Page 59 of An Unexpected Earl

“Well, an unmarried miss should never pass up a potential husband,” she quipped. “Sometimes a woman has to take matters into her own hands.”

Unease tightened in his gut. She might have been teasing about wedding Varnham, but something about the way she said it contained a deeper truth that prickled an icy warning at his nape. “It won’t work.”

“What won’t?”

“Attempting to distract me with jealous thoughts of you with Varnham.”

“Well, thank goodness for—”

“Because he’ll never court you. You’re not his type.”

She twisted a damp curl around her finger. “Blond?”

“Intelligent.” When her eyes flared, he added, “That sharp mind of yours can run circles around Varnham. He’d never let himself be shown up by a woman. Even one as beautiful and alluring as you.”

Her lips parted slightly at the compliment, and for a moment, she was speechless.Good.The last thing he wanted to discuss was potential husbands for her.

“Is that whyyoukeep embracing me?” she challenged softly once she found her voice. “Because you find me beautiful and alluring? Or are you attempting to distract me into giving you answers?”

No.Thatwas the last thing. “Not at all.”

“Yet you keep doing it.”

A smug grin curled his lips. “Because you seem to like it.”

She sniffed with mock offense. “It was the excitement of nearly being caught in Devonshire’s closet, that’s all.”

“And in your shop? No one was there to catch us then.”

“Temporary madness.” Then she folded her arms over her chest, once again assuming that obstinate pose in which she’d begun this argument.

Damnation.He was getting nowhere by sparring with her like this, and time was running out. Flanking the enemy and hoping for a break in the line wasn’t working. It was time for a direct assault.

He accused bluntly, “Varnham is connected to the trust, isn’t he?”

She tensed, her breath catching so hard in startled surprise that he could hear it. But she managed to rasp out, “I don’t know what you mean.”

No, he wouldn’t let her dissemble so easily and pressed, “What did you hope to gain from him? Help in delaying the trust if I turned out to be on your brother’s side?”

“If I don’t answer,” she tossed back, once again picking a fight, “will you kiss me again in another attempt to seduce secrets from me?”

“If I kiss you, Amelia,” he promised, “it won’t be to uncover those kinds of secrets.”

She stilled instantly, except for her cheeks which flushed bright red even in the dim firelight.

As if needing to keep herself busy, she picked up her dress from the floor and shook it out. She made a show of frowning over the ruined satin, but he knew it was really to keep from having to make eye contact with him. “What do you care about any of this?”

“I’ve always cared about you.”

She turned toward the fireplace, ostensibly to drape the wet dress over the back of a chair to dry. But more than likely to put an even greater distance between them. Even with the blazing fire, the room had suddenly grown cold.

“I’ve never given you any reason to doubt that.” His voice was low and controlled, but he fought the urge to clench his fists in frustration. “Even when I left Birmingham for the army, I did it to protect you. And I’ll keep protecting you as long as necessary.” He pushed himself out of the chair and slowly approached her. “But it would also help a great deal if you trusted me.”

She held tightly to the blanket to keep it in place between them. A desperate shield, nearly as effective in stopping him in his tracks as the look of betrayal shining in her eyes. “How can I trust you when I don’t know your real motives? Or why you’re so interested in what my brother has done?”

A logical question. Yet something about the way she said it implied so much more that he couldn’t fathom. A defensiveness. The need to protect herself. An old wound.It killed him to see her in pain.

“You know that I have never done anything except act in your best interests,” he assured her quietly, “even when we were children.”