“You, Mr. MacIntyre, are a miscreant of the first water.”
He tipped up her chin so he could see her red-cheeked face. “You insulting me or complimenting me?”
“All books on proper behavior insist that I should be insulting you. At the very least, taking you to task for your disrespect.”
“But you’re not?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Any particular reason?”
Her smile was bright and cheery, startling him with its openness. “No, because I’ve often had the same thought myself.”
He pondered that and all its ramifications. “That mean you might be open to some negotiations as to what ladies can and cannot do?”
“I cannot speak for all women, sir.”
“I’ll settle for you speaking for yourself.”
“Very well.”
“You think you can bring yourself to call me by my first name? Sure ‘nough, darlin’, every time you call me Mister, I’m checking over my shoulder to see who you’re talking to.”
“I thought you’d gotten used to it.”
“I confess to the fact I’ve been waiting you out.”
“And now you’re not content to…” Her eyebrows rose again. “Wait me out?”
“A smart man keeps an eye for negotiating opportunities.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder. “And you’re a very smart man.”
“Whoa, darlin! Two compliments in one hour. Better ease up or I’ll start thinking you’re buttering me up.”
Her body grew tense in his arms. He leaned his cheek against the top of her hat. Something poked him in the ear. “Ouch!” He rubbed his ear. “Any chance you could see your way to disarming that hat?”
She smiled. A soft smile that set his neck hairs on end in warning. She lifted the hat off her head. She held it above her head as she shook the ties free of her chin. Seated as she was in his lap, he had a bird’s eye view of her breasts. And it was a mighty nice view.
He must have stared too long, because she dropped her hands suddenly. The little hat landed with a plop on her folded legs. “I’m sorry.”
Now it was his turn to raise his eyebrows. “For what?”
“I didn’t mean to shock you.”
“Shock me?”
“You said it was all right.”
“I did?”
“I won’t do it again.”
She wouldn’t? “Whoa, darlin’, do what?”
“I said I was sorry.”
“I heard that, darlin’. Problem is, I was still eating dust on the first sorry.” He tipped up her chin. “What are you apologizing for?”
She told him, but he had to ask her to repeat it, her voice was so faint. “I’m not wearing my corset.”
“And you think that’s worth losing a smile over?”
“It appears I misunderstood your dismay.”
He had to turn the words over in his mind two or three times before things made sense. “You mean my staring?”
Her hands clenched in on one another. “Yes.”
“Darlin’, we’re going to have to work on your education some. That wasn’t dismay. That was plain old admiration.” He met her shocked gaze. “You have the prettiest breasts I’ve ever seen.”
He had to give her points for pluck. While her cheeks turned cherry red, she kept her eyes open. “If you think that, why haven’t you touched them?”
Whatever response he’d been expecting, that wasn’t it. The one she gave him left him so weak-kneed, she could have knocked him over with a feather. For the third time in his life and the second time this month, he felt heat scorch up his neck. Along with it came laughter. “Dammit, woman! How am I supposed to come off as strong and capable when you’ve got me blushing like a school boy?”
“You look good in red.”
“You’d best hope no desperado comes upon us now, ‘cause armed or not, I wouldn’t be putting anything into the man but laughter.”
“I like you, Asa MacIntyre.”
Soft as a feather, that whispered confession put an end to his laughter. “I like you, too, Elizabeth.”
“So why haven’t you done anything about it?”
It was a good question. He just wasn’t sure how directly he wanted to answer.
Chapter Eleven
“Are you going to answer?” Elizabeth asked, watching his expression carefully. The man was as changeable as a fall day.
He touched her cheek. “Yeah.”
“With the truth?”
“I hadn’t decided that, but I suppose you’re going to insist?” His right eyebrow quirked as punctuation to the question.
“Yes.” She definitely wanted the truth. She shifted off his lap to her knees.
He sighed from his toes as if it were a great sacrifice. “Well, then, I guess I’ll have to.” She waited and counted ten breaths before he finally said, “I was waiting on a sign.”
“As in a miracle like Reverend Griffin talks about in church?”
His chuckle was deep, intimate, coaxing. As seductive as his come-hither lazy grin. It ought to be illegal, she decided, feeling the pull, for a man to toss about charm as easily as Asa did.
“Nothing that earth-shattering.”
His gaze dropped to her lips and she felt it like a touch. Yet,he made no move toward her. She folded her hands in her lap. She clutched her composure as tightly as she did her fingers. There was no hope for it. She was just going to have to bring it out in the open. “I was wondering why you were going into town today?”