His eyes twinkled with confounded amusement. “Did something bite you?” He looked down at his half-unbuttoned waistcoat. “I may as well finish. You’re shaking like you overimbibed last night.”
“Not I, my lord.Idon’t make a habit of drinking spirits,” she said, voicing her indignation, though she knew she shouldn’t. But really. A woman’s perfume. “Unlikesomepeople.”
He made fast work of his waistcoat, tossing it on his mahogany valet before moving on to his linen shirt. “I’m sure you don’t.”
The emerging golden-hair-dusted bronzed-skin chest, all sculpted muscles and flat plains, utterly fascinated her. Her fingers tingled with the urge to touch. His skin would be supple and warm.
“I’m sure you’re a paragon of virtue. What I’m not sure of”—he paused, whipping his shirt onto the floor at his feet—“is who the hell you are.” He finished on a bellow, his gaze spearing her.
She blinked, startled by his sudden burst of anger. She might’ve seen it coming if she hadn’t been consumed with the man’s naked chest. A chest whose hair tapered into a fine line disappearing under the waistband of his trousers.
Her lips parted so she could draw in an even breath. With effort, she dragged her gaze from his flat stomach.
Zeke stared at her, the corners of his mouth curved downward. “You look very strange,” he said.
“I do?”
“You do.” He cleared his throat. “Whoever you are, I think you’d better leave. I need to get some sleep and I can see you won’t be divulging any information other than what you and the old man cooked up.”
Right. Time to go. She stood stock still, staring at Zeke’s hands, hovering at the waistband of his trousers.
Abruptly he cursed under his breath and stalked to the adjoining door of his suite. With an emphatic sweep of his hands, he said, “Out.”
Chapter Five
He didn’t have to be rude. After all, he’d invited her in.
Kitty lifted her chin, and marched through the antechamber door, which Zeke promptly slammed.
The noise catapulted her into motion like a whip crack, and she ran all the way back to her bedchamber, leaped onto her bed, and squeezed herself into a tight little ball. She wanted to cry and giggle and pinch herself all at once.
But what she must do, this very moment, was commit the glorious sight of him to memory. Lord knew she’d never see Zeke Thurgood’s bare chest again.
If only she hadn’t reacted to that…that woman’s cloying perfume, she might’ve gotten to touch that supple looking skin. Just one little touch. She closed her eyes and imagined doing just that, which morphed into imagining kneading her fingers into his thick hair, and oh, Lord, him touching her.
Truly decadent thoughts. She ought to feel ashamed. But thinking them felt so good. Like the most delicious melt-in-your-mouth chocolate confection.
A while later, an odd sense of frustration eating at her, Kitty headed for the library to join Lord Claybourne.
For the next hour or so, she would munch scones and sip mint-infused tea while the two of them scanned the papers for any posts regarding one Lady Christine Hastings who’d gone missing. It had been a good long while since one had appeared. It was a good sign.
As she approached the open library doors, heated voices reverberated from within, echoing in the corridor. The earl's and, surprisingly, Zeke's. She'd assumed Zeke would be fast asleep by now.
Clearly, that was not the case.
Hovering outside the open doors, Kitty contemplated heading back to her chamber. But the earl’s booming voice froze her in place.
“…third night this week you’ve gone out only to return home well after two in the afternoon. If you’re in London only to carouse, perhaps you should take up residence in your bachelor’s apartments.”
Kitty’s heart seized at the thought. She leaned closer to catch Zeke’s reply.
“I didn’t realize my comings and goings interested you, my lord. Thought you were too caught up with your little pet.”
She sucked in a breath. He’d hardly hidden the fact he didn’t like her. Nevertheless, hearing Zeke’s scathing reference to her, first hand, stung.
“This has nothing to do with Kit,” Lord Claybourne said.
“What does it have to do with, then? Speak plainly, my lord.”
