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She had had ample opportunity to observe hi situations in which another man would not have so excelled He had shown his ether, and she was hly ena close to what she felt

She could see, for she was a woood instincts, that he was more than a little attracted to her She could see that he was holding hiht he was about to kiss her but then he did not No doubt he thought her the innocent she was and did not wish to hurt her? Well, she was going to have to do so about that, wasn’t she? He was a man of the world There was no doubt in her mind that his mistresses s, or even married, but never maids His honor would make him resist her, and she didn’t want him to

What then? Ah, she would have to be bolder than an innocent maid and perhaps find a way to break down that resistance of his? Yes, she would break down that sense of honor that kept hi her into his very desirable arms—that was the ticket, as her Scott would say

“So, then, you rode over hill and dale all your life without a saddle, did you?” He smiled

“Oh, not often, but, yes, very horsey,in the country, and as a young girl it was acceptable to play the hoyden and have ”

“I can just see you running alorious hair of yours all around your beautiful face,” he said alhed “But I see you knoell how to play the lady, which you shall have to do in London, you know”

“Play the lady?” She took no offense “Indeed, I am a lady, but I have no wish to put on airs simply because I mean to have a season”

She saw it then, she saw it in his sht in his throat He was leaning in towards her as though he was about to take her hand …

But she didn’t want him to take her hand She wanted him to take her waist and bend to kiss her She slowed her horse with just that intent and eyed hihed right out loud, but Ashton didn’t laugh, not at all

“You are s, my beauty, a hoyden of a wild child for one, a lady who knows just how to carry herself, and an eers,kiss there

Shivers swept through her body, and she trembled at his touch If his kiss to her wrist could do so much—what then when he kissed her lips? “So, you think that,” she stuck in breathlessly if only to try and ease herself, “I shall e with the very pink of the ton?”

“I am,”—he inclined his head with a chuckle—“considered to be ast the ‘pink of the ton’ and can tell you that for those of us who enjoy seeing past the veneer of the new debutantes hopeful of entering our world, you shall e of a duchess”

He said that with such feeling that she glanced at hi moment and answered, “Do you think I would care for the opinions of people who put value on all the wrong things—like that? It isn’t the fashion I choose to wear but the heart I carry” She shrugged “I don’t give a fig for who is ton and who is not, but I hed at herself over this

“Bravo!” He smiled warmly at her “Now that is the duchess in you”

They bantered in this style, about manners, hers and society’s She ventured questions about some of the famous fashionables she had read about and listened raptly to his descriptions, until all at once she noticed they had reached the cottage in the woods