Cocky Earl - Annabelle Anders Page 0,81
immediately.
An almost surprising quiet fell after Jules pulled the large doors shut. High up windows allowed just enough light inside for Charley to see his expression.
“You shouldn’t have come out in this mess.” He looked as though he couldn’t decide if he was furious or grateful. Charley bit her lip, unable to keep her gaze from appreciating the man who looked even more attractive to her with his hair plastered against his head and his clothes clinging to his person. The breeches she’d appreciated on more than one occasion outlined his muscular thighs and she shivered at the outline of his—
Charley dragged her gaze back to meet his. “I’m not unfamiliar with horses.”
He glowered.
“You needed me.” She turned, feeling hot inside, despite the fact that water dripped from her hair and dress. With shaking hands, she stroked Calista’s snout. “This poor girl needed me.”
Thunder sounded but not as loudly as it had been before. The torrent of rain echoed steadily on the roof of the unused shelter.
When she turned back, Jules seemed to be assessing the contents of the barn, more resolved now than frustrated.
“What will they think when we don’t show up?” Charley continued rubbing her hands along Calista’s head and neck. “Mrs. Crabtree will say something to your mother. Bethany will notice that I’m gone and that I left with you.”
Before she could continue, warm arms wrapped around her. “The guests will have turned back as well, and the manor is going to be in something of an uproar while everyone returns. My mother will be far too busy dealing with servants rushing to get all the tables and chairs put up to even notice our absence.”
“But—”
“The stable master was aware that I might stop here first and also that we’re traveling in the curricle. He’ll inform her, and they’ll realize that we had no choice but to wait out the storm.”
“They will be understanding?” Even in Philadelphia this sort of thing wouldn’t go unremarked upon. She glanced up at the high windows. They had no choice but to take refuge here. It wasn’t as though either of them intended to get caught in the storm.
“We can’t travel in it.”
She dropped her chin and grinned. “It’s not a very practical conveyance, is it?”
His chuckle rumbled beneath her hands, which were planted on his jacket, which was possibly even more drenched than hers. “I didn’t purchase my baby for her practical attributes.”
The temperature was cooler in the stable, and the dirt floor was muddy from the rain that had blown in. A shiver ran through her, and he rubbed her arms to warm them. “Go back to the main building while I unhook Calista and Zeus. I’ll start a fire when I join you.”
“There is a basket tied to the back of your shiny but impractical baby.” She stepped out of his arms.
His brows rose and a smile tipped up the corner of his lips. Feeling a little shy, she resisted the urge to rise up onto her toes and press her lips against his again.
He, however, had no such inhibitions and she found herself feeling pleased and grateful that he did not. As though reading her silent invitation, he dipped his head and captured her mouth with lips that were cool at first but warmed gradually against hers, which she’d parted invitingly.
He groaned and set her away from him but not so far that he could not touch his forehead to hers again. “I won’t take long.”
She nodded, stepping back. Rainwater dripped off both of them, and her boots were covered in mud. Knowing that the sooner she went inside, the sooner he would get the horses settled and come dry off as well, she urged herself out through a small side door that had been left partially open.
Cold rain landed on her hair and even in her eyes, but nervous energy had her running back to the warmth of the stone building.
It’s only a few kisses, she reasoned with herself as she removed her coat and lifted it to a hook. We will simply wait out the storm. We will talk. Just talk. None of this meant that she would give up on returning to America. None of this meant that she would marry him.
Right?
Lost in the back and forth of what she wanted and what she did not, she crouched at the hearth, built up the small logs someone had stacked off to the side, and struck a flint to the kindling.
She slid her gaze toward