Touch Me

“Would you like to hold her?” Simon asked.

Benjamin’s eyes widened. “Oh, yes, sir.”

Simon transferred the squirming bundle to the boy who dissolved into giggles when Beauty’s busy tongue laved his chin. Simon couldn’t help but chuckle and when he glanced at Mrs. Ralston, he noted her broad smile.

“She’s certainly energetic,” Benjamin managed to say between bouts of laughter.

“Yes. I think she needs a good run and I’m rather tired. Are you up for the task?”

“Yes, sir.” Benjamin carefully set Beauty on the ground and fisted his hand around her lead. “I’ll be very careful with her.”

“I’m sure you will be.” Simon pointed to the large clock mounted to the church tower on the opposite side of the square. “Why don’t you bring her back here in about a quarter hour’s time?”

“I’ll do that, Mr. Cooper, and thank you, sir!” Benjamin trotted off, an eager Beauty prancing at his heels.

“I stand corrected,” Mrs. Ralston said.

Simon turned and found her looking at him through amused eyes. “Regarding what?”

“I’d said I’d never seen anyone fall in love quite so quickly as you did with Beauty…and then little Benjamin came along and proved me wrong.” Her low, husky laugh made Simon wonder if she’d make that same delightful sound in bed. “Asking that boy if he wanted to hold her was rather like me asking Sophia if she’d care for a rasher of fish.”

“I take it Sophia likes fish?”

“It’s merely her most favorite thing in the world.”

Simon shook his head. “I’d wager you are her favorite thing in the world.”

“Only because I am the one responsible for providing her with fish. As far as Sophia is concerned, the cottage belongs to her. I may remain as her guest only so long as I cater to her every need.”

“I see. And if you don’t?”

She heaved a dramatic sigh. “I fear I’d be cast aside with nary a thought.”

“I disagree.” Before he could stop himself, Simon gave in to temptation and propped his elbow on the back of the bench, allowing his fingertips to lightly graze her shoulder. Heat sizzled up his arm, a ridiculous reaction to such a whisper of a touch-to her clothing, no less. “It would be impossible to cast you aside.”

She froze and Simon stilled as well at the unmistakable pain that flashed in her eyes. Clearly someone had cast this woman aside, someone she’d cared for deeply, and Simon’s guess was Ridgemoor. Earlier, he’d wondered if, in spite of the information he’d gleaned that Ridgemoor had ended their affair, if perhaps their arrangement had ended at Mrs. Ralston’s behest. But based on that look in her eyes, he doubted it. And he once again questioned how Ridgemoor could have tired of such an exquisite, intelligent, witty woman. Perhaps like many men, the earl had decided he preferred a woman who didn’t present any intellectual challenge. Or perhaps Ridgemoor had suspected his paramour had secrets? Had those secrets cost the man his life?

“I’ve learned that nothing is impossible, Mr. Cooper,” she murmured.

“Please, call me Simon. All my friends do.”

She shifted, moving so his fingers no longer touched her, and lifted her chin. For the first time he noticed the tiny flecks of gold in her blue irises. Her eyes reminded him of a sun-dappled sea. And bloody hell if he didn’t feel as if he were drowning.

“You consider us friends?” she asked.

“I’d like to. Certainly I consider you a friend to me. After all, you helped me choose my dog.”

“You and Beauty chose each other without any assistance from me.”

“Yet I wouldn’t have known where to find her if not for you. Besides, you are the only person I know in Little Longstone.” He dropped his chin and sent her an exaggerated woebegone look.

A whiff of amusement ghosted over her features. “Heavens, that is the saddest face I’ve ever seen. Do you practice that look in front of your mirror?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Is it working?”

“Not a bit. I’m made of much sterner stuff than to fall victim to-”

“The saddest face you’ve ever seen?” he broke in, attempting to make his expression sadder still.

“Correct. And I’m not the only person you know in Little Longstone. You know Baxter.”

“Yes. And if glares were knives, I’d have bled to death in your foyer yesterday, long before ever meeting you.”

“And you know Benjamin.”

“True.” He arched a brow at her. “And I’m guessing that if I invited him to call me Simon, he’d accept-and ask me to call him by his given name.”

She arched a brow right back at him. “I’m guessing that as Beauty’s owner, you could have invited that child to call you Penelope and he would have obliged you.”

Simon couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re no doubt correct. And he would have taken great joy in teasing me about it. He had a bit of mischief in his eye, that lad did. Reminds me of my nephew, Harry.”

“How old is Harry?”

“Eight, although there are times I would swear he’s eight and twenty.”

“You mentioned a younger sister-is Harry her child?”

“Yes. Marjorie-my sister-also has a daughter. Lily is three, and if I may say so, the most beautiful child in the entire kingdom. When the time comes, her father is going to need a dozen brooms to sweep the suitors off his porch.”

“Of course, you’re not the least bit biased.”

“Not the least bit,” Simon agreed with a smile, his body relaxing a bit now that the conversation wasn’t so steeped in sexual innuendo and he was no longer touching her.

“Do you have siblings other than Marjorie?”

“A younger brother. Robert’s wife is expecting their first child this winter.”

“You sound…wistful?”

Did he? Yes, he supposed he did. Robert and Beatrice had married ten months ago and were very much in love, a fact which pleased Simon for his brother’s sake, but one that had left him examining his own life-and discovering that in spite of all his good fortune, his work for the Crown, he still felt unfulfilled. Which perhaps explained the discontent he’d been unable to shake the last few months.

“Perhaps a bit wistful,” he conceded. “Both my siblings are very happy in their respective marriages. It sometimes makes me, well, envious, even while I’m delighted for them.”

“Then perhaps you should marry.”

“A fine idea, however, to the best of my knowledge, a wedding requires a bride as well as a groom,” he said lightly while inwardly wincing. Bloody hell, what was he saying? A fine idea? He’d managed to avoid the matrimonial noose so far. Yet even as that thought crossed his mind, he had to admit that lately the idea of taking a wife didn’t seem like such a rope around his neck. Indeed, the thought of sharing his life with someone, having the sort of relationship that Robert and Beatrice enjoyed, that Marjorie and Charles shared, wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Over the last year he’d grown increasingly tired of transient lovers, of moving from one social rout to the next. Much of his socializing in society’s upper circles was done purely for investigative purposes-to keep his eyes and ears open. His society peers were ignorant of his connection to the Crown, which enabled Simon to gather very useful information. But the constant demands on him had become wearying, and lately he had found himself longing to just…be. To be able to enjoy his country estate rather than be forced to remain in London or travel to the continent for missions. Not to have to constantly lie to his friends and family about his doings. Not to have to look over his shoulder for danger. Not to have to prove to his peers and superiors that he was innocent of murder…

While he was proud of the work he’d done for the Crown, of what he’d accomplished, the traitors he’d brought to justice, there was no denying the sense that something was missing from his life.

“Have you looked for a bride?” she asked.

Her question jerked him from his brown study. Looked for a bride? God, no. Indeed, he’d had to perform some very fancy sidestepping from matchmaking mamas over the years to avoid having one. A fact which suddenly didn’t please him as much as it should have. “I’m afraid I’ve yet to find anyone who’s inspired me to propose.”

“Come, come now, Mr. Cooper. I’m certain there’s a trail of broken hearts behind you.”

He almost laughed out loud. To the best of his knowledge, none of his former lovers’ hearts had been involved