Captain and Countess by Alice Gaines

Author:Alice Gaines [Gaines, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 25058583
Publisher: Kindle Press
Published: 2015-03-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

When they arrived at the base of the lane that would take them to Carlton House, Bess ordered Jason to pull the horse to a stop. Time had come to go back to pretending a friendship and nothing more.

“I’ll get down here,” she said.

“Wouldn’t that look lovely,” he said. “Me riding with you walking alongside.”

“It is your horse, and I am the one who caused the . . .” The what? The disaster? The melodrama? What word would you use for the fact that they’d spent the entire night alone together? “. . . the crisis that sent you out looking for me.”

“Stubborn to the last.” He dismounted from behind her. “I’ll walk. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

He didn’t walk, though. He stood there, gazing up at her out of his remarkable green eyes. Though he wore his coat, it hung open, and his unfastened shirt revealed some of the smooth skin of his chest. With the tails hanging out of his pants, he looked rumpled, as if he’d just risen from his lover’s bed, which of course he had. Though they’d never share each other’s bodies again, they had been lovers the night before. They were lovers still, at least until they reached the house.

“You will let me know if you’ve conceived a child, won’t you?” he asked.

“I doubt that’s likely at my age.”

“Women older than you still bear children.”

“Not first children.”

He stared up the lane toward the house, even though it wouldn’t come into view until they’d gone for some distance. “What will we tell them?”

“The truth.”

His head snapped up again.

“We’ll just leave out a few details,” she said.

“Tiny bits of information like the fact that we made love?” he said. “Twice?”

“Would you rather tell the whole story?”

His jaw tensed, and a muscle jumped at the corner of his mouth. “No.”

“It happened. It was lovely. It’s over.”

“Right.” Taking the horse’s reins, he led her up the lane. Though she’d passed through this countryside hundreds if not thousands of times, it seemed different. Such a cliché and yet true. Of course, the fields and hedges hadn’t changed. She had. He’d taught her a few lessons about being a woman—being human, actually. Lessons about passion and yearning. Lessons she wouldn’t forget any time soon.

He went slowly. They’d made a large burden for the horse, but the animal bore her alone easily enough. He obviously didn’t relish arriving at their destination any more than she did.

Eventually, the lane ended, and the house came into view as they went up the drive. Curtains fluttered at an upstairs window. Anna’s bedroom. She and Rose would have been worried, so naturally they would have watched for her return. She’d never had any chance of getting inside undetected. They’d question her closely, and she still had nothing convincing to tell them. They could see through her lies if they wanted. As much as she loved them, she didn’t owe them an explanation.

Before her friends could intercept her, her dear butler, Upton, came out of the house at twice the speed a man of his age should attempt.

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