Because she’d been a child.
That was no longer the case. Thank Christ.
Nervous trepidation skipped through him. It had been years since he’d romanced anyone. He scarcely knew where to begin.
Slowly, his instinct warned, and by ensuring she might be open to his advances.
After all, the very last thing he desired was a repeat rejection. Coming from her, he doubted he’d ever recover. He took a steady breath, tried to find some sense of calm. Nothing else had ever counted as much as his next words would.
“Do you still collect flowers?” He’d not really known what he’d say until he’d said it, and somehow the question seemed perfect. The subject was safe, allowing them, he hoped, to return to a more relaxed mood.
She turned slightly in her chair so she could watch his approach. “Yes. I’m surprised you remember.”
He studied her as he drew nearer, noted how she averted her gaze and started to fidget. Forcing a casual lilt to his voice, he said, “How could I not? You were always searching for four leaf clovers and marveling over plants you’d never seen before.”
A grin brightened her features. “I have ten notebooks now, filled with my flowers and notes.”
“Ten? That’s rather impressive.”
“No replicas,” she added. “Each flower is unique.”
“I’m guessing some must have come from a hothouse.”
“A few, I’ll confess.” She tilted her head and gave him a smile. “Do you still dabble in poetry?”
“Poetry? I don’t recall ever—”
“The barmaid down yonder, does make one wonder, about gravitational forces. Her breasts are so large, they’re in need of a barge, while her arse needs a team of ten horses.”
Robert barely managed to wait for her to finish before a roar of laughter rolled through him. “Good God. You remember that?”
“Of course. Bawdy rhymes have a way of sticking with me, Lord Darlington.”
Interesting.
He considered asking if she’d invented any of her own. Instead he said, “I know I insisted on formal address earlier, but I think we can dispense with that now. Please, call me Robert.”
“If you like.”
The hesitance in her voice did not escape his notice. Deciding to set her at ease, he prepared to return to the amusing subject they’d been discussing, but was stopped from doing so when Dartwood came to announce that supper was ready to be served.
Thanking the butler, Robert waited for Athena to rise and then offered his arm. She stared at him for a moment as if unsure of how to proceed. When he did not budge, she eventually looped her hand through the crook of his elbow and let him escort her. Satisfaction settled deep within his chest. He dropped a look at the lady who walked by his side and was pleased to see a pink flush in her cheeks.
Yes, he affected her. And he rather imagined it terrified her to bits.
Chapter Four
WHEN ATHENA HAD WOKEN the next day from a dream involving Robert’s embrace, she’d known she had to clear her head, and in order to do so she needed to busy herself with something. What she hadn’t needed was to sit still and think. Doing so would only make matters worse.
Putting her arm muscles into the task at hand, she slid the shovel’s blade under the straw, lifted, and carried. The snow had not let up during the night. Getting to the stables had been an ordeal in and of itself.
Tossing the dirty hay in the muck pile, she went back inside to continue her work – a necessary reprieve from the constant reminder of what had occurred the previous day, and from the man who’d lodged himself in her mind. Lord help her, she could not stop thinking of him or of the mad sensations he stirred in her.
Surely, this wasn’t normal behavior.
She snorted and filled her shovel once more. Of course it wasn’t. This was her, for heaven’s sake, and nothing about her had ever been normal. Shaking her head, she muttered a curse and continued cleaning until the stall floor was bare. After stretching her back and rolling her shoulders, she went to collect some fresh straw.
“Allow me to help,” one of the grooms said.
“No thank you. I can easily manage.” She hefted a bale up into her arms and staggered along with it, certain she heard him say something pertaining to stubborn females. Athena ignored him and kept going. When she reached the stall she dropped the bale inside and panted for breath. It truly was heavy, but it gave her the exercise she required.
She grabbed a knife and cut the twine that bound the straw together, then used a pitchfork to loosen it up so it could be scattered across the ground. Once this had been done, she grabbed another bale and hauled it to the stall. Bending at the waist, she began cutting the twine as she’d done on the previous one and was just about to straighten when a rough voice spoke from directly behind her.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Jolted by Robert’s unexpected presence, Athena sucked in a breath and turned to find him scowling at her. It didn’t help that he looked every bit as handsome as he’d done the day before. She’d rather hoped he wouldn’t – that the attraction she’d experienced had been the product of her imagination and that the dream she’d had would seem ridiculous when she saw him again.
It did not.
If anything, his glower had the strangest effect. Her stomach fluttered while heat slid through her veins. “I’m mucking out the stalls and giving the horses fresh hay.”
His gaze slid over her—over the snug woolen jacket she wore and down the length of her breeches. To her astonishment, his expression hardened further. “You’ll catch your death out here.”
“The exercise keeps me warm.”
He knit his brow. “I won’t have you working like some common laborer.”
“But I—”
“You’re a guest here, Athena. Please try to behave as one.”
The comment smarted. “I don’t like sitting about doing nothing.”
“Then I shall have to find a task for you indoors. One that does not involve you parading about in front of my grooms like that.”
He fairly hissed the last part. Athena scrunched her nose and gave herself a swift once over. “Like what?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and swore before leveling her with his gaze once more. “You’re not a little girl anymore.”
“I know I’m not.”
“Do you?” he growled.
Unnerved by his strange possessive behavior, she took a step back. “I’ve work to do. I’ll see you inside the house once I’m done.”
“The devil you will.”
Without another word he grabbed her around her waist, hefted her up and over his shoulder, and started walking.
Athena squealed. “Put me down this instant.”
“No.”
“I’m warning you, Robert. I’ll scream.”
“Go right ahead.”
She cursed him to perdition instead.
“Where did you get the jacket?” he asked once he’d brought her into his study and set her back on her feet.
Raising her chin, Athena crossed her arms and gave him her best glare. “I borrowed it from one of your footmen.”