“What’s wrong, Evie?” he asked in a quiet voice.?

She startled. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”?

“I remember that particular sigh. It means you’re not
happy about something.”?

She sat up straighter, trying to put some distance
between them. The blasted man was impossibly large, and
the Lord knew she wasn’t exactly a tiny thing. Between
the two of them and the excess material of her riding
habit, it was a miracle they were even able to fit into
the curricle.

“I’m fine.” She flashed him what she hoped was a
nonchalant smile. “I hardly think you know me very well,
given the passage of time since we were children. I’ve
grown up, Will.”

He glanced down at her, his gaze lingering on her face
and then moving to her bosom. “You certainly have.”

Her mind blanked, struggling to find an appropriate
reply. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be one.

Cautiously, she peered up at him. She hadn’t been sure
before, but now it did seem clear that Will was flirting
with her. Not that she was adept at flirtation, or even
in recognizing the signs. In fact, she was monumentally
bad at it. But she surely wasn’t mistaking the heat in
Will’s eyes that had made them darken like smoke curling
up from a blue flame.

When his lips tilted up in an amused smile, she realized
her mouth was hanging open. She snapped it shut and
jerked her head forward. “Will, you should keep your eyes
on your pair. This road is quite bad after all the rains
we’ve had this summer.”

His low laugh did things to her nerves and insides that
defied description. It was beginning to dawn on Evie that
what she’d felt for Will as a girl—as powerful as that
had been—had lacked a full awareness of his potent
physical attractions.

“Certainly, Madame Scold, whatever you say,” he teased.

“When have I ever scolded you, William Endicott?” she
asked, retreating behind a façade of exasperation. “As I
recall, you always led me around by the nose. Really, I’m
quite ashamed of my weak-willed behavior back then.”

“If anyone did the leading, it was your sister,” he said
dryly. “And if memory serves, you gave me quite a
scolding last night.”

That comment gave her nerves another kind of jolt, one
not nearly as pleasant.

“Yes, about that . . .” She threw a quick glance over her
shoulder. Michael and Gilbride were catching up to the
curricle, but were not yet close enough to eavesdrop.

Might as well get it over with.

Will’s calm expression as he managed the traces suggested
nothing more than a friendly disinterest in the
conversation. But she knew him as well as he knew her. If
she didn’t miss her guess, most of his attention was
still on her and not on his cattle.

“I owe you an apology, Will,” she said quietly.

He cocked his head, still looking politely disinterested.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

She raised her voice a notch. “I behaved rather
wretchedly to you in the drawing room last night, and you
didn’t deserve it.” Well, not most of it, anyway.

He looked regretful. “You’ll have to speak up, Evie. I
can’t hear you over the noise of the carriage wheels and
the horses.”

The beast. He was going to make things difficult for her.

“I said I’m sorry,” she practically yelled. “Which you
heard the first time, you brute.”

He laughed. “I am a brute, and for that I apologize. But
I couldn’t resist because you looked so guilt-ridden.”

“I am guilt-ridden, and a gentleman would accept my
heartfelt apology and be done with it,” she grumbled,
crossing her arms over her chest.

His glance flicked absently down to her bosom, and Evie
couldn’t help flushing. Then he returned his attention to
the horses. “No apology is necessary, my dear girl. I
earned that thundering scold. Not only for my behavior
last night but for everything else, too.”