He assumed he would always be in complete control. She’d yet to meet a man who was. Even Lucien had succumbed to uncontrollable desire a time or two. “What if you were absolutely overcome with passion? And you didn’t realize anyone could see you. What, then?”

Ash whimpered, then hurried over to Evie’s lap, where he looked rather longingly to the side of the gig.

“I think we should stop so Ash can relieve himself.” Lord Gregory steered the gig to the edge of the track. He quickly stepped down, then came around to pick Ash up. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to practice what you’ve been teaching.” His gaze met hers with a subtle but certain intensity—as she’d discussed. He lifted his hand to help her from the gig, and the combination of his touch and captivating stare provoked her belly to clench with anticipation as to what he might do next.

When she was on the ground, he didn’t release her immediately. The moment stretched between them and a delightful heat snaked up her arm. “You’ve paid close attention to what I said,” she murmured.

“My father always told me I was a good listener.” Gregory winked at her as he released her hand. She was sorry to lose his touch, but recognized that Ash was squirming in his other arm.

They walked to the field, where he set Ash down. The puppy immediately dashed off until he found a stand of trees.

Evie turned to Gregory and braced herself. She was already incredibly attracted to him, and he hadn’t been employing what she suspected would be devastating skills of seduction. No, not seduction, flirtation. This was an exercise, and nothing more. “All right, then, let’s pretend to promenade, and you can demonstrate what you’ve learned.”

He offered her his arm. Taking a deep breath, she tentatively grasped his sleeve. As they began to walk toward the trees where Ash was now running around, she felt him press gently against her side. Oh dear, that felt lovely.

“I must tell you how grateful I am for your expert tutelage,” he said smoothly. “You are rather brilliant at this.”

He didn’t know of her past, how she was quite literally an expert. What would he think of her then? She didn’t want to know. Nor did she ever need to find out—she preferred to leave that part of her life behind, even if it meant hiding her true self and lying about her relationship to her own sister.

His gaze caught hers, and she noticed a faint tawny ring around the pupils. As the darker brown graded to a lighter color, it was as if his eyes were…smoldering. She couldn’t look away.

“Is this right?” he asked softly. “Or should there be more?” He arched one brow and leaned slightly toward her, his gaze becoming so intense as to be…comical.