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I was being an ass to her, and I knew it. Which wouldn’t help matters.
‘I apologise,’ I said stiffly. ‘I also apologise for scaring you before.’
She eyed me for a moment, as well she might, since apologising didn’t come easily to me and I didn’t do it very often. ‘You didn’t scare me,’ she said. ‘You never have.’
‘Nevertheless. I should not have kicked the door in.’
Her chin lifted. ‘And are you going to apologise for that kiss too?’
A flash of heat went through me. ‘Do you want me to?’
Colour stained her cheeks and her gaze wavered, then flicked away.
I stared hungrily at her, noting the goosebumps rising on her arms. That slight breeze came directly off the mountains and was chilly. Perhaps we needed to be inside, where it was warmer, to have this discussion.
Taking a step forward, I caught her gently beneath the elbow. ‘Come with me. We need to talk.’
She resisted. ‘Do you really have to be so bossy?’
‘Well, if you’d prefer to freeze to death then by all means let’s continue this conversation out here.’ I relented slightly. ‘Please, Jenny. The wind is cold and your dress is thin.’
A complicated expression flickered over her face. ‘Well...’ she murmured after a moment. ‘Okay, then.’
I should have let her go then, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. Her skin beneath my fingers was warm, and very soft, and I wanted to keep touching it. This might be the last time I ever got to touch her, so I kept my hand beneath her elbow as I urged her towards the manor.
‘I’m sorry if I intruded,’ she said again as I hurried her along. ‘I thought it was okay to explore.’
‘It is. I just don’t want anyone going near the cottage.’ I wasn’t looking at her, my attention ahead, but I could feel her curious dark gaze on me.
But there was no point explaining—not when I was going to send her away—so I said nothing.
I thought she might ask why, but she didn’t, remaining silent until we stepped through the front doors and into the entrance hall. Then I let her go, turning to face her.
Being outdoors had flushed her skin and made her dark eyes sparkle. She hadn’t inherited any of Catherine’s delicate blonde beauty, and neither had she any of Catherine’s poise. Jenny was always fidgety, biting her lip and tugging at her clothes.
But she was beautiful to me all the same and standing in the hall, in the red dress I’d bought her, giving me a smile, she was even lovelier. Her skin reminded me of delicate pink roses washed by rain. Her chestnut hair lay in loose, glossy waves around her shoulders. There was a vitality to her, a sensuality I’d first noticed that day on the stairs, when she’d been waiting for me to come home.
She’d been all of eighteen, a woman grown, and my body had noticed even if my head had refused to acknowledge it.
All very good reasons to let her go now.
‘So, what did you want to talk about?’
The flush to her skin had deepened. She’d noticed me looking at her. Which meant I needed to say my piece and get her out of my immediate vicinity.
‘Speaking of that kiss,’ I said. ‘Yes, I apologise for that too. It should not have happened.’
This time there was no denying the emotion that flickered over her face. Disappointment. ‘Do you really think that? Because I don’t.’
I didn’t want to hear that she’d liked it, that she still wanted me, even though I knew both things were true. I’d tasted the evidence in the heat of her kiss, in the way she’d melted against me, malleable as warm candle wax. I didn’t want to feel the satisfaction that turned over inside me at the memory. It made me think of the garden, and the deep pleasure of her arms wrapping around my neck, of her body arching into mine, pressing all those sweet, soft curves against me. And it made me want to push her against the wall and take her now, ease inside her, keep her here in the manor house like the most precious treasure in my hoard.
She kept doing this. She kept undermining my control.
‘I’m sending you back to London,’ I said, ignoring her question. ‘I’ll arrange for transport to collect you in the morning, and you’ll be home by tomorrow night.’
Jenny’s lovely mouth dropped open, her eyes going wide. ‘What? But before you were insisting that I marry you. In fact, you wouldn’t take no for an answer.’
‘I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to force you into it if that’s not what you want.’
