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And she heard the unspoken admission that this was where he felt most comfortable and perhaps most truly himself.

“The estate is beautiful.”

His expression changed. Not greatly, but enough for her to notice the sudden warmth that entered his eyes.

“I hoped you would like it,” he said softly.

Her sister looked between them but did not speak.

Cordelia delicately cleared her throat, endeavoring to conceal her attraction beneath her sister’s scrutinizing gaze. “There are so many animals about. There must be a dozen dogs wandering the grounds, and I have already counted five cats. I cannot imagine how many more are concealed among the gardens.”

“More than five, I assure you.”

“How many?”

He appeared to consider the question. “I am not entirely certain.”

Cordelia stared at him. “You do not know how many cats you possess?”

“Not with any great accuracy.”

She tried to suppress her smile and failed. “I have not yet decided whether to approve or condemn you for such an outrageous lack of organization.”

“Then I shall await your judgment with considerable apprehension and a respectable dash of delight,” he drawled.

Katherine made a soft sound beside her, and Cordelia glanced over to discover her sister watching them with an expression of mingled curiosity and amusement. Before she could decide whether to be embarrassed, George swung down from his horse. He landed lightly upon the gravel, handed the reins to a waiting groom, and approached them.

She became immediately, distressingly conscious of everything about him. There was something wickedly alluring about his languid, arrogant stride and the intensity of the gaze he fixed upon her, which sent a delicious warmth unfurling low in her belly. Worse still was the unmistakable gleam of remembrance in his eyes, for she knew he recalled precisely how thoroughly he had undone her with his fingers and tongue at Aphrodite, and the mere thought of those intimate pleasures made her pulse quicken.

She had barely escaped taking his cock, which he had been so wickedly intent upon preparing her to receive. Her cheeks burned, and her traitorous memory insisted upon recalling every intimate moment of the last occasion on which he had held her in his arms.

She tightened her fingers around the handle of her rapier.

George’s gaze flickered briefly toward the movement before returning to her face. One dark brow arched, and a knowing expression settled over his features, his eyes gleaming with that familiar mixture of mockery and rakish amusement. “So you brought one of those, hmm?”

How silly of her heartbeat to quicken! “My sister is certain to be a wonderful chaperone, but I am also conscious of your rakish skills and how easily they influence me. So it is in my best interest to be prepared.”

Katherine made another choked sound beside her.

“Welcome to Seaview Manor,” he said, smiling. The words were spoken lightly, almost casually, yet something about them sent a peculiar warmth spreading through her chest.

Cordelia looked beyond him toward the beautiful manor house, then back at the animals scattered across the grounds. “Is all of this yours? Including the woodlands in the distance?”

“Most of it.”

“Most?”

“A few of the creatures have never formally acknowledged my ownership.”

She laughed before she could stop herself. George smiled, and the pleasure that entered his expression made her wonder whether he had deliberately sought that reaction. She held his gaze, conscious of her sister standing beside them, and of all the things she could not possibly say with Katherine listening.

What she feared was not that George would take liberties she did not welcome, but that she might welcome them far too readily. More troubling still was the growing realization that what she desired from him had very little to do with stolen kisses or wicked pleasures. She wanted to know him. To understand what made him happy, what troubled him, what he hoped for when he imagined the years ahead. She wanted to discover whether the tenderness he had shown her was merely a passing fancy or something he might one day offer her without reservation.

And she was beginning to understand that such knowledge could only come if she allowed herself to grow closer to him. How she was to protect her heart from falling too deeply, she did not know, for she had come to realize, ever since she had seen him with the countess seated upon his lap, that she was already falling in love with him. How else could the sight have wounded and distressed her so profoundly? She thought of the hours they had spent in his music room, bantering, teasing, and playing together with an ease and intimacy she had never known with another person. Why, she suspected many couples did not exchange so many words, nor come to know so much of each other, during three full months of courtship.

George glanced toward Katherine, then back at Cordelia. “I am very pleased you both accepted my invitation. Would you like a tour of the grounds?”

George extended his arm, his expression patient and faintly amused.