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“Oh dear me, no. I enjoy walking. When I ride, everything passes by in a blur. When I walk, I cannot help noticing the feel of the soft earth beneath my soles. Smell the greenness of the grass, feel the dew on my skin, and the soft breeze on my face. I also love looking at the small animals as they scurry about in the woods. Walking also stirs the mind to think and reflect. It is wonderfully restorative, and I take long walks every day.”
“I noticed,” he said, almost bemused by her delight.
They spilled outside, and she lifted her face to the soft rays of the sun and inhaled. Phineas headed toward the property’s woodlands, where they would be more likely to encounter the small creatures she liked. They strolled in companionable silence, which she did not seem to mind. Phineas found he did not mind it either, finding a perfect calm within the silence. Upon entering the woodlands, she instinctively followed along a beaten path leading to the town’s village, plucking wildflowers at odd moments and tucking them behind her ears.
“Is this what you do on every walk?”
She laughed. “Sometimes I sing. Other times I read. Sometimes I toe off my shoes and climb a tree. It feels great to look about the land from higher up.”
Phineas had been a lad the last time he scurried up a tree. “Would you like to climb one now?”
She jolted, clearly astonished, then she grinned. “I would love—”
“Oh yes, Phineas is indeed engaged!”
With a gasp of alarm, she whirled toward that cry, peering through the thickets to see Annabelle and Sarah coming up the small, inclined path with two other ladies.
“We have heard no news of this in town. Think of it, Lord Wyndham snagged by this Miss Jane Harrington? Who is she really? Who are her connections?” This voice was piqued and aggravated.
“Oh dear,” Felicity cried, grabbing his arm and tugging him into a crouch. When he did not budge, she glared up at him, and he indulgently stooped.
“I gather you will explain your cause of alarm.”
“It’s Lady Millicent Billow,” she hissed. “Whatever is she doing here?”
“Who?”
“Lady Millicent. She is the beloved daughter of the Marquis of Trembly. Also, the lady who dropped her handkerchief before you at Lady Sanderson’s ball and then deliberately tripped at the picnic in Hamstead Heath, intending to force you to lift her in your arms. Do you not remember?”
“No,” he murmured, a bit astonished that she had been at these events, and he had not noticed her. “You saw these acts yourself?”
“Yes,” she said distractedly, staring at the ladies who came closer with each step. “You looked a bit annoyed when you lifted her in your arms when she pretended her ankles were hurt.”
“I see. You were watching me.”
She darted him a quick glance before rolling her eyes in an unladylike fashion. “I merely recognized you at these social events after our encounter in the rain,” she said pertly.
Still, a soft pink stained her throat and face, and Felicity resolutely did not meet his gaze. Phineas found he could not avert his gaze. How had he not noticed Miss Felicity Harrington? He had thought often of the drenched girl he had met in the rain but had never encountered her again. Nor had he thought to seek her out. But to think she had attended several events he had also made an appearance at, no doubt acting as a companion to the dowager duchess’s daughter.
And I missed seeing you. The idea astonished him, for now Phineas could not dismiss her from his sleeping thoughts or waking dreams. What if he had missed meeting her?Bloody hell.The notion was intolerable. He breathed deeply to quiet the unexpected ache in his chest. Felicity Harrington was such an unexpected force in his life that he could not envision her being absent from it ever again. The awareness shook him, and he looked away with a frown. The idea of bedding her now seemed beyond dangerous. Surely it would chain him more to her charms, and he would find himself forever ensnared.
And would that be so bad?Before he could think on the entire thing and answer his silent question, Felicity gave a great gasp and tried to tug him to the ground. “Follow me.”
Phineas bit back his laugh and dutifully lowered himself onto his belly on the prickly grass, following her movements. The entire thing was ridiculous, but it seemed to matter, so he indulged her curious antics. He chuckled when she rolled her entire body a few times until she stopped under a large tree that hid her from anyone coming up the path. Phineas stood, went over, and then lay down on his belly once more, positioned shoulder to shoulder with her and peering over some thickets to the path.
“Why are you laughing?” she asked a bit peevishly.
“You had no reason to roll. I wonder what goes on in your head.”
She chuckled under her breath, and it was one of the sweetest and most pleasant sounds he’d ever heard. It went deep inside his body and warmed him. Felicity bounced his shoulder with hers and whispered, “Should Lady Millicent see us, Annabelle will introduce me as your fiancée. Not Jane, but Felicity. Lady Millicent might not remember me, but we have met before through Perdita. She might refer to me as Miss Harrington, which might spare Annabelle and Sarah the awareness of our ruse; however, Lady Millicent is a nosy gossip! With certainty, she will take the news back to town that one of the season’s most elusive bachelors was caught! Then how would we escape our pretend engagement when everyone knows of it?”
As he stared at her peering over the thickets into the grass, Phineas could not help wondering what it would be like to have her by his side, always, to see her strolling in these woods with her belly swollen with child, his child, and another by her side chortling as she pointed out the small creatures in the woodlands. A fierce hunger washed through him with a force that almost knocked the breath from his damn body. Turning onto his back, he lay there and looked up at the sky through the leaves of the massive trees overhead.
“Oh, they are far enough. Let’s go.” She hopped to her feet and grabbed his hand, hauling him up, then took off running in the opposite direction of Lady Millicent and Annabelle. He followed her least he pitched forward face first into the grass, for not once did she release his hand. They sprinted for several seconds, until they spilled into a clearing of shin-high wild grass where she tumbled to the ground, pulling him along with her. With a groan, she shifted and turned to lay on her back as well. “My nerves will take some time to settle.”
Phineas did not respond. He was stuck on feeling and thinking of things he had never thought before. All because of the sweet and alluring and tempting woman beside him.
“Are we cloud watching?” she murmured, seemingly delighted.
