Free Miss Winbolt and the Fortune Hunter by Sylvia Andrew Page B

taken such pains to speak to you alone? I admire your spirit, but you can’t keep it up for ever, you know. Why don’t you admit it?’
    â€˜Admit what? I don’t know what you’re talking about—’
    â€˜Yes, you do, dear Miss Winbolt.’ He held her eye and repeated the question. ‘Why don’t you admit it? Why don’t you take our famous bull by the horns and ask me if I have recognised you?’
    â€˜Recognised me? What do you mean?’ she demanded defiantly. ‘How could you have recognised me? I don’t remember ever having met you before Lady Langley’s ball.’
    â€˜Well now, that surprises me—that you have for gotten our first meeting, I mean. I have found the experience quite impossible to forget. Those legs dangling so enticingly from the oak tree, the sensations as werolled down that bank clasped in each other’s arms, your delightful response to my kisses…’
    â€˜Stop! Stop!’ Emily cried. She jumped up in a panic, her hands to her ears, and made to run away. He caught one of her hands and pulled her back.
    â€˜Admit it,’ he said softly.
    â€˜Very well!’ she cried. ‘I admit it, I admit it! Does that satisfy you? And what are you planning to do, now that I have confessed? It must give you a great deal of satisfaction to know that you could ruin me with a few sentences. I dare say you think it would make a fine story for the gossips.’
    â€˜That’s very true. Were they ever to hear it.’
    Emily hid her face in her hands. ‘I can’t bear it,’ she said.
    â€˜Don’t look like that, Miss Winbolt! There’s no danger of it, I assure you! It will remain our secret.’
    She looked at him, not sure whether to believe him or not, but the blue eyes were sincere. There was a short silence then she whispered, ‘How can I trust you?’
    â€˜I suppose you’ll have to take my word for it. I’m no monster. I don’t believe in destroying reputations for pleasure. Of course, I don’t under stand why you behaved as you did—’
    â€˜How could you? I don’t under stand that myself!’ cried Emily in despair again. ‘I still don’t. But why did you tease me so?’
    â€˜I must confess the temptation was irresistible. I had heard so much about the respectable Miss Winbolt, so cool to would-be suitors, you see. And then, afterwards—it was all so ridiculously unlikely. I was en chanted by the situation. Will you forgive me?’ He smiled at her, the tiny fan of wrinkles appearing at the corners of those dark blue eyes. Emily stared at him,bemused, and the smile disappeared. He leaned forward slowly and kissed her.
    â€˜No! You mustn’t!’ She stared at him in shock, then turned away, her face hidden in her hands again. ‘I’m so ashamed,’ she whispered, ‘So ashamed that you should believe you can…can…’ She shook her head. ‘What must you think of me?’
    He took her hands in his and drew them away from her face. His expression was quite serious. ‘I don’t know what to think of you. Which is the real Emily Winbolt? The wild enchantress in the hollow, or the cool, level-headed Miss Winbolt? How can both of you exist in the same body? And why do you have such a strange effect on me? There are so many questions. Believe me, I think you are the most intriguing woman I have met in a long time.’
    She snatched her hands back. ‘No!’ she cried. ‘I won’t allow you to kiss me and say things like that. I am not any kind of enchantress! I was not myself when we met before, I don’t know what came over me! If you think you can tease and torment me, say what you like to me, kiss me, because of what happened, well, you can’t. I won’t have it. I have never before behaved like that, and I never will again.’ She took a deep breath, then lifted her chin and