The Earl Takes All by Lorraine Heath

course brought out. To ensure he made no blunders, he needed to control the direction of the discourse. “Surely you did more than read while we were away.” She blushed a delicate pink hue, and he wondered if she’d done the same while reading Madame Bovary or any of his magazines with the risqué stories. “How else did you fill your day?”
    Delicately, she pressed the napkin to her lips. “I practiced my water coloring. I’m much improved, and I’ve been working on something special.”
    â€œI hope you’ll share it with me.”
    His answer pleased her. It was dangerous to please her too much, to have that smile directed his way.
    â€œI’d rather wait until I’m further along.”
    â€œWhenever you’re comfortable.” He sipped his wine, savored the flavor, trying not to recall the essence of the kiss she’d bestowed on him last night. Kissing her was not going to cause her to lose the child. He was going to have to come up with another excuse to avoid those lips, a reason that wouldn’t cause her to doubt herself.
    Swirling the wine in his glass, he longed to down the entire bottle but knew he needed to limit himself, keep his wits about him. He was too stiff, too formal with her. He needed to stop thinking that he should relax, so he could relax.
    â€œDo you think Locksley will ever marry?” she asked.
    He was grateful for a topic that had nothing to do with them. “If he wants an heir, he must marry.”
    â€œThat’s such an unromantic reason to wed.”
    â€œStill, it is reason enough for many lords. Wanting to play matchmaker?”
    Pursing her lips together, she shook her head. “No. As much as I like him, I wouldn’t wish the life he offers on any woman. When you took me to Havisham to meet his father, I thought I might go mad during the short time we visited. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live there all the time. It feels so abandoned.”
    â€œIt’s not that bad.”
    â€œBecause you were young. Boys. Always able to find adventure. But for a woman, I think it would be a very lonely place indeed.”
    â€œDo you find Evermore to be a lonely place?”
    â€œNo, I feel as though I belong here. It’s my home. I take joy in it. I don’t know how a woman would ever make Havisham a home.”
    He tapped his finger against his wineglass. “It would take a special woman. But then to be honest, I never expected Ashe to marry either.”
    She took her wineglass, inhaled the bouquet, set it aside. “Do you think Edward would have ever married?”
    Slowly he shook his head. “No.”
    â€œI find it rather sad that he died without ever having been in love.”
    â€œI didn’t say he’d never been in love.”
    Her eyes widened. “Who?”
    â€œSomeone he couldn’t have.”
    â€œShe was married, then.”
    â€œShe could have been a servant.”
    â€œNo, had she been a servant he would have married her simply to shock all of London.”
    He grinned. “You knew Edward better than I thought you did.”
    â€œI would not have put it past him to marry a woman of ill-­repute or at the very least a woman of scandal.” She was smiling as though she rather enjoyed the notion of him doing it.
    â€œI didn’t realize you gave him that much thought.”
    She blushed. “I didn’t. Just something that occurred to me at some point. He never much cared what people thought.”
    I cared what you thought. And fearing she’d think the worse, he’d behaved in a manner that ensured she did. “I suppose he did enjoy doing things he ought not.”
    â€œTherefore, I can draw the conclusion that the woman he loved was married. Otherwise he’d have wed her.”
    â€œLove is a rather strong word.”
    â€œYou’re the one who used it first.”
    â€œI misspoke. More like, infatuated.