toward him. “Would you do me the kind service of asking him precisely what he is looking for in a wife?”
He gave his head a quick shake. “The duke is an utter arse. He hasn’t the ability to care for anyone save himself. You would be miserable married to him.”
As though he would care about her misery. In truth, she suspected he’d wish it upon her. “Please, I have my reasons for wanting to be the one he seeks to court.”
“To beat Lady Jocelyn?”
She offered a wan smile. “Partly. But I have other reasons that are more personal.”
“Will you pen falsehoods in your letter or change yourself to be what he wants?”
“I will not lie when I write to him, but I can be certain to emphasize the qualities I might possess that he hopes to find.”
He sighed deeply. “If I have occasion to do so, I will make inquiries of him. But I will not inconvenience myself or ruin my evening to help you with this ridiculous endeavor.”
“Thank you, my lord. I appreciate your generosity of spirit.”
“The day you appreciate anything about me, Lady Kathryn, will be the day hell freezes over.”
Her smile turned a bit more teasing. “I suppose you have a point. And, pray tell, I do hope you won’t drink so much that you are unable to remember what he conveys to you.”
“Why would you think drinking to excess would cause me to forget something?”
Had he no recollection regarding where he’d awoken that morning? “I heard you tell Althea that you didn’t recall how you came to be sleeping behind the hedgerows.”
“Ah, that. The memory loss is only temporary. The details will eventually come back to me.”
She couldn’t have stiffened more if he’d dropped her into a vat of cold water. Dear God, she hoped he had the wrong of it there.
“Good night, Freckles.” Settling his hat in place, he headed for the door.
Oh, the daft man. “Have you not noticed that I no longer have freckles?”
Opening the door, he stepped through it before turning back to her, his grin the sort that would cause a lady comprised of a weaker constitution to swoon. “But I can still recall where they once were.”
Then he disappeared, making her regret that she’d returned his key to him, that she’d asked a favor of him . . . that she enjoyed their sparring perhaps a little too much.
Chapter 2
As the carriage he’d called for earlier rumbled through the streets, Griff pulled from his waistcoat pocket the key she’d handed him and imagined he could still feel the warmth from her fingers being wrapped around it. It was quite possible that her taking a later stroll, when the afternoon sunlight might have glinted off it, had caused her to find it when he couldn’t earlier. It was also possible something a bit more nefarious was afoot.
Flashing through his mind were images of her in a night wrapper at the door. Had she been responsible for sending him around to the back, for his ending up in the hedgerows? He wouldn’t put it past the little vixen.
As for her freckles, of course he’d noticed they were no longer there. He noticed everything about her. He always had, and it had always been deuced irritating. The way the red in her hair looked almost brown in the shadows but competed for brilliance with bright sunlight. The way the end of her nose tipped up slightly as though it were straining toward a kiss. The manner in which her auburn brows would furrow when she was worried. The way her lips curling up into a smile would mesmerize. That her mouth was designed to provide the perfect haven for a man’s, and he’d awoken too many times with an aching cock because it had dominated his dreams.
It was one of the reasons he chose to torment her and keep that mouth set in a mulish expression, although even then it taunted him. But his actions ensured she kept her distance. He’d always known he wasn’t the sort she’d ever fancy nor was he the sort she deserved. He was an afterthought, the one held in reserve, hopefully never to be needed. She, on the other hand, was destined for a more prestigious lord, a peer. A duke.
But did she have to ask him to help her gain the blasted noble?
The carriage came to a stop, and he leapt out before a footman could appear to assist. “Thank you, James,” he called up to