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“No. I had a fancy that you might like to take a ride in my phaeton with me. That is the point of this thing, isn’t it? To see and be seen? Or so my aunt claimed. It feels a bit ridiculous, but I must adapt.”
He looked so out of place that it was endearing. But she couldn’t possibly accept. Not the least because if she did, she would be pressed up alongside him in a way that would bring the most scandalous memories to the fore of her mind. He’d tour her around Mayfair while she looked as if she’d gotten a sunburn, for all her blushing.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid I cannot accept. There isn’t enough room in the vehicle for the three of us.”
Thaddeus arranged the reins on the driver seat and hopped down to stand next to her. “Then please, allow me to escort you to your destination.”
“I believe you’ve done that once before.”
Thaddeus took his cue from Felicity and said with a straight face, “I’m certain I haven’t. If I had the honor of escorting a woman as lovely as yourself, I would be loath to leave her.”
He hadn’t left; she had. What would have happened if she’d stayed the night in his arms and woken together come the dawn?
She kept her smile in place by strength of will as she looked up at him, not wanting to give away the turn of her thoughts. As fetching as he looked in proper gentlemen’s attire, she yearned to see him out of it. There was something comforting about the lack of artifice between them while they’d been traveling. Hoping to regain some of that relaxed atmosphere, she teased, “Do you always patrol the streets in search of beautiful women to escort?”
He smiled so wide it took her breath away. “Only you.”
Their eyes met and her cultivated smile dropped away. It was as though they had never parted. The same as when they had been in the folly alone, her mouth tingled with the desire to kiss him. She swayed a little closer, unbearably tempted.
The horse started and took a few dancing steps further along the street. Thaddeus swore and ran after it, breaking the tension of the moment. Not a second too soon. Flame engulfed her cheeks, and she ducked her head to hide the blush.
As he wrestled the horse back into submission, she and Felicity strolled sedately to him again. He looked flustered, the color high in his cheeks only halfway hidden by the hair he hadn’t pulled into a queue today.
She teased, “It looks as though your horse isn’t at all interested in waiting while you escort us home. Perhaps another day. Good day, Lord Sherburn.”
She meant to walk away, to wrestle her unruly emotions back into some semblance of decorum. But he called after her as she stepped past.
“May I court you?”
Perdie could not turn around. She desperately needed a moment to reorient herself. Court her. She turned, firming her lips to stop their trembling. “That depends on what you mean by the word.”
He wound the reins in place more firmly this time, but they wouldn’t hold a determined horse. Turning his back on the beast once again, he stepped closer. “I’d like to court you. Send you flowers, if you like them. Dance with you again and again and again. At every ball I see you. I want to walk with you in the park. I want…I want you to know that I want you,” he said in a lower, huskier tone.
She merely stared, tongue-tied.
“Will you dance with me at Lady Hubert’s ball tonight.”
“You dance a passable waltz,” she retorted lightly, worried how her heart danced beneath her breast. “I might say yes.”
He mock choked. “Passable?”
Perdie smiled; she couldn’t help it. She liked teasing him. “Is that all you would demand of me?”
Looking uncommonly serious, Thaddeus answered, “I demand nothing of you. I ask for your company, when you’re willing to give it.”
Perdie was entirely unnerved by him. “What is your aim in courting me?” She caught his gaze and held it. “You know I do not wish to marry for the foreseeable future. I fought for a greater independence with my family and won it. I will use that freedom to explore my heart’s desires.”
Thaddeus took one of her hands, raising it to his lips to kiss her glove. She felt the heat of his breath even through the silk. “I ask for the opportunity to change your mind. You’ve made yourself plain, but you haven’t given me a minute to do the same.”
She stiffened and tried to draw back, but his hand tightened.
“Thaddeus—” His name left her lips without permission. She looked away.
“No. Listen to me, please.”
He could have carried on despite her protests, but he waited. The longer her heart beat in the silence, the more she felt the weight of his stare. She returned her gaze to his and nodded. She braced herself for his pretty words, for exclamations of devotion.
Instead, he said, “I’ll give it to you. The honeymoon, the years in London, whatever you’d like. It doesn’t matter to me where we are, so long as you are there with me.”
