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trellises swathed in riotous blooms of roses, their scent making the air heavy and fragrant. Anthony avoided the gravel path running between the wooden frames, keeping to the grass edges to soften his footfall. He didn’t want to startle her, but he wouldn’t give her the chance to escape him yet again.
    The path curved to the shoreline of the large pond, bringing the charmingly rustic gazebo into view. Linnet sat on a padded bench that ringed the inside of the small structure, on the section directly overlooking the water. She’d pulled off her large-brimmed, straw hat and drawn her feet up onto the seat. Already lost in her book, her expression was dreamy and contented. Without the burden of her usual cares, she appeared a young, innocent girl, barely past the age of coming out. Anthony’s chest tightened with an unexpected and surprisingly strong emotion.
    He stopped, pondering the curious sensation. It was something new, a sense of possessiveness he’d never felt before. Linnet was a capable young woman with a great deal of sense, but when she thought no one was looking—and rarely did anyone try to look past the façade she’d erected around herself—she displayed a sweet, almost wistful vulnerability that always brought Anthony’s protective instincts charging to the surface.
    Because he always protected his own. It had been expected of him from an early age, and was an indelible part of who he was. But never had he wanted to protect and cherish anyone as much as he did Linnet. Anthony wanted to give her everything, and he would see to it that she got it—whether she thought she wanted it or not.
    When he took a deep breath, dragging the heavily scented air into his lungs, the fragrance of roses almost made him dizzy. Or perhaps that effect was from Linnet, and the fact that she was almost within his grasp.
    He let the gravel crunch underneath his booted feet as he stepped onto the path. Linnet jerked, and her gaze shot up from the book. Her lips parted on a short intake of breath, and her creamy complexion, already delicately flushed from the heat, took on a rosier hue. For long seconds, they stared at each other, and then her full mouth curved into a tremulous smile.
    “Sir Anthony, you startled me. I didn’t expect to see anyone down by the lake. Not in this heat.” Then her eyes widened as she realized what she’d just given away.
    He gave her an easy smile as he mounted the steps, ignoring the amusing little betrayal.
    She marked her place in the book with careful precision and set it aside. Only then did she notice how she sat—like a schoolgirl, with her feet tucked under her skirts. Anthony had to bite back another smile when he saw she’d slipped out of her shoes, discarding them under the bench.
    He stood over her, reading the struggle on her face as she tried to decide what to do. Remain seated with her feet hidden under her floral-printed skirts? Sit up straight, like a proper young lady? That would expose her stocking-clad feet to his gaze. But to lounge so casually on the bench in the presence of a man . . . she would surely find that unacceptable as well.
    Anthony took the decision out of her hands, crouching down to retrieve her pale, low-heeled slippers. She stared at him, clearly too shocked to move. But when he reached under the edges of her skirts to find her feet, she practically fell off the bench.
    “Sir Anthony,” she exclaimed in a squeaky voice. “I’m perfectly capable of putting on my own shoes.”
    “Of course you are,” he replied as his hand curved around her ankle. Her feet were bare, feeling like hot silk as his hand slid over them.
    A shiver trembled beneath his fingers. When he glanced up, her pupils had dilated and her lips parted on a soft gasp. Satisfaction roared through him, and it took all his self-control not to curl his hands around her calves and trail them up to the backs of her thighs.
    Soon.
    Instead, he simply raised a questioning eyebrow as he slipped