Undaunted, she continued. “I think your healing has begun.”
She offered Aria a quick warm smile, and then turned it on him, seeing his eyes had opened. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night.”
Gray watched her leave.
“She seems to love you very much.”
He slid his gaze to Miss Darling. “She kept things from me my whole life.”
“Maybe she didn’t have a choice.”
He dipped his brow at her. “Have you spoken to her about this?”
“No. Why?”
“Did she tell you in some other way…without words?”
She gave him a short laugh. “No. It’s just easy to see that she cares for you.”
His gaze lingered on hers for a moment before moving to the door, where Harper had exited. Why didn’t she have a choice? His grandmother hadn’t seemed like the type to strong-arm someone. Had Harper obeyed her out of love? Who was Harper to Tessa Blagden? Now that he was considering speaking to her again, he had many questions for Harper Bla—
“Did your Mrs. Blagden ever mention what her last name meant?”
Aria thought about it, drawing in the corner of her lower lip, making him wonder what it tasted like. “She said it meant blæc dun, or black hill.”
He nodded. Then, HarperBlackwas indeed related to his grandmother. They were both in his life and neither of them ever told him where they came from—where his mother had likely gone. Why lie to him? Was it all to manipulate his life to make certain he had sons to carry on the Ashmore name?
“Did Mrs. Blagden ever mention having a family?” he asked, picking up his shoes to carry them back.
“Yes, but she never told me their names or anything about them. Why?”
“I believe Harper is her relative. Now that I know they have the powerful ability of traveling through time, it’s more difficult to trust them.”
“Is it more difficult to trust me too?”
“I don’t know you,” he replied coolly. Almost immediately, he regretted his aloof demeanor with her. “I don’t know you and yet I’ve likely told you more in a few days than I’ve told anyone else.”
He looked into her eyes and was glad to see he’d avoided the storm, though he didn’t mind her storms too much.
“So? Will you teach me your contemporary dance?”
She stared at him and then let out a withering sigh. “Sure. Why not? I’d like to see what you can do. But I can’t teach you in all these layers and this corset. It’s a wonder I haven’t passed out with the scant breaths I’ve had to take since I’ve been here. Okay, right, I saw that.”
“What?” he asked, wide-eyed and trying to look innocent despite the play of a smile across his lips and eyes.
“You smiled.”
“So? Is my amusement prohibited?”
“When it’s at my expense…well, no, not really,” she rescinded. “I suppose not. Better that I amuse you than annoy you. Most of the men I knew back home found me annoying and frustrating. I wasn’t considered amusing.”
“My lady, those were boys, not men. They are the ones who are annoying and frustrating. Why else would they look negatively on a sassy spitfire who could disarm them with a kick? You frightened them.”
“But I don’t frighten you?”
Instead of answering, he popped out his chest, isolating the movement perfectly without a trace of amusement—for a moment, and then the bravado vanished as he broke into a playful smile.
He reigned it in quickly, almost choking on it.