Page 26 of His Improper Lady

“Why wouldn’t I?” She raised her brows, then smiled archly and said, “I don’t bite.”

“I’m not too sure about that.” But he swung up into the carriage.

Theirs was a small town carriage, meant for only two people, so Tom had no place to sit but next to her. Desiree was intensely aware of how close he was, only inches separating them. Her heart beat a little faster.

“What do you want?” Tom asked as the carriage once again rolled forward.

“Must I want something from you?”

“Yes,” he answered bluntly. “You’re the kind who always has a hidden purpose.”

“It’s not hidden.” She ignored the judgment in his statement and kept her voice businesslike. “I have a proposition for you.”

He said nothing, just raised his brows in an irritating way.

Desiree took a breath and plunged forward. “I suggest that you and I work together.”

CHAPTER TEN

TOM STARED BACK at her. He wasn’t sure what he had expected her to say, but it certainly had not been this. “I beg your pardon?”

“Work together. You and I,” she said with emphasis—like he was a bleedin’ idiot. “We can pool our resources, share our thoughts.”

“So you can learn everything I find out, you mean. You must be daft.”

“I assure you, I am not,” Desiree said crisply. “I am simply practical. It makes perfect sense—we are looking for the same thing.”

“No. I am looking for the truth,” Tom said.

“And you think I’m not?” Desiree’s eyes flashed and color flared along her cheekbones.

She looked beautiful in her anger—he had to admit that, and it galled him. It would be a great deal easier maintaining his dislike of her if he didn’t have this urge to kiss her. When he opened Upton’s door this morning and saw her standing on the doorstep, his chest had suddenly lightened, and he’d wanted to smile. He’d had to frown to keep from doing so.

Desiree’s presence had distracted him throughout the interview; he feared he would later remember some important question he had forgotten to ask or a point he had missed because he’d been too occupied watching her. He hated that even knowing what chicanery she was trying to pull on the Morelands, he was still drawn to her.

He had warmed to the glint of laughter in her eyes, even when she was taking a jab at him; he had enjoyed hearing her laugh; he had wanted to see her smile. It had touched him to see her comfort the old man. The disappointment in her voice when she realized her mother had not given a thought to her children in her farewell letter made him want to help her. He’d jumped in with a question to move the conversation off that obviously painful topic.

All of that made it a very bad idea to be in her company. He should not have even accepted her invitation to ride in the carriage. She was too close: he could smell the subtle hint of her perfume and see the perfection of her skin, the softness of her lips. Tom had the completely unreasonable desire to reach out and trace the delicate curve of her eyebrows, a brown that was a shade or two darker than her hair.

“You apparently think I want to bilk your beloved Morelands. I fail to understand why you are so extremely devoted to a family of aristocrats who no doubt look upon you as little more than a servant, but that doesn’t matter. I can assure you that I don’t want their money. I want to know who my father is. That’s all.”

“You want to find out he’s a Moreland,” Tom corrected.

“No. I think he is a Moreland. There’s a difference. It isn’t a matter of desire. It’s a matter of proof. The Moreland connection seems likely, but if you should find out that my father was someone else, I won’t be upset. I want to learn who he is. I want the truth.”

“And I will be happy to tell you when I find out. There’s no reason for us to work together.”

“Don’t be absurd. It’s obviously an advantage to have two minds working on the same subject. We can talk, we can present theories or break them down. We will come at the issue from different perspectives. You have a partner—surely you understand the value of two people working together.”

“You will impede my investigation.”

“I will not. Look at the interview you just had with Sid. You were getting nowhere with him until I came along and helped.”

That was certainly true enough, but Tom wasn’t about to admit it. He crossed his arms and gazed stonily back at her. Her mouth tightened, her eyes blazing brighter. Tom knew he was irritating her, and that fact gave him a certain satisfaction, though he wasn’t sure why.

“We have different abilities to bring to the case,” Desiree pointed out. “Different assets. It will be more effective if we combine them.”

“I don’t plan to break into any houses or scale any walls, so I don’t think your skills will be of much use to me.”