“But you’re not supposed to argue with your host, correct?”
Kate shot him an arch look. “There was some debate over whether or not you qualify as our host, my lord. After all, the invitation was issued by your mother.”
“True,” he acceded, “but I do own the house.”
“Yes,” she muttered, “Mary said as much.”
He grinned. “This is killing you, isn’t it?”
“Being nice to you?”
He nodded.
“It’s not the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
His expression changed slightly, as if he might be done teasing her. As if he might have something entirely different on his mind. “But it’s not the hardest thing, either, now, is it?” he murmured.
“I don’t like you, my lord,” she blurted out.
“No,” he said with an amused smile. “I didn’t think you did.”
Kate started to feel very strange, much like she had in his study, right before he’d kissed her. Her throat suddenly felt a bit tight, and her palms grew very warm. And her insides—well, there was really nothing to describe the tense, prickly feeling that tightened through her abdomen. Instinctively, and perhaps out of self-preservation, she took a step back.
He looked amused, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.
She fiddled with the flower some more, then blurted out, “You shouldn’t have picked this.”
“You should have a tulip,” he said matter-of-factly. “It isn’t right that Edwina receives all the flowers.”
Kate’s stomach, already tense and prickly, did a little flip. “Nonetheless,” she managed to say, “your gardener will surely not appreciate the mutilation of his work.”
He smiled devilishly. “He’ll blame one of my younger siblings.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I should think less of you for such a ploy,” she said.
“But you don’t?”
She shook her head. “But then again, it’s not as if my opinion of you could sink very much lower.”
“Ouch.” He shook a finger at her. “I thought you were supposed to be on your best behavior.”
Kate looked around. “It doesn’t count if there is no one nearby to hear me, right?”
“I can hear you.”
“You certainly don’t count.”
His head dipped a little closer in her direction. “I should think I was the only one who did.”
Kate said nothing, not wanting even to meet his eyes. Whenever she allowed herself one glimpse into those velvety depths, her stomach started flipping anew.
“Miss Sheffield?” he murmured.
She looked up. Big mistake. Her stomach flipped again.
“Why did you seek me out?” she asked.
Anthony pushed off the wooden post and stood straight. “I didn’t, actually. I was just as surprised to see you as you were me.” Although, he thought acerbically, he shouldn’t have been. He should have realized his mother was up to something the moment she actually suggested where he take his walk.
But could she possibly be steering him to the wrong Miss Sheffield? Surely she wouldn’t choose Kate over Edwina as a prospective daughter-in-law.
“But now that I have found you,” he said, “I did have something I wanted to say.”
“Something you haven’t already said?” she quipped. “I can’t imagine.”
He ignored her jibe. “I wanted to apologize.”
That got her attention. Her lips parted with shock, and her eyes grew round. “I beg your pardon?” she said. Anthony thought her voice sounded rather like a frog.
“I owe you an apology for my behavior the other night,” he said. “I treated you most rudely.”
“You’re apologizing for the kiss?” she asked, still looking rather dazed.
The kiss? He hadn’t even considered apologizing for the kiss. He’d never apologized for a kiss, never before kissed someone for whom an apology might be necessary. He’d actually been thinking more of the unpleasant things he’d said to her after the kiss. “Er, yes,” he lied, “the kiss. And for what I said, as well.”
“I see,” she murmured. “I didn’t think rakes apologized.”
His hand flexed, then made a tight fist. It was damned annoying, this habit of hers always to jump to conclusions about him. “This rake does,” he said in clipped tones.
She took a deep breath, then let it out in a long, steady exhale. “Then I accept your apology.”