her gaze at his reference to her body.
Her body.
His cock roused instantly at the thought of what she concealed beneath the coat and blanket.
Jago floundered for something harmless to talk about. “You mentioned that your father was responsible for your diction. Did you attend school where he taught?”
She sipped her tea before answering and Jago couldn’t help thinking that she displayed far too much caution each time he asked about her past. What was she hiding? Or was she merely private?
“Until I was twelve.”
“What happened then?”
“Most of his students only attended school until they were twelve so it made more sense for me to continue my studies at home.”
They drank their tea in silence, the air between them crackling so loudly it rivaled the noise from the fire and storm.
“Your knowledge of horses and equestrian matters is impressive—especially your aptitude with the forge and my family’s old coach. Who taught you such things?”
“When I was younger my father employed a couple to care for the house and me. It was when we lived in Yorkshire and his salary was more generous. The husband of the couple taught me about horses and their care.” Her lips quirked into a genuine smile. “His name was Tom and he’d been a stable master in a great house before he was pensioned off. They had no children and I believe he greatly regretted not having a son. His wife did not think it proper that I spent so much time on mannish pursuits but my father was of the mindset that all learning was valuable. I learned to ride astride because we had no money for a side-saddle.”
She stirred her tea absently. “Tom and his wife could not go with us when we moved away.”
A bolt of lightning struck just outside the kitchen window, turning everything inside an eerie silvery-blue. The bolt disappeared in a heartbeat but the image of her face—taut and stark—was burnt into his mind’s eye.
Jago could see that she was unnerved by the storm even though she mastered her anxiety. There was a certain tension around her eyes that gave away her fear as she gazed out the window, her mouth tight. He knew she was counting when she closed her eyes just as his own count brought him to the number four.
Thunder shook the little cottage and the mugs and tubs of jam jiggled on the table. Her lips compressed into thin line and Jago laid a hand over her white-knuckled fist. Her eyes remained closed at his touch but her hand turned palm up and she laced her fingers with his.
They sat in the near darkness of the storm and waited. For what, Jago was afraid to ask.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cornwall
1817
Present Day
Benna wasn’t usually so bothered by thunder and lightning, but never had she been in such a small, insubstantial building during a raging tempest.
And never had she been all alone with a man she desired so intensely, either.
Whatever she’d felt with Geoff—lust or curiosity or loneliness—was a pale imitation of the emotions surging through her at that moment.
She looked at their clasped hands. Benna had always thought her hands mannish, but now she saw that her fingers looked slim and delicate when compared with his.
“I do not have the hands of a gentleman.”
She looked up at the sound of his voice.
“I suppose, in time, and with a lack of any meaningful labor, they will become soft and smooth. But even so, they will never be without scars or marks.” He opened her hand palm up and spread her fingers. “The same will be true for you, Benna.”
A shudder went through her at the sound of her name on his lips.
“Are you cold?”
Benna shook her head, unable to speak from the sheer joy of touching him.
“In a way we are alike,” he said, his dark gaze holding hers.
“How so, my lord?” Her voice was scratchy and breathless.
“I, too, left my life behind when I decided to become a doctor. It was not as great a masquerade as yours, but for many years I lived as somebody else and was able to hide from who I am. But now I’ve been brought back to myself.” His lips twitched. “Not quite kicking and screaming, but not happily, either.”
“I don’t believe you left your old self—the doctor part—behind you; I saw what you did during the mine cave-in.”
“Ah, I know that look.”
Benna pulled her hand away and he let her. “What look?”
He sat back in his chair, his smile turning wry. “It is