The Desires of a Countess (7 page)

Adam nudged him with a boot toe. “So
what does that mean for you? For her? For the reasons why we’re
here?”

Simon let out a growl of frustration.
Those were the same questions he’d been asking himself since Ginny
had struggled from his arms and pushed him away with all her
might.

“
I don’t know.” He sat bolt
upright and let the jacket fall from his face into his lap. “I
don’t bloody know anything! Just let it drop.”

Adam drew back and Simon winced at the
concern on his face. It was very rare that he allowed himself any
kind of emotional outburst. He was always in careful control of his
feelings. But one kiss from the bewitching Countess and all hell
had broken loose in his mind and soul.

“
All right.” Adam crouched
down in the stall door. “Calm yourself.”

Simon scrubbed a hand across his face.
Already, stubble roughened his cheeks. It was a reminder of how
far-removed from Ginny’s world he had become. A woman like her
wouldn’t want a scruffy tradesman.

“
I’m sorry. I’m just a
little confused right now.”

Adam chuckled. “That makes two of
us.”

“
This isn’t funny,” Simon
said. “She lost her husband just a few months ago. And though I
don’t sense a great feeling of mourning in her, she doesn’t seem
like the kind of woman who would take on a lover so early. And
certainly not want that lover to be me. She can hardly look me in
the eye.”

Adam frowned and the teasing light
left his eyes. It was replaced by the calm counselor Simon had come
to depend on. “Perhaps she’s lonely.”

“
It could be that.” He
flashed again to the passion in her embrace, and the look of loss
in her eyes when she’d pulled away so suddenly. “But I sense more
to it.”

“
What else could be behind a
kiss?”

Simon shrugged. “I don’t know. I wish
I could say, but Ginny is an enigma. I can’t speak to her motives
about anything.”

“
Well, my friend, you’ve
answered your own question, then.” Adam rose from his haunches with
a shrug. “Seems to me that you’ll just have to get to know her a
bit better. And that requires spending more time with
her.”

Simon groaned as he flopped back on
the stall floor. As Adam strolled away with a chuckle, Simon
wondered if he could do as his friend suggested. Though he’d only
just met the woman, she made him want things he’d always been able
to control before. He was no eunuch, but he’d never wanted to
tumble a woman he’d just met. Yet that seemed to be exactly what
Ginny inspired in him. And now he was going to have to spend the
next few weeks in her company, finding out the details of her life.
If only he could do that without longing to discover the intimacies
of her body, he’d be fine.

He let out another low groan. He was
in trouble.

Ginny ran the tip of her index finger
around the edge of her teacup in a slow circle. Why couldn’t she
concentrate? The Matter of Insignificance, as she was now referring
to her kiss with Simon, had happened days before. Two nights of
tossing and turning should have resolved the matter.

But it hadn’t.

Still, he hadn’t used that weakness
against her, as she expected. In fact, she hadn’t seen him at all,
aside from once when he’d been leaving the house and she’d watched
from her window as he walked down the path toward the cottage. He’d
done nothing to seek her out or hold the Matter over her
head.

Perhaps she
had
misjudged the man when she assumed he’d be
her enemy. She might not be able to let her guard down, but perhaps
she there wasn’t a need to fight him quite so hard.

Behind her, the morning room door
opened and a parlor maid entered with a fresh pot of tea. As the
girl poured, Ginny glanced up at her.

“
Thank you. Where is Jack
this morning? I’m surprised I haven’t yet seen him and Miss
Frost.”

The girl tipped her head to the side and a few
errant curls bobbed out of her cap. “Didn’t anyone tell you, my
lady? Mr. Webber was in this morning to have a bath and as he was
leaving, little Master Jack ran into him. The boy seemed to take to
him right away, so Mr. Webber took him for a jaunt around the
estate. Miss Frost assumed it was with your blessing.”

The warmth Ginny had begun to feel
toward Simon froze as quickly as if a winter wind had blown through
her heart. This man, this
stranger
, had taken her little boy somewhere,
when not two days before she’d told him that was against her
wishes.

Apparently he didn’t care. Just like
his cousin Henry before him, Simon had chosen to do what he wanted
without a care for her thoughts or feelings about the
matter.

She slammed her chair back and rose to
her feet. “Where did they go?” Her voice trembled with anger and
fear.

The maid looked at her with wide,
confused eyes. She took a surprised step back. “I’m not certain, my
lady.”

Ginny took a breath in an attempt to
reign in her emotions without success. “Dammit, think!”

The girl jumped at her harsh tone and
shook her head. “I really have no idea, Lady Westdale. I heard Mr.
Webber say something to Jack about the horses, but…”

Ginny didn’t hear the rest as she
gathered up her skirt in one hand and bolted from the room. When
she found Simon Webber, she would give him something to remember
her by. And this time it sure as hell wouldn’t be a
kiss.

She flew down the stairs, barely
acknowledging that the rain from the past few weeks had ended and
was replaced by a light breeze that was bracing but pleasant.
Normally, she would have enjoyed the subtle shift from winter to
spring, but now she was too angry. All she could think about was
her little boy.

How could she allow Simon Webber to
break down her defenses with just one kiss? True, she’d started it,
but he hadn’t tried to push her aside. He’d returned the caress and
encouraged her to do things she shouldn’t have done. She should
have forced him and his friend sleep in the cottage like she’d
originally planned. A few nights of misery in the rain would have
done him good.

But no. She’d allowed herself to get
entangled in his damned Devil’s web and had softened to
him.

Muttering a few choice words under her
breath, she wrenched the stable door open and took three purposeful
steps inside. What she saw made her come to a halt and
stare.

Simon held her son in his arms with as
much care and gentleness as she always did herself. The little
boy’s dark hair was ruffled by the wind and a smudge of dirt ran
across his cheek, but the grin on his face softened her heart to
mush.

Jack had always loved horses. Henry
had been far too busy to indulge the child’s first passion, but
Simon held him up to one of the stallions.

“
And what’s this one’s
name?” Simon asked with laughter heavy in his voice.

“
Charlie,” Jack
replied without hesitation as he stroked the animal’s nose. Ginny
covered a smile with her palm. That horse was named Firebrand and
had been Henry’s prized possession. Her late husband wouldn’t have
taken kindly to him being used as a child’s toy. Which made
her
love it all the
more.

“
And what about the gray
over there? Does he have a name?” Simon asked as he shifted Jack’s
weight on his hip.

The boy wrinkled his tiny nose.
“That’s a girl.”

Simon snorted out a laugh as he leaned
back to get a better look at the animal in question. “Well, we can
talk about anatomy when you’re older. What’s
her
name?”

“
Buttercup.”

“
Actually, Jack, I’m fairly
sure that one’s name is Pepper. He and I got very close last night
when he decided my pillow was his midnight snack. But I have to say
that Buttercup is a brilliant name for a horse.” Simon gave the boy
a squeeze and Jack dissolved into a fit of sweet laughter that
brought tears to Ginny’s eyes.

Henry wouldn’t have bonded with their child the way
this man was. Even at Jack’s young age, her husband had already
begun talking to her about boarding schools and children being seen
and not heard. That attitude had been part of the anger between
them. And Jack’s boisterous nature had been an element that awful
night months ago.

She blinked away the images that
threatened to invade her mind and took a step forward. As she did
so, Jack turned his head and his eyes met hers. With a squeal of
delight, he squirmed out of Simon’s arms and ran over to her on
chubby legs that seemed to be turning from baby to little boy every
day.

“
Mama!”

She swung him up with a laugh and
cuddled him with all her strength. Though she could now see that
Jack wasn’t threatened by Simon, it didn’t fully temper the fact
that she’d been afraid for him. Or that she was still furious with
the man who now stared at her from across the wide expanse of space
in the stable.

At least, she was
trying
to remain furious. It was difficult when
his eyes captured hers.

She placed a kiss on the tip of Jack’s
nose in an effort to break visual contact with Simon. “Little boy,
you’re getting so big I don’t think I’ll be able to carry you
around soon.”

“
You will always carry
Jack,” her son announced as he let her set him on the ground.
“That’s Mr. Webber.” He pointed a finger in Simon’s direction and
forced Ginny to look at the man again.

This time he was smiling at her little
boy, but she was still well aware that he watched her every move
and reaction. She had no doubt he was conscious of her anger and
was waiting to see how she would respond.

“
Yes,” she said with a
glare for Simon. “That is Mr. Webber. I wonder what
Mr. Webber
thinks he was
doing?”

Simon straightened up from the wall and shook his
head. “What do you mean?”

“
What were you doing with my
son?” she repeated, trying to keep the anger from her voice in
front of Jack. When the boy was out of earshot, she planned to let
loose with all her fury and leave Simon with little doubt that he’d
overstepped a line.

“
He was showing me the
horsies,” Jack interjected as he crouched down to watch a bug make
a slow trail across the dusty floor.

Simon arched an eyebrow. “I came up to
the house to ready myself, and your son was with his nanny. He and
I talked. Jack was very interested in my spending the night with
the horses. I didn’t think it would do any harm to take him to see
them since you weren’t yet awake.”

Ginny’s nostrils flared out. Damn him
for being so reasonable. She wanted to stay angry with him. She had
every right to be. He’d taken her son without permission. Yet when
he spoke to her in that calm voice with his eyes burning into her,
her rage dissolved.

“
You stay here,” she said
with another glare for him as she took Jack’s hand. “I’ll be back
in a moment and I want to have a word with you.”

Simon gave a shrug of acquiescence as
she exited the stable and headed up toward the house. As she
hurried up the hill with Jack singing a children’s song, she
allowed herself a breath of relief. When she returned to the stable
to have it out with Simon, the last thing she wanted was for him to
see her emotions. Any weakness she felt, be it fear or… or well
anything else, had to be squashed. Immediately.

***

Simon strummed his fingers along the stall shelf as
he waited for Ginny’s return. Though he tried to block it out,
guilt stabbed through him like a knife to the gut. It wasn’t his
fault that Ginny was overprotective. The fear that had flickered in
her eyes when she discovered him with her son had nothing to do
with him and everything to do with whatever secrets she was
keeping.

Yet, the sight of her trembling when
he’d turned to find her looking at Jack and him still filled him
with regret. Mixed with the urge to take that fear from her eyes,
it was a potent cocktail.

He leaned back just as she strode back
into the stable, her walk filled with emotion and purpose. Instead
of stopping at the door as she had earlier, she stormed across the
dirt to halt just inches from his face. He couldn’t help but inhale
a subtle whiff of her fragrance.

“
You have no right to my
son!” Her tone was harsh and angry, despite how soft her words
were.

Fury turned her eyes to blue heat,
flushed her face and the tiny triangle of skin that peeked out of
the bodice of her gown. She drew in short, labored breaths. And God
help him, he wanted her more than he had the night she kissed him.
It took all his strength not to reach out and pull her
closer.

“
Ginny-”

She shook her head. “I’ve done more
than you could ever imagine to keep him safe, so don’t think that
I’ll allow
you
to take him.”
The rage flickered out, replaced by tears that washed away his
burst of lust. “You-can’t-take-him,” she choked out a second time
before she tried to turn away.