Free One Dangerous Desire (Accidental Heirs) by Christy Carlyle

arrived, and he and Devenham carried on about a matter of fisheries that was to be debated in the House of Lords.
    Her mind wandered. She found herself pondering how much better the drawing room walls would look papered with one of Mr. William Morris’s designs than the plain, timid beige damask currently lining the room. But even while she imagined vines snaking across the walls and rich colors catching the light, she watched for Rex Leighton out of the corner of her eye. Her neck started to ache from the effort to not turn her head and search for him openly. Finally, she allowed herself one surreptitious sweep of the room, and it was all for naught. At some point, he’d made his escape.
    Emily emerged from a cluster of ladies in glittering beaded gowns. “May, my dear, would you help me greet the Thorndikes?”
    Nodding a bit too eagerly, May took leave of the earl. When they emerged into the much cooler main hallway, she allowed herself a deep breath before heading toward the stairwell. Realizing Emily wasn’t following her, she stopped and turned back. “Where are the Thorndikes?”
    “Already in the drawing room.” Rex spoke from the bottom of the stairs.
    Emily shot her a guilty look. “Mr. Leighton asked if he might speak to you. I hope I was correct to assist him.”
    “It’s all right, Em.” May remained at the top of the stairs. She wasn’t ready to give up her patch of high ground quite yet. “What is it, Mr. Leighton?”
    Rather than answer, he pointed toward the house’s back terrace. “Can I interest you in a breath of fresh air?”
    He infused the question with a hint of challenge, and the blasted man knew she rarely backed down from one of those. She had to go. To put an end to the awkwardness between them, if nothing else.
    “Very well, Mr. Leighton. Five minutes and not a minute more.”

Chapter Six
    H E DIDN ’ T HAVE much time. Beyond May’s dictate that she’d give him only five minutes, he wished for a moment alone before the evening’s meal to speak to Basil Thorndike, a London real estate maven in attendance who owned the site Rex hoped to acquire for the Pinnacle.
    First, he needed to clear the air with May. He suspected she wasn’t going to make it easy. Whatever she’d experienced in the six years since they’d last known each other, the easy-to-smile girl had grown into a warier woman. Her eyes sparked with the same exuberance, and she still brightened a room with her presence. Yet she seemed more watchful. More guarded.
    She marched ahead of him with a determined stride and stopped just beyond the threshold of the terrace, as if she didn’t trust him, or herself, to venture out into the darkness together.
    “I think it right that we have this moment together, Mr. Leighton.”
    Rex grinned at her pronouncement. Some things hadn’t changed. Her ability to turn every situation to her own advantage, as if it had all been arranged on her behalf in the first place, had always amused him. It made her seem indomitable. As if nothing could thwart her. Of all the qualities he’d loved about May, he admired her tenacity most of all.
    “I agree, especially since I suggested it.”
    “Yes, well, I . . . ” After clearing her throat, she reached a gloved hand up to her neck as if the diamond choker there had cut off her air.
    The moment he stepped forward, she lifted a hand to stop him, snatching it back when her fingers brushed the front of his shirt.
    “I have something to say to you, if you’d do me the kindness of remaining over there.” She waved a gloved hand to shoo him away.
    Deciding to indulge her, he took two steps back.
    For a moment, she looked lost, as if she’d forgotten whatever she intended to say and wasn’t sure how they’d ended up on the back terrace together at all. She looked vulnerable, and it stoked a tenderness in him that he’d only ever felt for her. No one else had ever been able to find that protective, soft part of his heart, the existence of