The Lord's Inconvenient Vow

‘Yes, I dare say. Poor Rafe. Playing nursemaid was new to him.’

‘Where did he take you?’

‘He has a house up in the hills above Grasmere. It is tiny and in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but he goes there when he needs to...when he needs to be alone. We stayed there for several months and then sailed to Jamaica.’

‘I see why he is so important to you. I will do everything I can to help.’

‘Yes, I know. That is what worries me.’ He finally looked at her, his grey-green eyes warm with laughter. She knew he was doing his best to put her at ease and it worked. She poked her elbow in his ribs.

‘Most amusing. I can be useful at times, but I shall try not to interfere unless you ask me. So while you are canvassing the lawyers I shall work on my drawings. Chase was right—it was important to return to Egypt and see everything afresh. Now I only hope Mr Bunny writes more books so I can use my new inspiration.’

‘Mr what?’

‘Mr Bunny. That is what I call the author of the Desert Boy books.’

‘But why Mr Bunny of all things?’ He sounded so disgusted she laughed.

‘Bunny as in hare, or a hare’s tail. Every time I try to imagine what he looks like the image slips away like the hare in our garden used to disappear into its warren when I tried to catch it.’

‘I’m surprised you didn’t stake a tent beside the hole and wait for it to reappear.’

‘I did linger until I saw the one I’d been chasing pop out of another hole on the other side of the lawn. You think me stubborn, but I am too impatient to waste time on lost causes.’

‘Are you? And I would say you are more tenacious than stubborn. You don’t stick to your guns unless it involves what you consider a higher principle.’

‘My God, Edge. Was that a compliment?’

The dips at the corners of his mouth deepened.

‘It was close. Would you care for a compliment? You have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. They are never the same colour each time I look at them.’

‘Oh.’ Sam swallowed.

He touched the crest of her cheek. His mouth was still faintly smiling, but his eyes were darker, storm clouds streaked with jade.

‘You’re blushing. You’re usually only that colour when you’re furious at me. Surely you’ve received more fulsome compliments?’

‘I...yes.’

‘Do you always blush like that?’

She shook her head. She felt as though she was being backed off a cliff by a stalking wolf. It is only Edge, stop acting like a green girl who’s never seen a man before in her life. Not that Edge was any man. He was by far the most attractive man she’d ever known, even more so now than when he’d been younger.

And she was married to him.

‘Am I making you uncomfortable?’ It was the hesitant note that reached her.

‘Not uncomfortable uncomfortable. I’m merely not accustomed to you...you always treated me like a grubby, aggravating girl.’

‘Not so much recently.’ The fugitive smile was gone and her heat escalated, like the desert approaching midday. He hesitated and added, ‘And not the last time I saw you eight years ago either.’

‘No...but that was my fault. You were kinder than I deserved.’

‘Kind. I don’t remember being or feeling kind.’

‘No. You were angry with me and you had every right to be.’

His hands fisted and his mouth closed tight. She wished she’d kept her own mouth shut. She hadn’t wanted to chase away his smile and the ever-so-faint hint of flirtatiousness.

A coil of hair fell over her ear and she tucked it back, his gaze following her motion.

‘How do those pins manage to hold up all that hair?’ His fingers touched her hair briefly and she tried to smile.

‘Badly. And sometimes painfully. I prefer it dressed simply, but Janet insisted this occasion deserved rather more pomp.’ She touched the arrangement, but he moved her hand away.

‘Let me.’

Edge proceeded with meticulous care, as if there was a written treatise on how to undress hair in the least painful but most unsettling manner. Weight by weight her hair slid down, settling on her shoulders and then rushing down her back.

‘You smell like spring. Beautiful...’ He breathed in the word, his fingers fanning through her hair and letting it fall over her shoulder. The scent of the bath oils with which she’d washed away the desert joined the jasmine, the brandy and the deeper, darker scent of Edge that was as foreign and familiar as the desert. They were all mixing together, stirred by his hands as they moved gently in her hair.

‘It doesn’t have to be tonight, Sam, but soon I will see all this glory spread on my pillow. On me.’