She raised her eyes to his face and saw a good deal of kindness and concern written there.
She broke the power of the moment by giving her head a tiny shake and said, “You might well wonder why Robert is allowed to run free in Brandon Hall. But now he is gone, and I don’t wish to think any more about him. That is, my lord, if you do not mind.”
“As if you would care if I minded or not.” With some effort he forced himself to remove his hands from her shoulders. Actually he wanted very much to kiss her, to hold her close to him, to feel her breasts against him. He wanted her to kiss him back, to put her arms around him and squeeze him to her.
He noticed the shabby riding habit, the same one she had worn on the several occasions they had gone riding together. Damn Sir Oliver.
Kate caught the brief look of anger in Julien’s gray eyes. Perplexed, she asked, “What’s wrong? It can’t be something I’ve said, for I know I’ve been most guarded in my every word to you. Do you not agree with Robert that I’m demure and modest, even though he’s shocked to his toes that I, a female of supposed decent breeding, actually indulge in fishing?”
“No, none of that. You’re a hoyden and utterly without guile and really quite clever. Now, I can’t seem to think of a place in the neighborhood that would have a hunter for sale.”
“I can see that from now on I must be more careful in my choice of fibs,” she said, giggling.
“Particularly when it involves my pocketbook.”
She felt instantly contrite. “Oh, dear, now I’ve been grossly impertinent. I do beg your pardon, Julien. Are you short of funds?”
10
Her ingenuous question, so ridiculous to anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the earl of March, left him speechless for a moment.
She misread his silence and said in a voice so filled with sympathy that he could only stare at her, “I can truly commiserate with you, for we are forever short in the pocket.”
“Kate, how dare you so insult my importance? You unman me, you pauperize me, in short, you reduce me to laughter.”
Words of apology died in her mouth. She kicked several small stones with the toe of her slipper, and he wondered if she wished she could be kicking him instead. “I might have known you’re disgustingly wealthy. As if you would care about buying a new hunter. It would mean nothing to you, less than nothing.”
“Before I’m forced to give you a full reckoning of my holdings, curious Kate, let’s go for a gallop.”
She shot him a grin, dimples dancing on her cheeks.
As was her custom, she patted Astarte’s silky nose and whispered endearments that were quite unintelligible to Julien but not, apparently, to his mare. Astarte nodded her great head in seeming agreement with the compliments and gave a snort of impatience.
“She’s such a beautiful creature.” She sighed, turning to mount her own mare, a docile swaybacked bay that was known to all at Brandon Hall as the Ladies’ Hack.
Julien cupped his hand and tossed her into the saddle. He looked forward with great anticipation to the day he could provide a suitable mount for her. His own Astarte, he thought, would suit her to perfection. He pictured her fleetingly in a rust-colored velvet habit and a riding hat with gauzy veils to float behind her in the wind.
“Come, my lord, Astarte grows impatient. As to poor old Carrot here, why she’s growing older by the minute, and the good Lord knows, she’s already a relic.”
He spoke without thought. “What, Katharine, a shrew already?”
She blinked at him, then said, “Why, how dare you call me a shrew. A shrew, as in a termagant or a fishwife? Really, my lord, it isn’t what I’m used to. No, not at all. I am quite used to being toadied and complimented until my eyes cross.”
He appeared to consider the matter with great seriousness as he turned Astarte about. There was laughter in her voice and it pleased him, even if her jest against herself didn’t. He said, grave as a bishop, “My apologies, ma’am, I fear that I’ve read my Shakespeare quite recently and was unjustly influenced. In the future I will contrive to compliment your fingernails rather than comment on your character.”
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