He retrieved his horse quickly and led the beast to her side. Aurora offered his horse a wary glance. “What’s his name?”
“Horse,” he told her with a shrug. “Unimaginative, I know.”
“It suits him,” she told him with a straight face, but then a smile played upon her lips. “He suits you, too. A noble and distinguished beast and his handsome rider.”
Her almost smile lit him up from the inside. He felt a small ray of hope return. She had been busy starting her business. She’d simply had no time for him. She could have written him to explain that, though.
Perhaps he would have a chance with her still, and he had been helpful to her today. But he needed time, patience, and more privacy to persuade her that he wasn’t so easily set aside. He’d never met a more vexing creature in his entire life than this woman though. She was well and truly under his skin. And it was clear she liked him.
They set off at an easy pace, and Drew quickly adjusted his stride to match hers, catching up on the events of their lives from the past few days. It was comforting to be with her again but arguing with Aurora earlier had certainly heated his whole body. He loosened his cravat a little as they walked along. “Where did you meet Mr. Lambert?”
“On Bond Street,” she confessed, glancing at his throat, and then shyly looking away her cheeks turning pink with a becoming blush. “He was staring quite forlornly at a distant lady, and I struck up a conversation with him then and there.”
“That was quite brave of you, and inspired too. Meeting people at the right time will be a great challenge in the beginning.” When he saw her rub her arms, he looked at her in concern. “Are you cold?”
“No. I just don’t like to argue with you…or anyone, really. I’m sorry if I worried you. I didn’t mean. I just thought it would be easier if…”
“You went away. Apology accepted. Let’s not speak of the misunderstanding again. But let’s make a rule here and now to never believe any rumors about each other. To ask each other anything at all, no matter how bold or intimate a subject. I’m keen to help you with your new venture if I can, too.”
“I’d like that, but there are some matters that I won’t talk to you about. I will try to be more forthcoming, though,” she whispered. “And I will try to send word when I am otherwise engaged again.”
“That is all I ask,” he promised, guiding her across a street and safely through traffic. “Have you found any other clients yet other than the young man back there?”
“Just the one so far.” Aurora related the details of the plans she’d made to bring about the match, which were not at all momentous but interesting to him all the same.
“Serendipity, indeed, meeting Mr. Lambert the way you did,” Drew praised. She was as keen to get started as she’d been when she first spoke to him about the venture. “However, I do hope you will not tutor him in the same intimate manner as you’ve helped me of late.”
She inhaled deeply and her eyes flicked to his. And there it was again.
That look.
Desire, flashing in her vibrant green eyes.
If they were anywhere else, who knew where that look might have taken them.
Or perhaps that was useful, being in the outdoors.
He could not become distracted from what he came to do. They exited the area around Hyde Park with him leading his horse, but he kept his chin low in a belated effort to hide his identity from members of the ton who might be passing by. It was important to conduct himself as a gentleman from now on in public, especially near one of her clients.
Aurora kept pace with him, but then stopped abruptly when he would have turned toward Wharton House. “Where are you going?”
He pointed toward the square they were approaching, which could just be seen ahead. “I was taking you home.”
“But I had another destination in mind for the afternoon,” she protested.
“Where?”
She lifted her chin. “Guess?”
He sighed, and then realized this was a test. “I’m not willing to voice any assumptions that might cause another argument between us today.”
“Oh, you could have wagered on this decision of mine and won handily,” she said, with a shy smile. “Now my interview with my client has ended I am at liberty to spend the rest of my day doing as I please. As you said, we have unfinished business, my lord. Could you hail a hack for me. It’s a long walk to Conduit Street, and your horse cannot take the two of us together. You can ride, or tie your horse to the carriage and join me inside if you like. I had some thoughts to share for the house’s improvement, too, if you’d like to hear them. Unless you have somewhere else to be this afternoon?”
“I have no other plans,” Drew said quickly before she changed her mind, but he studied her a long moment, utterly stunned that Aurora was coming back to him so easily. He had honestly expected her to put up more opposition to seeing him in private again after her week of silence.
They were far enough from Hyde Park now that few would recognize them, so he hailed a hack, and bundled Aurora into it before he tied his mount to the back.
He joined Aurora inside and took a place beside her.
She smiled at him. “There, that is better, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Quite cozy indeed,” he agreed, reaching to take hold of her hand, which she allowed.
Aurora looked out the window as they traveled together in silence, and Drew watched her, trying to figure her out. He’d known few women with an active dislike of marriage. But almost all he did know had suffered an indignity somewhere in their past. A scandal hushed up. A love lost.
Aurora had not been an innocent the first time they’d made love. He’d never brought it up before, and she had not explained it, either. Did Aurora cling to some memory of a lost love, like he had done for his late wife? Is that why she never wanted to marry herself? It would certainly explain a great deal about her interest in seeing other people happily matched.
She knew his every doubt, every regret over his first wife’s short life. Perhaps she might still feel the same about a similar situation she’d been in.
Regardless of what her past might have entailed, he would not let her push him away. He would stay until she explained herself, and perhaps even if she wouldn’t tell him anything of her past. He could be as patient with her as she had been with him in the beginning of their acquaintance, and he would prove his constancy should never be questioned…and perhaps then she might take a chance on love again as he already had.