Tempting Mr. Townsend (Dashing Widows 2)

"Nowhere near as exciting as you flying in like a Valkyrie set on my seduction. For future reference, I find the sight of your delicate self controlling a team of huge, snorting beasts uncontrollably arousing."

"For future reference?" she asked drily, raising a hand to tug a wisp of straw from his hair.

He settled her on his chest. The hay provided a surprisingly comfortable couch. "Aye. A wife needs to know these things."

"So we're getting married, then," she said neutrally.

"We are indeed, lass. Soon."

Her expression softened. "I love the way you call me lass."

"That's a damned good thing, given you're likely to hear it for the next fifty years or so. Don't try and say no. I only accepted your bold invitation just now because you said you'd make an honest man of me afterward."

"A lady can't change her mind?"

"No."

"You're very highhanded."

He stared into her bright eyes. "I suspect you can handle me the way you handle that team of horses."

Her smile was smug. "You could be right."

"So we'll marry." He'd known the moment she blazed back into his life that she intended to stay, but it was satisfying to set out his agenda. "Although I'd very much like to know what tipped the balance in my favor."

She sat up and started to button her dress until he reached to stop her. "Memories of you as a wanton milkmaid will fuel my fantasies until I'm old and decrepit. Don't take the reality away yet."

Her lips, full and red after his kisses, twitched. "You know, now that I'm staying, we can take a tumble in the stables whenever you feel the urge."

Without shifting his gaze from her, he lay full length on the hay and crossed his arms behind his head. Her gaping bodice gave him tantalizing glimpses of her breasts. Arousal stirred lazily, but he reined it in. This capitulation was too new and hard-won to take for granted.

"What a glorious prospect. Now put me out of my misery and tell me why you came back."

The hungry inspection she devoted to his body made him wonder why in Hades he wasted time on talk when they had a whole stable to themselves and an afternoon to enjoy it. "You don't look too miserable."

"You should have seen me half an hour ago."

He'd spoken lightly, but she must have heard an echo of his earlier desolation. Remorse deepened her eyes to sapphire, and she leaned down to kiss him. "I'm sorry. I was utterly wretched without you, too."

"I've been as cranky as a bear. Ask Carey."

She started and glanced around nervously. "Oh, good heavens, I didn't even think of him. Where is he?"

Anthony sat up and caught her hand. "He's doing Latin translation at the vicarage. It gives you some idea of how impossible I've been that every morning, he positively gallops away to his studies."

She laughed. "Oh, dear. That bad?"

He kissed her slender fingers. "Tell me, Fenella."

The amusement drained from her face. "That morning in Croydon, you called me a coward. So did my closest friends when they heard what had happ

ened. Yesterday I saw one of those dear friends find the courage to step beyond her past and into a new future. I realized then that over the years, my grief for Henry had become a cage." She shook her tumbled hair back from her face. "I don't want to live in a cage anymore, Anthony. I want to live in the open with you."

He was so moved by her confession that he needed to clear his throat before he spoke. "Fenella, will you do something for me?"

"Anything."

Her quick response made him smile. "Now that sounds right wifely, lass." His voice turned somber. "Will you tell me about Henry?"