Page 34 of The Heir

“Andthatis how you go aboutpassion? I suppose you left her free to pursue any other pair of broad shoulders she pleased when you were not bothering her?”

“In retrospect, one can admit there were a few subtle indicators the situation was not ideal, but we are not discussing this further, Anna Seaton. And for your information, that is not how I prefer to go about passion.” He folded her hand between both of his and fell silent. Topic closed.

“You deserve more than to be tolerated for a few hours a week in exchange for parting with your coin. Any good man does.”

“Your sentiments are appreciated,” the earl said, amusement back in his tone. “Shall we see what we can find in that hamper you brought? The thing weighed a ton, which is good, as my appetite is making itself known.”

Topic closed, subjectchanged.

“We’ll need the blanket from the gig, I think,” Anna said, willing to drop the discussion of his former mistress. “I saw no dining table nor much in the way of chairs inside.”

“I gather the matched sets and so forth were auctioned this spring,” the earl said, tugging Anna to her feet. “What do you think of the place so far?”

“It’s pretty, peaceful, and not too far from Town. So far I love it, but who are your neighbors?”

“Now that is not something I would have considered, except that you raise it, and to a widow, such a thing would matter. I will make inquiries, though I know my niece dwells less than three miles farther up the road we came in on.”

“Her aunt would like that, I’m sure, being close to Rose,” Anna said as they walked back into the kitchen.

“Rose wouldn’t mind, either. She gets on with everybody, even His Grace.”

“You see him only as a father. As a grandpapa, he may be different.”

They retrieved the blankets—two of them—and strolled through the lawns toward the spot for which the property was named, a grassy little knoll overlooking a wide, slow stream. Weeping willows grew on both banks, their branches trailing into the slow-moving water and giving the little space a private, magical quality.

“Perfect for wading,” Anna said. “Will you be scandalized?”

“Not if you don’t mind my disrobing to swim,” the earl replied evenly.

“Naughty man. I bet you and your brothers did your share of that, growing up at Morelands.”

“We did.” The earl unfolded a blanket and flapped it out onto a shady patch of ground. “Morelands has grown, generation by generation, to the point where it’s tens of thousands of acres, complete with ponds, streams, and even a waterfall. I learned to hunt, fish, swim, ride, and more just rambling around with my brothers.”

“It sounds idyllic.”

“So where did you grow up, Anna?” The earl sat down on the blanket. “You aren’t going to loom over me, are you?”

Anna folded to the blanket beside him, realizing how vague her notion of the day had been. A few kisses, a tour of the property, and back to the realities of their lives at the townhouse. She hadn’t considered they would talk and talk and talk, nor that she would enjoy that as much as the kissing.

“Hand me the hamper,” she ordered. “I will make us up plates. There is lemonade and wine, both.”

“Heaven forefend! Wine on a weekday before noon, Mrs. Seaton?”

“I love a good cold white,” Anna admitted, “and a hearty red.”

“I hope you put some of what you love in that hamper. This is a long way to come for bannocks.”

“Not burned bannocks, please,” she said, pawing carefully through the hamper. When she finished, Westhaven was presented with sliced strawberries, cheese, buttered slices of bread, cold chicken, and two pieces of marzipan.

“And what have we here?” The earl peered into the hamper and extracted a tall bottle. “Champagne?”

“What?” Anna looked up. “I didn’t put that in there.”

“I detect the subtle hand of Nanny Fran. A glass, if you please.”

Anna obligingly held the glass while the earl popped the cork. She shamelessly sipped the fizzy overflow and held the glass out to him. He drank without taking the glass into his own hand and smiled at her.

“That will do,” he declared. “For a hot summer day, it will do splendidly.”