Neville pushed aside its half-opened door. Asquith and Millie stood just yards away, in the center of a halo of light. Asquith’s hands rested against Millie’s shoulders as Millie, with panic in her eyes, stared up into her guardian’s face.
Neville knew Asquith hadn’t anything more than a sisterly feeling toward Millicent. Still, catching a glimpse of their rapport struck him to his core. Why couldn’t he and Millie achieve intimacy with such ease?
Worse still, Millie’s expression did not bode well for Neville’s chances.
Asquith sensed his presence first. Apparently, he correctly read Neville’s slightly jealous distress, because he withdrew his hands and stepped back into the shadow.
“You have another visitor. I’ll be just outside, Mil.” Asquith turned away, giving Neville a significant, very male, glance as he passed by. “Don’t muck this up,” he said under his breath.
As if Neville would ever hurt Millie. As if he’d—
His throat closed.
The one thing he wanted more than anything was also the thing he most feared. Would binding her to him wound the free spirit that was uniquely Millie?
Damn it!
After their earlier intimacies, some part of him had been foolish enough to have believed she might be pleased to see him. Clearly, the brief time they’d spent apart had made her wary again.
This wasn’t the proper scene. He didn’t want to propose here,now. Who would affirmatively answer a proposal given in a stable with a large and aggressive horse looking on with a haughty expression?
“Millie,” he started.
“No.” She balled her fists. “No!Not yet. I cannot…”
He took a step toward her, and the huge horse snorted.
Better, he decided, to remain where he was.
She turned to stare at him with pleading eyes. Then, slowly, her expression changed. Her eyes widened as her gaze traveled, first up, and then down, his person.
“You’ve changed.” Her arm jerked as if she meant to reach out and touch him.
“I’m on a rather important errand, you see.” He felt himself flush.Wonderful. “Possibly the most important errand of my life.”
She stiffened and then backed farther into the darkness. The horse swung his head, watching her retreat. Then, he looked back at Neville with a glint in his eye, as if warning Neville not to follow.
“Millie, you’ve never backed down from challenging me before. Why start now?”
Millie’s whimper nearly cut out his heart.
Horse’s heart, too, apparently. The animal whinnied in response.
“I don’t understand what you want me to do,” he said.
“You aren’t the only one in confusion. For the past year, you’ve found fault with everything I do.Ican’t understand why you would want to marry me now.”
“I’ve been hard on you.” His throat went rough, a little achy. “And you have been hard on me, too,” he reminded gently, ever mindful of the horse. “Didn’t we establish that we were both working under a misapprehension?”
“At the time, yousoundedas if you were certain of your chastisements.”
“Wereyoualways speaking the truth when you tore into me?”
His question had come out harsher than he’d intended. The horse’s pinned ears flicked forward, while keeping a wary eye on Neville. Millie made no movement at all. Neville thought backthough some of her more stinging insults until he recalled one he thought she’d be likely to remember.
“Just before you followed me out to the yew maze, you said…” He stuck his chin in the air and mimicked a lady’s voice. “What you perceive as ‘up to something.’ Little Lordling, is, in fact, the exercise of wit and imagination…two things beyond your experience.”
She laughed halfheartedly. “One of my better hits.”