Chapter 6 #2
“Thank you. I’ve always thought so too, but most men wouldn’t agree.
My father didn’t, a very long time ago. And later, many of my lovers tended to want to squeeze every drop of it out of me.
To tame it so that I would be more appropriate and palatable even though I was the woman they took to their beds. ”
They had slowed now and he moved his horse off the path and turned him to face her head on. “That’s ridiculous. What fools. That…you called it your wild, yes?”
She nodded and was watching him through a hooded, speculative gaze that made him think he should choose his next words very carefully. He considered doing that, but in the end, he simply said what he meant.
“Your wild is obviously what draws people to you. That very spark you describe is a candlelight glow that brings people in. To think someone would have the honor of capturing that light even just for a moment and then only work to snuff if out is enraging, honestly.”
He wasn’t sure if he meant that purely on her behalf or if he was taking in some of that upset for his own, as well.
After all, he contained a great measure of wild .
It had been his defining characteristic for most of his life and he, too, had experienced many a person try to break it out of him. Occasionally violently.
“You certainly know the right words to say, Silas,” she said softly. “And perhaps you mean them. I suppose it doesn’t matter since we’ve determined that whatever we share will be fleeting, won’t it?”
He hesitated. He had said that the night before, as they lay tangled after the first time they made love.
He knew it was the correct offer, he felt no more equipped to be her long-term lover than he had in those heated, powerful moments.
And yet when she repeated the sentiment back it felt bleak. Like he was losing an opportunity.
“Indeed,” he said. “And perhaps that limited-time exploration is a perfect place to be wicked with the wild in both of us.”
“Oh,” she said her face lighting up. “That sounds like a challenge is about to be laid forward. What do you have in mind?”
He looked around. Those in the crowd were still watching, whispering, perhaps even more so now that Arabella had joined him. He supposed she brought her own kind of attention, after all. Together they might make the heads of some of the stuffiest gentry outright explode. What fun that would be.
“Are you an experienced horsewoman?”
She blinked. “I have no idea if you’re asking me that as a euphemism or as a real question.”
He laughed at her dry tone. “I know the answer in the first instance, don’t I? No, I’m referring to real skill in riding an animal.”
“Well, in that case, I’d say I am. I grew up around horses and rode them from the time I was very young.”
“Excellent, then I propose a race, Miss Comerford,” he said with a tip of his hat. “Back toward the Corner Gate.”
“The main gate?” she said with a little shock to her tone. “Silas, the park is crowded with the gentry and they’re already all watching. We’ll shock the crowd if we race there. Plus, it’s hardly safe.”
“Oh, do you want safe , Arabella?” he asked with a wink. “What happened to all that wild?”
Her gaze narrowed. “What will I win when I best you?”
“A wager?” he gasped out. “I hadn’t thought of it, though I have no idea how. It is the perfect place for one. Let me see...” He pondered the stakes for a moment and then laughed. “If you win, you’ll come back to my home and I will do whatever you wish.”
She arched a brow, but there was no denying the wicked interest that flashed through her gaze at that suggestion. “And if you win?”
“Then you come back to my home and I will do whatever you wish,” he repeated with a wink for her.
She threw her head back and laughed so loud and hard that anyone near them who hadn’t been watching certainly was now. He could help but stare at her, too. She was really something when she laughed like that. Untethered and glorious. “You have a wager, sir. It appears I cannot lose.”
“We’ll see about that,” he called out as he turned his horse and urged him to jump forward into a gallop.
Behind him, he heard her squeal in playful frustration at his cheat and then they were off in earnest. He dodged the other horses on the path and she kept up with him, leaning forward on her mount, urging the filly with murmured words rather than a whip or crop.
They were neck and neck as they rounded the last curve toward the main gate of the park where dozens of people were gathered before they streamed in for the daily promenade.
He heard men calling out to them to stop and the blurry faces of the crowd were certainly filled with irritation. It was perfect.
He pulled up to a stop just at the gate and she was but a few steps behind him, her jaunty top hat now at an even more off-kilter angle and her face lit up with laughter and exertion.
He could hear the crowd around him murmuring and grumbling, clucking their tongues in disapproval.
Of course Arabella seemed to give not even one care about any of that as she leaned in and cupped his cheek.
The touch was electric, instant fire and passion that burned through him.
“Mr. Windham, I think you are a very bad influence,” she said before she leaned over and kissed him right there in front of the Corner Gate with the crowd gaping at the very wicked display.
She only barely parted her lips, just traced his with her tongue, but he felt like she’d devoured him.
The heat of her flowed through him, burning him to his core and leaving him panting and breathless when she pulled away.
Her pupils were dilated, but otherwise she seemed unbothered by the entire interaction.
“I lost, almost fairly,” she said with a wink. “And so it seems I must submit to your terms now. You may lead me back to your wicked lair, Mr. Windham. I cannot wait to see where such a villain lurks now that he’s back in the city.”