldier’s nature to assume the worst and do what I can to keep others from harm.”