"What is the alternative?" he prompted curiously.
Ivy shrugged, still trying to ignore her body's heated reaction to his closeness. "What makes one laugh can also make one cry."
Leo was suddenly grinning again. "You need never cry on my account. Now let us not quarrel. I suspect that Mother played us so that we would argue on purpose. She's been most vexing since her mourning period ended a few weeks ago. Creating scandal and trouble seems to have become her new favorite activity."
"I'm sorry. I heard about your father last year. Does she miss him very much?"
Ivy knew the truth, that the dowager had loved her husband but hated loving a man who had forsaken her for another woman, but she had to feign ignorance of all this. She was not to know Leo's family's darker secrets if her identity was to remain a mystery during the house party.
///
Leo joined her by the ivy-covered tree, leaning one elbow against the bark and studying her. She had to resist the urge to move back. There was something frightening, yet exciting, about the way he was cornering her, like a lynx she'd seen during a hunting expedition with her father. Leo and the lynx had the same cunning gleam in their eyes. As a boy, he'd been charming, but as a man, he was so much more tempting. The strong lines of his jaw, the brightness of his eyes, the strong yet elegant hands that she couldn't help but picture on her body … Ivy jerked herself away from the dangerous trail those thoughts could lead her down. You cannot let a man tempt you, not even this one.
"Actually, Mother's never been happier, and she's determined to live scandalously. I'm merely doing my best to keep her more wild desires in check." His gaze dropped to her lips for a moment before he met her eyes again.
Wild desires? Why did the way he say that make her body tremble? She had to keep the conversation going. She couldn't let him know the effect he was having on her. The last thing she needed was for Leo to up his charm and make her forget her promise to herself to avoid falling in love with him. It would be a disaster for them both and it would crush her dreams of making a difference in the world for women everywhere.
"Do you miss your father?" she asked, her voice breathless as he leaned in close, his face a mask of intensity. She felt cornered, yet not afraid, only … uneasy.
"It is hard to miss a man I barely knew and rarely liked. He was not a kind man." While he delivered this brusquely, there was a hint of hurt beneath it. Ivy couldn't help but wonder if it was because Leo's father had been cruel or because of the scandal he'd left behind was causing a stir in London.
Her memories of her childhood at Hampton House had been shadowed with the old earl's darkness of spirit. He'd threatened to turn her mother out when word of her pregnancy reached him. Leo's mother had flat out refused to send her lady's maid away, regardless of the scandal of the situation. When the two had fought over it, there had been shouting and the smashing of glass. After that, Ivy's mother had been allowed to stay, and Ivy had grown up hiding from the old earl. Out of sight and out of mind.
"Is your mother joining us this weekend?" Leo asked.
The responding wince she made drew his complete focus. She had to keep up pretenses since it was quite clear he didn't remember her as little Button tagging along on his boyhood adventures.
"My mother passed when I was a child. My father has not married since." There, that was vague enough, considering her parents had never married.
Leo straightened at once, stepping back, all predatory actions halted. "I'm so sorry. I just assumed … I am sorry," he apologized, his face reddened slightly.
"It's fine," she assured him.
"Would you care to-" he began, but a footman appeared a few feet away and coughed politely.
"Yes?" Leo growled through gritted teeth, forcing himself away from her.
"Mr. Leighton has arrived and is asking after his daughter and his … motorcar." The footman waited patiently, eyes fixed pointedly at the ground, his face stoic.
"Thank you, Will. We shall come inside directly," Leo announced, and just like that their temporary chaperone was gone.
Leo leaned in and cupped her cheek, his thumb tracing her lips as he studied her. Ivy's heartbeat skittered madly. I should pull away, but, Lord, his touch makes me feel on fire in the most wonderful way …
"He's going to be angry with me. That Hudson was new." She tried not to think about how much the Hudson had cost. If they couldn't repair the damage … It was so easy to forget how much money her father had. She knew logically she need not worry, but still, worry she did.