And hadn’t she decided to just enjoy her time?
Still, it seemed that she was playing with a fire that she wasn’t equipped to deal with.
“Sweetheart, can’t you just ease up and have a little fun?” he cajoled.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked rather than acquiesce.
He sighed and shook his head.
“So mistrustful,” he whispered reaching out and stroking her cheeks softly.”Isn’t it obvious that I’m doing this because I want, quite desperately I might add, to spend time alone with you? That I want to explore this thing that’s growing between us?”
His words were so coaxing, his touch intoxicating.
“You did it for Meredith, allowed yourself to let go and give Lucas his chance to woo her.”
“Well, that was different. I mean, well it wasn’t…” she trailed off in confusion.
“It’s not different,” he said. “Believe me.”
Louisa froze as his words crashed through her mind, dragging up a memory from years ago.
After their kiss, Louisa had dashed off into the house, desperate to seek her sisters’ council, though Sara had been far too young to discuss such things.
Being unable to find them in their bedchambers, she had searched the house and had finally moved toward the voices she heard coming from the library.
It was only as she reached the partially opened doors that she realized they were male voices, specifically those of Hugh and his brothers.
She shouldn’t have really, but she settled in to eavesdrop. After all, they had just shared a wonderful, romantic kiss. Hugh was bound to be telling his brothers about it, perhaps even seeking Lucas’s advice on how to proceed with a courtship.
What she heard, however, was decidedly not what she had wanted.
“Ugh, you kissed one of the vipers?” Jackson asked, his tone filled with horror.
“Shut up, Jack,” Hugh responded and Louisa had felt a surge of affection. He would defend her honor.
“But, why?” The younger man had sounded horrified.
The silence stretched so long that Louisa thought perhaps he meant to ignore the question altogether.
Finally, he answered, “Because I could.”
“Do you care for her?” That was Lucas’s deeper voice.
“Of course not. It was a joke. We’re always playing them, aren’t we?”
Louisa’s face burned with humiliation.
“We’ll have to cancel all of our plans. Get the frogs back and everything,” Jackson sulked.”Everything’s different now.”
“It’s not different. Believe me. Just another way to humiliate one of the little witches.”
“Louisa?”
She came back to the present with a terrible thud.
What was the point in all of this? She had barely gotten over her humiliation then. Now, with her heart involved, she refused to take the risk.
HUGH WATCHED LOUISA’S FACE as a myriad of emotions flitted across it. She’d never been able to hide her feelings, even when they were children.
It was one of the things he loved about her.
As though a bolt of lightning had just lit the sky, the thought burst brightly through Hugh’s mind.
My God. He did. He loved her, the annoying, sneaky, beautiful, charming little minx.
He couldn’t stop his sudden grin.
It seemed so obvious to him now.
He loved her.
They would marry and fill a nursery and she would live with him on his own vast estate, separate to that of his family, whom he loved but who would most definitely be in the way with what he planned.
It would be bucolic bliss.
Hugh was about to tell her all of this when he noticed her expression change once more.
“I want to, but I do not believe it,” she said now, sounding colder than he’d heard in days.
“Louisa—”
“No, Hugh,” she shook her head, moving out of his grasp. “I was foolish enough to believe that you had changed three years ago. I will not allow my sister to make the same mistake now.”
He frowned in confusion.
What the hell was she talking about?
“I heard you, you see,” she continued and he could see the blush staining her cheeks, even in the moonlight. “All those years ago after we’d — well, after.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said carefully, not really knowing what her mood was or where this conversation was headed.
“No, I expect you wouldn’t. The whole thing was rather boring and insignificant for you, I’d warrant. But it bothered me, I’ll admit. And I haven’t forgotten it.”
Without saying another word, she turned and marched toward the maze, following the crowd.
Hugh felt his temper flare.
And just like that, she was ruining all his hastily made plans. She couldn’t just stomp off without explaining why.
“Would you care to expand, Miss Bright?” he called, rushing after her. “For I am at rather a loss as to what you are going on about.”
“After you kissed me all those years ago, you couldn’t wait to run to your brother’s and fill them in on your inspired idea to humiliate one of the little witches. Wasn’t that how you referred to it?”