The Desires of a Countess Page 5

  Simon yanked the door open and they stepped out of the rain into the warm, bright stable. The smell of horses and sweet hay tickled his nose as he breathed in deeply and took a moment’s comfort in the familiarity around him. As a boy he’d loved animals, especially horses, but had little call for them while on board his ship.

  He slicked the water from his hair, sending droplets to scatter onto his neck and in a puddle on the floor behind him. As Adam shook his head like a dog, he stared at his friend.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Simon snapped as he took a few steps to the back of the building where blankets were stacked. He searched for an empty stall and tossed a blanket inside as he shed his wet jacket and folded it into a makeshift pillow.

  “I think you do.”

  Simon scowled as he pushed one boot off. Normally, he shared nearly everything with his first mate, but not this time.

  Adam circled him with a cocked eyebrow. “You’ve got that look about you.”

  “What look?” he asked through clenched teeth. “The only look I have is one of exhaustion. Between the rain, the travel, the damned cottage and…” He clenched a fist and came to a halt. He wouldn’t say any more.

  “And what?” Adam shook his head. “What in the world did that woman say to make you act this way? And did you get any more information about her?”

  Simon grimaced. All he’d succeeded in learning tonight was that her skin was like fine Indian silk and that she tasted like ripe raspberries. Neither one of those things were the kind of information Adam was talking about.

  “Wait.” His friend stopped moving and his eyes widened. “Something happened didn’t it? Between you and Lady Westdale.”

  Simon groaned. Damn Adam for knowing him so well.

  “I think the travel has made you see things that aren’t there.” He strode into his chosen stall and flopped down on the hard floor.

  Adam grinned. “Don’t think you can put me off so easily. After so many years, I’d think you’d know that’s impossible.”

  “Go to bed.”

  “You kissed her.”

  Simon threw his jacket over his head and closed his eyes while he concentrated on the steady throbbing in his temples.

  Adam nudged him with a boot toe. “So what does that mean for you? For her? For the reasons why we’re here?”

  Simon let out a growl of frustration. Those were the same questions he’d been asking himself since Ginny had struggled from his arms and pushed him away with all her might.

  “I don’t know.” He sat bolt upright and let the jacket fall from his face into his lap. “I don’t bloody know anything! Just let it drop.”

  Adam drew back and Simon winced at the concern on his face. It was very rare that he allowed himself any kind of emotional outburst. He was always in careful control of his feelings. But one kiss from the bewitching Countess and all hell had broken loose in his mind and soul.

  “All right.” Adam crouched down in the stall door. “Calm yourself.”

  Simon scrubbed a hand across his face. Already, stubble roughened his cheeks. It was a reminder of how far-removed from Ginny’s world he had become. A woman like her wouldn’t want a scruffy tradesman.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just a little confused right now.”

  Adam chuckled. “That makes two of us.”

  “This isn’t funny,” Simon said. “She lost her husband just a few months ago. And though I don’t sense a great feeling of mourning in her, she doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who would take on a lover so early. And certainly not want that lover to be me. She can hardly look me in the eye.”

  Adam frowned and the teasing light left his eyes. It was replaced by the calm counselor Simon had come to depend on. “Perhaps she’s lonely.”

  “It could be that.” He flashed again to the passion in her embrace, and the look of loss in her eyes when she’d pulled away so suddenly. “But I sense more to it.”

  “What else could be behind a kiss?”

  Simon shrugged. “I don’t know. I wish I could say, but Ginny is an enigma. I can’t speak to her motives about anything.”

  “Well, my friend, you’ve answered your own question, then.” Adam rose from his haunches with a shrug. “Seems to me that you’ll just have to get to know her a bit better. And that requires spending more time with her.”

  Simon groaned as he flopped back on the stall floor. As Adam strolled away with a chuckle, Simon wondered if he could do as his friend suggested. Though he’d only just met the woman, she made him want things he’d always been able to control before. He was no eunuch, but he’d never wanted to tumble a woman he’d just met. Yet that seemed to be exactly what Ginny inspired in him. And now he was going to have to spend the next few weeks in her company, finding out the details of her life. If only he could do that without longing to discover the intimacies of her body, he’d be fine.

  He let out another low groan. He was in trouble.

  Chapter Five

  Ginny ran the tip of her index finger around the edge of her teacup in a slow circle. Why couldn’t she concentrate? The Matter of Insignificance, as she was now referring to her kiss with Simon, had happened days before. Two nights of tossing and turning should have resolved the matter.

  But it hadn’t.

  Still, he hadn’t used that weakness against her, as she expected. In fact, she hadn’t seen him at all, aside from once when he’d been leaving the house and she’d watched from her window as he walked down the path toward the cottage. He’d done nothing to seek her out or hold the Matter over her head.

  Perhaps she had misjudged the man when she assumed he’d be her enemy. She might not be able to let her guard down, but perhaps she there wasn’t a need to fight him quite so hard.

  Behind her, the morning room door opened and a parlor maid entered with a fresh pot of tea. As the girl poured, Ginny glanced up at her.

  “Thank you. Where is Jack this morning? I’m surprised I haven’t yet seen him and Miss Frost.”

  The girl tipped her head to the side and a few errant curls bobbed out of her cap. “Didn’t anyone tell you, my lady? Mr. Webber was in this morning to have a bath and as he was leaving, little Master Jack ran into him. The boy seemed to take to him right away, so Mr. Webber took him for a jaunt around the estate. Miss Frost assumed it was with your blessing.”

  The warmth Ginny had begun to feel toward Simon froze as quickly as if a winter wind had blown through her heart. This man, this stranger, had taken her little boy somewhere, when not two days before she’d told him that was against her wishes.

  Apparently he didn’t care. Just like his cousin Henry before him, Simon had chosen to do what he wanted without a care for her thoughts or feelings about the matter.

  She slammed her chair back and rose to her feet. “Where did they go?” Her voice trembled with anger and fear.

  The maid looked at her with wide, confused eyes. She took a surprised step back. “I’m not certain, my lady.”

  Ginny took a breath in an attempt to reign in her emotions without success. “Dammit, think!”

  The girl jumped at her harsh tone and shook her head. “I really have no idea, Lady Westdale. I heard Mr. Webber say something to Jack about the horses, but…”

  Ginny didn’t hear the rest as she gathered up her skirt in one hand and bolted from the room. When she found Simon Webber, she would give him something to remember her by. And this time it sure as hell wouldn’t be a kiss.

  She flew down the stairs, barely acknowledging that the rain from the past few weeks had ended and was replaced by a light breeze that was bracing but pleasant. Normally, she would have enjoyed the subtle shift from winter to spring, but now she was too angry. All she could think about was her little boy.

  How could she allow Simon Webber to break down her defenses with just one kiss? True, she’d started it, but he hadn’t tried to push her aside. He’d returned the
caress and encouraged her to do things she shouldn’t have done. She should have forced him and his friend sleep in the cottage like she’d originally planned. A few nights of misery in the rain would have done him good.

  But no. She’d allowed herself to get entangled in his damned Devil’s web and had softened to him.

  Muttering a few choice words under her breath, she wrenched the stable door open and took three purposeful steps inside. What she saw made her come to a halt and stare.

  Simon held her son in his arms with as much care and gentleness as she always did herself. The little boy’s dark hair was ruffled by the wind and a smudge of dirt ran across his cheek, but the grin on his face softened her heart to mush.

  Jack had always loved horses. Henry had been far too busy to indulge the child’s first passion, but Simon held him up to one of the stallions.

  “And what’s this one’s name?” Simon asked with laughter heavy in his voice.

  “Charlie,” Jack replied without hesitation as he stroked the animal’s nose. Ginny covered a smile with her palm. That horse was named Firebrand and had been Henry’s prized possession. Her late husband wouldn’t have taken kindly to him being used as a child’s toy. Which made her love it all the more.

  “And what about the gray over there? Does he have a name?” Simon asked as he shifted Jack’s weight on his hip.

  The boy wrinkled his tiny nose. “That’s a girl.”

  Simon snorted out a laugh as he leaned back to get a better look at the animal in question. “Well, we can talk about anatomy when you’re older. What’s her name?”

  “Buttercup.”

  “Actually, Jack, I’m fairly sure that one’s name is Pepper. He and I got very close last night when he decided my pillow was his midnight snack. But I have to say that Buttercup is a brilliant name for a horse.” Simon gave the boy a squeeze and Jack dissolved into a fit of sweet laughter that brought tears to Ginny’s eyes.

  Henry wouldn’t have bonded with their child the way this man was. Even at Jack’s young age, her husband had already begun talking to her about boarding schools and children being seen and not heard. That attitude had been part of the anger between them. And Jack’s boisterous nature had been an element that awful night months ago.

  She blinked away the images that threatened to invade her mind and took a step forward. As she did so, Jack turned his head and his eyes met hers. With a squeal of delight, he squirmed out of Simon’s arms and ran over to her on chubby legs that seemed to be turning from baby to little boy every day.

  “Mama!”

  She swung him up with a laugh and cuddled him with all her strength. Though she could now see that Jack wasn’t threatened by Simon, it didn’t fully temper the fact that she’d been afraid for him. Or that she was still furious with the man who now stared at her from across the wide expanse of space in the stable.

  At least, she was trying to remain furious. It was difficult when his eyes captured hers.

  She placed a kiss on the tip of Jack’s nose in an effort to break visual contact with Simon. “Little boy, you’re getting so big I don’t think I’ll be able to carry you around soon.”

  “You will always carry Jack,” her son announced as he let her set him on the ground. “That’s Mr. Webber.” He pointed a finger in Simon’s direction and forced Ginny to look at the man again.

  This time he was smiling at her little boy, but she was still well aware that he watched her every move and reaction. She had no doubt he was conscious of her anger and was waiting to see how she would respond.

  “Yes,” she said with a glare for Simon. “That is Mr. Webber. I wonder what Mr. Webber thinks he was doing?”

  Simon straightened up from the wall and shook his head. “What do you mean?”

  “What were you doing with my son?” she repeated, trying to keep the anger from her voice in front of Jack. When the boy was out of earshot, she planned to let loose with all her fury and leave Simon with little doubt that he’d overstepped a line.

  “He was showing me the horsies,” Jack interjected as he crouched down to watch a bug make a slow trail across the dusty floor.

  Simon arched an eyebrow. “I came up to the house to ready myself, and your son was with his nanny. He and I talked. Jack was very interested in my spending the night with the horses. I didn’t think it would do any harm to take him to see them since you weren’t yet awake.”

  Ginny’s nostrils flared out. Damn him for being so reasonable. She wanted to stay angry with him. She had every right to be. He’d taken her son without permission. Yet when he spoke to her in that calm voice with his eyes burning into her, her rage dissolved.

  “You stay here,” she said with another glare for him as she took Jack’s hand. “I’ll be back in a moment and I want to have a word with you.”

  Simon gave a shrug of acquiescence as she exited the stable and headed up toward the house. As she hurried up the hill with Jack singing a children’s song, she allowed herself a breath of relief. When she returned to the stable to have it out with Simon, the last thing she wanted was for him to see her emotions. Any weakness she felt, be it fear or… or well anything else, had to be squashed. Immediately.

  ***

  Simon strummed his fingers along the stall shelf as he waited for Ginny’s return. Though he tried to block it out, guilt stabbed through him like a knife to the gut. It wasn’t his fault that Ginny was overprotective. The fear that had flickered in her eyes when she discovered him with her son had nothing to do with him and everything to do with whatever secrets she was keeping.

  Yet, the sight of her trembling when he’d turned to find her looking at Jack and him still filled him with regret. Mixed with the urge to take that fear from her eyes, it was a potent cocktail.

  He leaned back just as she strode back into the stable, her walk filled with emotion and purpose. Instead of stopping at the door as she had earlier, she stormed across the dirt to halt just inches from his face. He couldn’t help but inhale a subtle whiff of her fragrance.

  “You have no right to my son!” Her tone was harsh and angry, despite how soft her words were.

  Fury turned her eyes to blue heat, flushed her face and the tiny triangle of skin that peeked out of the bodice of her gown. She drew in short, labored breaths. And God help him, he wanted her more than he had the night she kissed him. It took all his strength not to reach out and pull her closer.

  “Ginny-”

  She shook her head. “I’ve done more than you could ever imagine to keep him safe, so don’t think that I’ll allow you to take him.” The rage flickered out, replaced by tears that washed away his burst of lust. “You-can’t-take-him,” she choked out a second time before she tried to turn away.

  He couldn’t let her, not when her pain was so palpable that he could have touched it. He caught her shoulders gently and was shocked that she flinched under his hands like she was awaiting punishment.

  “Look at me.”

  She shook her head as she labored to hold back tears.

  “Please?” He put a finger beneath her chin to lift her face to his. She held his gaze, though she blinked a few times to keep the water from flowing down her cheeks. He had to smile at her ability to stay strong even when her pain was so obvious. “I would never take your son. I’ve been given the responsibility of helping you raise him, and I take that very seriously. I only wanted to meet him.”

  “You should have respected my wishes. You should have waited,” she choked out, but the heat was long gone from her voice.

  He nodded. “Yes, I see now that this was far more important to you than I’d understood. I should have waited for your approval, but the fact that I didn’t doesn’t mean I was trying to steal the boy away.” He tilted his face closer to hers. “You know that, don’t you? You know me well enough to understand that.”

  She held steady in his arms as she searched his face. For a brief moment he glimpsed the vulnerability she tried so hard to hide beneath a tough exterior. Th
en she shook free of his grip and turned away.

  “I don’t know you. I don’t want to know you.”

  The sting of her words cut him as deeply as a dagger, and he turned his face. When he spoke again, it was with words designed to cut her just as deep. “Then why did you kiss me?”

  Her spine stiffened as she slowly turned to look at him. She opened and shut her mouth. “I-I-”

  He smiled at the desire that flickered in her eyes. Even if she denied it, it was clear his presence moved her as much as she moved him. He wasn’t about to let her refute that.

  “I think you’re afraid. Afraid of me, but not because of your son or the will or the estate.”

  She swallowed and took a short step back. “I-”

  “That was the cause of your fear at first.” He shoved off from the stable door to take a few predatory steps toward her. Her response to him was undeniable, from the slight glaze of her eyes to the way her skin darkened with a telling, sensual flush. Perhaps it was madness to continue to press her, but he couldn’t seem to stop. “But now it’s for another reason.”

  In just two more steps he stood before her. With aching slowness, he wrapped his hands around her upper arms and pulled her closer, just as he had a few nights before. The press of her full length against him was enough have him uttering a quiet moan before he caught her lips for a slow, hot kiss.

  She responded as fervently as she had the first time their lips had touched, deepening the kiss before he could take the lead. Molding her body against his, she gripped the planes of his back with smooth hands that sent fire searing through him.

  He pulled away, though it physically pained him to do so. “Now you’re afraid because you want me and you think that makes you guilty. Guilty of not mourning your husband. Guilty for wanting to feel like a woman so soon after his death.”

  He dipped his head again to catch her lips, but this time her response was more measured, as if she were allowing his accusation to sink in. To his dismay, she flattened her palms against his chest and pushed back with all her might.

  Her eyes flickered and her chin stiffened. Once again, she’d erected a wall so high he had no chance of climbing over it. At least not today. “You don’t know anything about me, Simon Webber. Nothing at all.”