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A hard glimmer seeped into his eyes, an irate edge catching on his words. “My level? What would you know of my level?”
Her head snapped back at the sudden malice in his voice. She replayed her words in her mind and then chuckled. “No, your level—physically.” Her hand swept out in front of her and to the left. “The gardens—that is the level I mean. My head would be stuck with a juicy apple and on a platter if I were caught in the gardens with some rogue.”
His gaze finally broke from her face and he looked to his right, his eyes scanning the evergreen hedges. He gave a slight nod to himself, then settled his focus back on her. “Are you not a grown woman?”
“Yes.”
“Then I would think you could make your own decisions on where your feet roam.”
She cocked her head to the side. The misconceptions about a woman’s freedom were astounding sometimes. “A man would think that.”
“A strong woman would think that as well.”
His barb hit as intended. Her mouth pinched. “My dowry is my curse—I cannot be compromised, especially not by some tuft-hunting rake.”
“It sounds like you just need to find someone at your level.” He inclined his head with a smirk. “That is, someone that is bigger than your dowry.”
“When you come across that someone, please let me know.” She couldn’t resist a grin. “And please let him not be sixty.”
“Who shall I send him to?”
Her brows lifted. “You don’t know who I am?”
“No. Should I?”
“Truly? You don’t know?”
He shook his head, his hawk eyes sinking into her like she was a tasty little morsel of prey.
She scoffed a chuckle. “I was under the impression that we had reached the mark where I was pointed out to any male new to Wolfbridge between the ages of twelve and eighty-six, along with the message to not approach. And most certainly, to not touch upon threat of a slow, torturous death.”
He chuckled. “No, I’m afraid I wasn’t driven through such a gauntlet.”
“You have not met either of my fathers, then.”
“You have two fathers?”
“My first father is my Uncle Reiner, the Duke of Wolfbridge, who raised me from a babe.”
A flicker crossed his eyes. There it was.
He knew who she was. Not on sight, but he now knew exactly who he was talking with and it sent a sliver of loss cutting across her chest.
It had been winsome, if only for a few minutes, to be anonymous. Just a bumbling woman getting caught spying on clandestine lovers.
She shouldn’t have expected less. They were at Wolfbridge, of course. Peculiar that he hadn’t met her Uncle Reiner yet, but it wasn’t unusual. At some of these affairs, her uncle didn’t mingle with many of the guests if there was a crush as thick as it was tonight.
To his credit, Lord Winfred’s face and eyes reset almost instantly. “And your second father?”
“Lord Troubant.” She couldn’t help the pinch in her voice. “He was on the other side of the world for the first eighteen of my years. He now works ardently at shoving all eighteen years’ worth of protectiveness into my life.”
His mouth pulled into a tight line. “And you do not skirt the bounds of your protective bubble? Ever?”
“I have.” She shrugged. “But I have also found, in the past few seasons, that my fathers aren’t exactly misguided when it comes to how protective they are of me. Too many of these lords have been determined to take liberties they were not offered. And too many of them prefer to have a woman on her knees, begging for attention. I have determined that I am not the begging type. No matter how attractive the man in front of me appears to be.”
“No?” The side of his mouth lifted in a devil’s quirk. “Are you saying I’m attractive?”
Did she say that?Blast.
