“And it irritates you that you enjoy my company. You don’t want to find me irresistible.” He set aside his tray. “I enjoy your company as well. That I find you irresistible doesn’t bother me at all. I like that you can hold my interest. Few women do.”
She picked up his tray and rose to return to the kitchen. “I’m intriguing to you because I haven’t fallen into your arms. But the moment I do, the mystery will be over. You’ll have satisfied your curiosity and then you’ll move on.”
“Because a man like me cannot possibly be faithful to one woman?” There was a difference between dalliance and serious courtship. He’d never been in love before. He wasn’t certain whether he was in love with Genalynn, but the need to protect her and be with her was too strong to dismiss.
At times, it overwhelmed him.
He liked her body, of course. It was a glorious body and he desperately wanted to explore it. But it was her face that intrigued him the most. She wasn’t beautiful in any traditional way. First of all, her ears were small and curled. Her nose was freckled. Her eyes were big, but there was a lively intelligence behind them.
He liked the little dimple in her chin.
He very much liked the graceful curve of her lips and the way they impudently curved upward when she smiled. He liked the equally impudent arch of her eyebrows that made her look like an imp.
Who knew he had a thing for imps?
She pursed her lips, obviously confused by his expression. “Why are you grinning at me?”
“Because I enjoy seeing your lovely face every morning.” He did not understand this instinctive urge he had to claim her for his own. Every time he looked at her, he turned into a possessive arse. Mine. Mine alone.
But the feeling was not one-sided. Just as she was meant to be his, so was he meant to be hers. He hadn’t a doubt that he could be faithful to Genalynn. Grow old loving her and the life they’d share. But how to prove it?
She turned toward the door. “I had better take this tray downstairs.”
“Genalynn, come back afterward. I need to talk business. I won’t talk about us again since it throws you into a snit.”
She gasped. “It doesn’t...I don’t–”
She shook her head and chuckled. “Very well, perhaps I am a bit peckish around you. But can you blame me?”
“You leave me unsettled, too.”
She nodded. “Then we must stop doing this to each other.”
“Easier said than done. But let’s set our feelings aside for now. I need you to teach me about the town and your uncle’s activities. He killed the first agent and was waiting for me to come next. I’d been scouting quietly on the outskirts of Clovelly for several days, watching who came in and out of town. That’s how I saw you. But it troubles me that your uncle knew just where to look for me.”
“He would figure it out if you were retracing the steps of the poor man he killed.”
“Perhaps, but unlikely. I’m very good at what I do. I am never seen unless I wish to be seen, and I can assure you, I was not ready for your uncle to know I’d arrived. He had lookouts positioned around the town. I spotted them, but I know they did not see me. I was to meet my contact on the beach within sight of town that night. Your uncle was waiting for me instead. I can only assume my contact is dead, too. Someone’s been tipping off your uncle.”
“It would have to be someone within your organization. You should be reporting this to your home office.”
“I will, but not before I gather as much information as I can.”
She casually rested the tray on her hip and regarded him thoughtfully. “How can you do this? Even if you are fully healed, it is still too dangerous. My uncle and his men will kill you if they see you lurking in town.”
“Then I will not let them see me.”
She shook her head and sighed. “How will they not see you? For this, your face is a curse. There is not a woman around here who would ever forget you. Or fail to notice you. The men will also take note of you because you are a stranger.”