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“Of course not.” The slight grin that curved her kissable mouth went long ways into banishing the ill-feelings the reporter’s name had brought. “I told him how I felt and moved on with my work in an efficient manner. There was no point in lingering or drawing it out.”
“Ah. No, I suppose there wasn’t.” God, she was a marvel, and he admired her penchant for honesty.
Lady Anne drained her teacup. “He was a visitor at my father’s behest two evenings ago, where he said some rather nasty things about me.” She looked from her cup to him. Emotions he couldn’t read clouded her eyes. “I slapped him.”
Oh, he would have given up the contents of his coffers to see that. “And managed to once again land in scandal?”
“What do you think?” Her smile widened, and he was transfixed. “My mother demanded an apology, but I refuse. My father wishes for me to give up on my dreams.” She held her lush bottom lip between her teeth for a few seconds. “I don’t mind telling you that doing such a thing was quite satisfying.”
“No doubt it was.” And good on her. The man was vile.
“To say nothing of the fact that Mr. Davies fancies himself a balloonist, says his skill is unsurpassed by any man in England. But he hasn’t gone up against me—a female.”
Oh, she was a delightful handful. Benedict’s lips twitched. Yes, she was a force to be sure. Again, he read that headline. “He wants nothing more than for you to fail.”
“Of course, and in spectacular fashion. It would hurt his pride as well as his progress if I were to achieve my goals.” She poured out another measure of tea into her cup. “So far, my flights have met with mixed success.” A wealth of sadness sprang into her eyes, but she didn’t speak further.
What did she hide from him, and why did he feel compelled to know more about her?
“Won’t your family worry about you?” To say nothing of the real fact that the earl might mount a search party and then call him out for harboring his errant daughter.
The lady snorted. “Hardly. I’m not an heir nor am I the sought-after boy. My only function for them is to make an advantageous marriage and give my father grandchildren, yet no one bothered to ask me what I want.” A fair amount of bitterness clung to her voice.
“I understand.” Certain fear buzzed at the base of his spine, for damn his eyes, he was honestly contemplating giving in to her request merely to discover what else she’d do. “How long would you need?”
Hope lit the depths of her eyes. She shrugged. “As long as it takes.” As she sipped at her tea, she also nibbled at a delicate seed cake. “Will you please lend me your full support?” The desperation in those cornflower blue eyes played to his chivalry. “I can keep my balloon on your grounds, and I’ll even do a test flight—tethered—to show you that I’m not some empty-headed miss. I do know what I’m talking about.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that you do.” For long moments he stared at her, assessing her as if she were an investment… which she potentially was. “Won’t you require financial backing? I’m not familiar with the process of ballooning but I’d think you must acquire the hydrogen or whatever it is that fills the balloon.”
A hint of a blush infused her ivory cheeks. “I do, and I suppose if I’ve defected from my father’s house, I can’t tap into his coffers.” Her chin trembled as a crestfallen expression crossed her face. “I hadn’t given thought to that.” The tiny sigh that escaped her held a sorrowful edge. “Having a dream is rather inconvenient if it requires coin.”
Bloody hell. Her distress tugged at his chest, and then apparently his tongue possessed a mind of his own, for he heard himself tell her he’d fund her endeavors. “However, there are risks…”
She sighed, and firmly set her teacup onto its saucer on the table before her. “A pity, that. You spend your days trying to figure out how things will go wrong and what will happen if or when they do. You never look at something in the reverse.”
“Meaning?” He frowned, for no one had ever doubted his ability to assess risks.
“Why not analyze the chances that a project might succeed?” She clasped her hands in her lap. “If that way of thinking is effective, what will happen then? Isn’t that more uplifting than seeing the negatives all the time?”
How interesting. Though it would spell disaster for investment potential. “A positive outlook is but a by-product of risk analysis.” Why he clung to this argument, chose this hill to die on boggled his mind. “I’ve found that people who only look on the optimistic side of life are a risk in their own right. They ignore warning signals and potential pitfalls, which makes the project or chore they’re entering into that more dangerous—for everyone.”
She frowned. “How so?”
“People like that refuse to think they’ll fail.”
The lady blew out a breath that ruffled a few baby-fine curls on her forehead. “Because they believe in their work and themselves. That isn’t a failing, Lord Worthington.” Her voice rose with each word. “If they listened to the doubts—both internally and externally—nothing would ever be accomplished, and everything would stay the same.”
Benedict shook his head. Her argument made no sense. “Life doesn’t work like that. Doubts are there as a warning.”
“Ha!” She tossed her head. “It should. People would be happy, and those creative types, those people who wish to change the status quo, would pursue the things they love, the things that set their souls on fire with equal vigor that they talk themselves out of it due to so-called risk.”
His lower jaw dropped slightly, for she was magnificent in her enthusiasm. Her eyes flashed with vigor while determination lined her face and high color blazed in her cheeks. “You’d have everyone throw caution to the wind and plunge in feet first?” He set his teacup onto the table, for he couldn’t concentrate on both her and his tea.
“Absolutely.” She nodded to back up that assumption. “Enthusiasm and passion go a long way into changing traditional ways of thinking. Why choose to sit on your hands and watch the world go by due to fear?”
Why indeed? The truth of those words lanced through his chest and hit too close to home. Hadn’t he done exactly that? Let fear alter the way he saw the world and then act accordingly? When he didn’t respond, she sailed into the silence.
“What happens in your carefully controlled world when an unexpected consequence pops up you hadn't counted on?” She raised a dark blonde eyebrow in challenge.
