Suddenly she couldn’t bear to wait any longer. Horace was too slow and if she was going to kiss him, then it must be now, before her practical mind argued her out of it. Tina reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders, gazing up at his face in the moonlight.
“Horace,” she murmured, “what if I were to pretend you were a frog now?”
He stared at her a moment as she looked up at him with shining eyes, her lips softly parted. And then he burst out laughing.
“Tina,” he gasped, “you are priceless!”
She backed away from him, stumbling on the path. Now he was doubled over and to her chagrin incapable of speaking.
She turned and began to hurry away. Behind her she could hear him still laughing, and it only added fuel to her anger and humiliation. Tears sprang to her eyes—tears of fury, she told herself—and rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t see where she was going, everything was a blur, and when she blundered into the hard masculine body in front of her, she thought at first it must be Horace.
“Let me go,” her voice wobbled as she struggled in his grip. “I don’t want to speak to you ever again.”
“Miss Smythe . . . Tina?”
That warm, deep voice could only belong to one man: Richard Eversham.
She stopped struggling and peered up at him, blinking to clear her gaze. He was a silhouette against the pale lights from the house, and then he’d drawn her off the path and into the foliage, sitting her down on a stone bench placed beneath a fragrant honeysuckle arch. The air was damp and cool, enclosing her, and she wanted to sob against his shoulder and be held in his arms.
“What is it?” he commanded. “Tell me.”
He was holding her hands, and she could feel his hard grip through her gloves, while his thigh brushed hers on the seat—it wasn’t really made for two. “I’d rather not,” she faltered miserably.
“Did he hurt you?” he demanded, bending his head to see her face. He let go of one hand and used his fingertip to smooth away her tears. He was so gentle, it eased her aching heart amazingly.
“No,” she said huskily. “At least, not in the way you’re thinking.”
“Then tell me,” he insisted, tipping up her chin so that she had no choice but to look into his face, into his eyes.
She licked her lips. It was a relief to let the words spill out. “I did everything you said. I rested my hands on his shoulders and stepped close to him. I could feel the-the heat from his body. He was looking at me as if he wanted to kiss me. I’m sure he did want to kiss me. But he was taking so long!”
A frown creased between his slashing black brows. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t want to wait, in case I changed my mind, I just wanted him to kiss me and make everything all right, so I decided I would kiss him instead of waiting for him to kiss me. Only it all went wrong,” she ended, her voice catching.
“How did it go wrong?” he insisted, and she knew he wasn’t going to let her off without hearing the entire truth.
So, reluctantly, but with a certain sense of relief, she told him.
Chapter 13
Richard bit his lip, struggling with laughter. And delight. Serve Horace Gilfoyle right, he was a frog. But now definitely wasn’t the time to say so to Tina.
He took a steadying breath and softened his tone. “Oh dear, Tina.”
She tried to pull away, but he held her, gently but implacably. He sensed that if she got away now, he’d never catch her. She gave a choking sob, her body resting trustingly against his.
“I’ll never be able to convince him that I’m the woman he wants to marry. Not now. He’ll never let me forget what I said. I know him. He will d-delight in reminding me at every o-opportunity.”
“Hush, stop it, Tina.”
After a moment, she did, giving a decisive sniff. He handed her his handkerchief and she dabbed at her eyes.
“Actually I think it was rather endearing.”
“Endearing?” She looked up at him in astonishment. “Would you have laughed?”
He told her the truth. “Yes, but I would have kissed you, too. He’s a fool to have let the opportunity pass. You must make him suffer for it, you do know that, don’t you? You can’t forgive him too easily. You must make him work for the privilege of kissing you now.”