Page 31 of An Unexpected Pleasure

Megan glanced at him sharply. Had his voice been tinged with amusement? And did that mean that he suspected she was lying or that he merely thought her silly? She found that she intensely disliked the idea of either.

Megan looked around them. Everyone else had disappeared up the stairs or down the hall into one of the sitting rooms. “You should join your family,” she told him.

Moreland shrugged. “With everyone here, they will scarcely miss one.”

“I doubt that.” Theo, she thought, was not one who could be easily overlooked.

“If you are concerned, then let us join them.” Theo offered her his arm.

Megan stepped back, clasping her hands together. It startled her how much she would have liked to slide her hand into the crook of his elbow. “I—I cannot. I should go up to my room.”

“It is early yet,” he protested.

“I must do some work,” she replied. “I am unfamiliar with the texts the boys use, and I need to look them over. Plan my lessons.”

She thought for a moment that he would protest or try to persuade her to skip her work, but he said only, “If you insist.”

Perversely, Megan felt somewhat disappointed at his easy acquiescence.

“I will escort you to your room,” he continued, once again offering his arm.

A little laugh escaped her. “I think I can manage to stave off the dangers between here and my bedchamber.”

“Please, you must allow me to play the gentleman.”

“Play?” she repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Is it only pretense, then?”

She realized, with some horror, that she sounded as if she were flirting with him. Megan looked away quickly, then started toward the stairs.

Theo walked along beside her, though he made no attempt to take her arm. “You neatly managed to avoid saying what you think of our family.”

“Did I? I did not mean to. It is quite easy to say what I think of them—they are quite warm and kind, much more so than I would ever have expected. They have all been most generous and courteous to me.”

“Mmm. There are those who find their behavior scandalously lax.”

“I have never been attracted to snobbery, myself,” Megan retorted.

“Neither have I,” he agreed as they started up the wide marble-stepped staircase. “Perhaps that is why I have chosen to travel elsewhere.”

“Avoiding your countrymen?” Megan asked, looking doubtful.

“Not avoiding, exactly. But I always wondered what other people were like. It seemed to me that there must be some who were not so stuffy. Less concerned with their rank or the proper form of address.”

“And have you found them?”

He smiled. “Yes. And some of them have even been Englishmen.”

“What about Americans?” Megan asked, sneaking a glance at him to see how he would respond.

“Oh, yes, I’ve met a few Americans here and there. I’ve been to the United States. Not New York. I traveled from the Orient to San Francisco three or four years ago.”

“How did you like it?”

“A very interesting place. Raw and new and bustling. Rather like a lot of your country, I imagine.”

“I have never been west, myself,” Megan admitted.

“No interest in traveling?” he asked, slanting a look at her.