Free The Earl and the Highwayman's Daughter by Maggi Andersen Page A

her dress caught up to the thigh, revealing blue satin garters.
    Brendan swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. “Come down at once!” he called when he got control of his voice and his breath. Could he and Chloe turn this hoyden into a lady? He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to, he decided, watching her turn and scramble down while carefully keeping her basket upright. He averted his gaze after she offered him another view of smooth bare thigh. He’d never met anyone like her. The ladies he knew never revealed a penchant for tree climbing. Even Chloe as a child resisted accompanying him on such endeavors. Eugenia was as nimble as a wood nymph. Compelled, he raised his head again to watch her. My God, she was a picture. More like the goddess, Demeter, wheat gold hair escaping from her straw hat, her blue gown rising up… He swiftly gazed at his feet again. “Do you require any assistance?” he asked disliking how stiff he sounded.
    “No.” She joined him on the ground.
    “Why the need for peaches?”
    “Vanessa told me she had a peach tree at home. She misses them.”
    He took the laden basket from her. “Then I must make sure the fruit is available to the staff when in season. To end the necessity for you to climb trees.”
    “I like climbing,” she said cheerfully, brushing down her skirt and depriving him of that glorious view of slim legs and an inviting expanse of creamy skin.
    “Ladies don’t…” He firmed his lips. He’d been about to give her a lecture. Instead he merely chuckled, placed his gun over his shoulder and called the dogs. “Shall we return to the house?”
    That evening over a game of chess, Eugenia gave a squeal of delight when she moved her knight to threaten his queen.
    “You are improving,” he said with a grin. “Might you have me on the ropes?”
    “Improving? I am about to checkmate you, my lord,” she said in a triumphant voice.
    “You two are very noisy tonight, I declare.” Chloe put away her knitting and rose. “Do not stay up too late, Eugenia. We depart early tomorrow and must endure many hours in the coach.”
    “I won’t. Goodnight, Lady Beale.”
    After the door closed on his sister, Eugenia gave him an impish grin. “Now, my lord, what say you to this latest move of mine?”
    “Let me see. If I do this....” Brendan hovered his knight over the board before setting it down. “You must then act to protect your king. Then I shall do this….” He indicated where he would move his queen. “And you shall be checkmated, my dear.”
    “Oh!” Her beautiful green eyes widened with accusation and she grabbed his hand before he made his move. “You are not to be trusted.”
    Would she accuse him thus after this was over? For a moment, he held her soft small hand in his and searched her eyes. The faith he found there tore through him, tightening his chest. At the clunk of the grandfather clock, he released her hand. He’d been without hope and cared little for anything for some time, but now he must. For her sake. “It grows late. Shall we leave the board set up this way for another time?”
    She held her hands in her lap, her fingers stroking over the back of her hand. “Will there be another time?”
    The thought that they might not be here again like this affected him more than he liked. He forced a smile. “But of course! You’re not going to abandon that goose of yours are you? I admit she is the finest of birds, and I’d be most grateful to have her, but still…”
    The sadness that shadowed her eyes faded and she smiled. “I’m sorry, my lord, although you’ve been very kind to me, you cannot have Molly. She would fret terribly if I left her.”
     
    The trip proved uneventful, negating the necessity for the two armed footmen. Two days later, the carriage emerged from the shabby environs of the sprawling city where coal smoke belched from chimneys and entered the more salubrious, tree-lined streets of Mayfair. Amused, Brendan watched the changing