quite understood his daughter. Thea had no head for figures and the only thing they had had in common was a boisterous sense of humour and their twin fiery tempers. ‘Did you go to Cambridge or Oxford?’
‘No... I went abroad.’
‘To study?’
‘After a fashion. I’m not much of a scholar, I’m afraid. I certainly have no head for numbers.’
‘Me either.’ They had something in common. Something deathly dull and inconsequential in common. ‘Aside from swimming scandalously naked with your dog, what do you enjoy?’ Why had she said that? Instantly her cheeks heated while she wrestled Impetuous Thea back into her box.
He shot her a sideways glance and chuckled, the deep sound warming her in places that had no right being warmed. ‘I thought we had drawn a veil over that. Or is the memory too awful for your tender sensibilities to forgive and forget?’ He was flirting. Despite refusing to meet his eye she could hear it in his voice, but she was already blushing and doubtless he could see it. What had made her bring it up again? He would think she couldn’t stop thinking about it, which was, of course, mortifyingly true. Aside from the memory of him naked, the wayward, wilful part of her nature was seriously considering swimming naked in the brook, too. It was ridiculously hot—even for July...
As if he could read her mind, he stared knowingly at her, the wretch. Better to acknowledge the discomfort head on and then brush it blithely aside. She was almost twenty-four, for goodness’ sake. Ladies of that age were expected to be a bit more worldly, no matter how well bred and proper they were.
‘I have forgotten it.’ Liar. ‘As much as one can forget such an outrageous anomaly so early in the day, especially as the day is nowhere near over yet and here you are again—being exactly where you shouldn’t be and encroaching on my privacy. Thankfully, it was a brief encounter, so therefore unlikely to make a lasting impression on my tender sensibilities. I am hopeful it will be nought but a distant memory by tomorrow.’ Gracious! Her true tartness had materialised out of nowhere when she had intended to be nothing but polite. Clearly she needed a much stronger padlock on the box around Lord Gray.
‘That is good to know. Nothing makes a man happier than knowing he is quickly forgettable. Especially when all his credentials have been laid bare for scrutiny. I shall sleep soundly tonight, secure in the knowledge the spectre of my bottom will not be encroaching on your dreams.’
It was funny that she could hear his smile. Funnier still that her own mouth was curving upwards, too, when this entire conversation was outrageous. Gloriously so. Not being immediately suspicious was liberating. ‘So shall I. For they would hardly be dreams, Lord Gray. I fear if your bottom scandalously encroached, surely, they would be nightmares at the very least. When one is as decrepit as I, one needs one’s beauty sleep.’ She was flirting! When she never flirted any more in case it gave untrustworthy men the wrong impression. This man clearly brought out the worst in her and she hardly knew him.
‘If you got any more sleep, you’d be dangerous.’
‘Although I should warn you, I doubt Harriet and my uncle will allow me to forget the incident completely until they have fully had their fun at my expense...’ Had he just paid her a compliment? Thea gave up staring off into the distance and risked flicking him a glance. He was sat staring cockily right back at her. Utterly gorgeous, the seams of his coat straining slightly against the muscles of his folded arms, those unusual blue-grey eyes twinkling with mischief. Her heart did a little stutter at the sight. That and his scandalously pretty comment, which the sensible part of her cautioned was probably best ignored. Reacting would only encourage him, making him think she was interested, and she certainly didn’t want that. Just in case he was a bounder in wolf’s clothing. ‘Kindly repeat what you just said.’ So much for ignorance and disinterest. Impetuous, easily seduced Thea was loose and running roughshod all over the terrace.
‘I said, if you got any more sleep, you’d be dangerous. Obvious decrepitude aside, you are quite beautiful enough already, Miss Cranford. I’m not entirely sure I could cope with any more. I find myself already totally smitten with you.’
Internally she was sighing and was in grave danger of melting into a puddle at the man’s feet. He thought her beautiful. Was already smitten... How lovely. Of course, outwardly, she hoped she looked unimpressed because she was far too sensible to be waylaid by flowery words any more—no matter how lovely Impetuous Thea thought they were to hear. ‘Oh, my!’ She fluttered her hand in front of her face and batted her eyelashes. ‘What a swoon-worthy compliment! If only I hadn’t seen you similarly flirting with my aunt a short while ago, I’d be tempted to be flattered.’
‘There is a distinct difference. Your aunt flirted with me first and it would have been rude not to respond in kind. That was merely social flirting, Miss Cranford, and therefore innocuous. My flirting with you was wholly unsolicited and wholly spontaneous. It was genuine flirting.’ The arrogant grin suited him and Thea found herself enjoying it.
‘Ah—I see.’ She tapped her lip and attempted to look thoughtful, enjoying this unexpected sparring match with a man who met none of her strict criteria, but seemed to be able to pick the locks that bound the chains around the inner Thea’s locked box. ‘So if social flirting is innocuous, does that make genuine flirting noxious?’
‘It makes it dangerous. Especially when both of us engage in it as we are now. It hints at intent.’ He raised his dark eyebrow. ‘At promise...’
Instinctively, she folded her own arms, mirroring his casual pose. ‘I hardly think I am flirting, Lord Gray.’
‘Gray will do just fine. And you are most definitely flirting, Miss Cranford. I’m afraid I recognise all of the signs.’
‘Really? Pray enlighten me, for I confess I am at a loss.’
He shuffled closer on the bench and leaned in conspiratorially, smelling sinfully of sunshine and spicy cologne. ‘To the unobservant, it would be difficult to tell, but there are subtle clues. Your insistence on reminding me of this morning, for example. Unconsciously, despite all my very proper clothes, your mind is scandalously picturing me naked.’
She scoffed, bristling, wondering if he really could read her mind. ‘I most certainly am not! Ewwwgh!’ She shuddered for effect. ‘I can assure you my brain has far better things to think about than the unsavoury picture of you in the altogether, although even if I was, which I most definitely am not, a person’s private thoughts hardly constitute flirting.’
‘The coquettish side glances and pretty pink blushes which accompany them does.’
Thea turned her head and stared him dead in the eye. ‘I’m a redhead and if I am a bit pink, then I have clearly been in the sun a tad too long, my lord.’
‘A plausible denial, to be sure—but it doesn’t fool me. And I thought we agreed you could call me Gray going forward, seeing as you’ve seen me in the altogether? But...your preoccupations with my impressive, manly nude body aside, there are other damning clues which only a true connoisseur in the subtle art of flirting would pick up. A moment ago, for instance, when you brought your finger to your lips... Why, it was obvious you were doing so to purposely draw my eyes there and set me wondering if they are as soft and inviting as they look.’
She had touched her lips quite innocently, or so she had thought, but now they tingled. ‘You are delusional.’
‘Right now, we both know the position of your arms has only one true purpose.’
She
