The Scoundrel in Her Bed (Sins for All Seasons #3)(10)

She thought of his bag, knew the residence had been locked up tight for the night, yet he’d managed to get in. “Are you a thief as well?”

Something she should have thought to ask earlier.

“Once. Until my mum found out. Now I make an honest living.” Grinning, he glanced over at her. “It’s not as exciting.”

“But safer.”

“It is that. I’ll never end up in prison doing what I do now. As long as you keep our little secret.”

“I will. I promise.” Besides, his secret was now tied in with one she needed to keep for herself. Although her father had never taken a strap to her as he had her brother, if he found out about tonight’s little excursion, he very well might take action that would prevent her from sitting for a week.

“Why’d you goad her?” he asked unexpectedly.

She lifted a shoulder, embarrassed to admit the truth. “Why does any girl do anything unwise? I wanted someone’s attention.”

“One of your many swains?”

His tone was a bit confusing, as though he was irritated by the notion she might have beaux. For some reason, she was reluctant to confess that Thornley was a suitor, probably because he wasn’t really, not yet. Besides, it lessened her guilt about being out and about with this young man if she labeled the duke as merely a friend. “I haven’t any admirers. At least not yet. I’m only fifteen. I haven’t even had my first Season.”

“Fifteen,” he muttered beneath his breath. “A child.”

That irritated her. “I’m not a child. I’m very nearly fully grown. How old are you?”

“A good deal older than you.”

“How much older?”

“I’m one and twenty.”

“That’s not so old.”

“Old enough,” he murmured.

He turned the wagon onto a road much narrower than the one they’d been on. Ahead loomed a large building. Across the front, huge white letters that spelled Trewlove reflected the moonlight. “What’s this?” she asked.

“My brother’s brickworks factory.”

“Aiden owns a factory and a gaming hell?”

The amused grin again. “No. My other brother Mick owns this, fancies himself a builder with plans to take the worst parts of London and make them posh.”

“How many brothers have you?”

“Three.”

“I can’t imagine it. There’s only my brother and I. He’s nine years older and seldom wants anything to do with me.”

“Do you want him to?”

She laughed at his bluntness. “No, not really. When he does find time, he teases me unmercifully.”

“It is a law that brothers must tease their sisters.”

“Have you sisters?”

“Two.”

She assumed his teasing of them wasn’t nearly as irritating as Neville’s of her. She actually welcomed the occasions when they went months without seeing each other, when he’d either been off at school or was seeing to one of the family’s estates in their father’s stead, learning all he needed to know in order to be a proper earl when the day came.

“I hope you don’t find my saying this offensive, but you don’t speak like a laborer.” While his diction was far from the haughtiness of an aristocrat, it did reflect a certain amount of education, more than she’d have expected from someone who slaughtered animals for a living.

“That’s my sister Gillie’s doing. She’s obsessed with ensuring none of us sound like we come from the gutter. She firmly believes we have to speak properly if we ever hope to make something of ourselves.”

“And what will you make of yourself, Finn Trewlove?”

With a wink, he gave her another flash of a smile. “That remains to be seen, Lady Lavinia.”

He brought the wagon to a halt, set the brake, and climbed down. No one seemed to be about as he walked around to her side and held up his arms. She scooted over until he could bracket his large hands on her narrow waist while she placed her small hands on his broad shoulders. Slowly, ever so slowly, as though he were in no hurry, he lifted her down until her feet touched the earth.

For the briefest of moments, he seemed to be studying her, and she wondered if he was ever going to release his hold on her, wasn’t certain she wanted him to. No one had ever looked at her as he did—with such intense interest, as though she fascinated him. It was rather thrilling to be the object of such attention. Finally, he dropped his hands and stepped back. “My brother has wagons and horses for hauling the brick. Over here.”

She followed him to a large paddock—not a proper stable, although she could see what appeared to be some sort of wooden shelter in the distance. The horses she saw standing around were much bulkier than the ones in her father’s stables, but then she supposed they needed the muscles for hauling something as weighty as bricks. Then she spotted the elegant white mare with her silver mane, and her heart leaped with such joy she was surprised it didn’t burst through her chest. “Sophie! Here, girl! Here, sweet girl!”

The horse trotted over, and Lavinia petted her, pressing her forehead against Sophie’s. “I thought never to see you again. I suppose after tonight that will be true, but at least you’ve not been taken from me completely. I’ll know you’re here, frolicking about, having a grand time with your new friends. I’m sorry I treated you poorly, tried to use you to gain another’s attention. Oh, sweet girl, I shall forever miss you.”