An Accidental Seduction by Lois Greiman Page B

discipline.”
    “Is that what you call it, then?”
    She looked at the unfolding country around them again. “Need I remind you that I am not the type of woman who would be attracted to an Irishman with too little funds and too much…” She waved a hand at him. “…good cheer?”
    He laughed again. “Constantly,” he said. “In fact, it seems, at times, as if you are two different women entirely.”
    She felt herself blanch but kept her back perfectly straight, her expression unchanged. “Tell me, Wickerbell, have you been getting into Lord Tilmont’s port?”
    “In Darlington, for instance,” he continued as if she remained mute, “’twas you who wished to see the entertainment at the start. But ’twas also you who decided to leave shortly after the beginning of the performance.”
    She shrugged. “Perhaps you have not heard that it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”
    He was watching her again. She didn’t like that. It made her skin hot.
    “I am told that their acrobat is rather handsome,” he said.
    What was he getting at? she wondered, but kept her voice steady. “‘Their’ being…?”
    “The Gypsies,” he said.
    “Ahh.” She nodded. “I should have known a man such as yourself would be interested in the wild Rom.”
    He was silent for a second, maybe considering the fact that, once again, it had been her idea to see Dook Natsia at the outset.
    “So you are not?” he asked finally.
    She raised a haughty brow at him. At least she hoped it looked haughty. Maybe it only made her appear peevish. “Interested in the Rom?”
    “Aye.”
    She laughed. Holy hell, the effort all but made her face bleed. ’Twas not easy being a harridan every minute of the day. “Is he titled?” she asked.
    “The acrobat?”
    “I believe that is who we were discussing.”
    He shrugged. “I asked around a bit. I am told Tamas is, in fact, descended from kings.”
    “Well, he lies,” she snapped, and felt the silence thrum around them like a heavy drumbeat.
    She could feel his confusion, though she dared not turn toward him.
    “You know this Tamas?”
    She felt her heart twang in her chest. How could she be so foolish? she wondered frantically, but kept her expression stoic, her eyes straight ahead. “Ahh, so you have found me out. Well, I might as well confess all, then. Asit turns out, I am having quite a lurid affair with him. Just as I am with the tanner and the shoemaker and the hermit who lives under the bridge by the river.”
    He was examining her, his gaze as steady and warm as the sunlight. God help her, he had eyes like a song. “My apologies,” he said. “’Tis just that there seemed something familiar about him.”
    “Well, perhaps he is your long-lost brother after all.”
    “I have only one brother.”
    She raised a shoulder. “A by-blow by your father, perhaps, then. Not someone your sire admits to. It happens, I’m told, that babies are left with Gypsies on a fairly regular—”
    “I’ll not have you defaming my family, lass.”
    She turned toward him. All traces of humor had disappeared from his face. And in the sinking light of the sun, he almost looked sinister. Almost dangerous.
    “My father had his faults, ’tis true, but he cherished my mum with every fiber of his being. Cherished her until the day he died.” There was something about the way he said it. Something about his fierce defense of the woman who had birthed him that brought tears instantly to her eyes.
    “I’m sorry.” The words were out before she could stop them. “I wasn’t…” She drew a deep breath and reminded herself who she was, but it made little difference. She couldn’t stop the apology. Loving mothers were arare and precious thing. None knew that better than she. “I’m sorry,” she said again.
    Though she dared not look his way lest he see the tears in her eyes, she felt him soften. “She was…” He paused, and now she couldn’t help but glance at him. He was gazing into