Before she could hand it to him, he rushed over to the mantel and lifted the glass angel reverently, as though the empty vase meant as much to him as thePuck & Familyportrait meant to the Wynchesters.
Perhaps it did.
“I thought my father would never part with this.” His voice was rough with emotion. “It seems there was much about the duke that I did not know. I am glad to have this back.”
“As am I.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “Now that we both have what we want, I suppose there’s nothing to keep you here.”
“Isn’t there?” He returned the vase to the side table with extra care, then turned back to face her. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with you.”
Before she could form a coherent reply, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.
She ran her palms up his sides, over his shoulders. Not just feeling him, but savoring the hard planes of his body, finding it familiar and wondrous all at once. He could leave now if he wanted. But what he wanted was her. And she could never have too much of him.
His body felt perfect pressed against her. Big and strong in the best possible way. His heat comforting, his embrace protective.
It was almost enough to make her believe he thought her just as worthy of his attentions as the debutantes and heiresses of the haut ton.
But she didn’t want almost.
She wanted the real thing.
Her brother Jacob burst into the sitting room wearing two oversized leather gloves, a full-body leather apron, and a worried expression.
She and Lawrence sprang apart.
Jacob peered around them. “Have you seen Hydra?”
“Is that the python?” she asked, still trying to catch her breath.
“No, Hydra is a hamster.” He paused. “Why? Have you seen a python?”
“I have not seen a python. Should we be looking for a python?”
He waved a gloved hand. “No, no. It’s only Hydra who’s gone missing.”
“Have you asked Tiglet?” Lawrence suggested.
Jacob glared at him. “Tiglet is well trained and well fed. Tiglet wouldnever…”
But he began edging toward the door.
“If all you’re missing is a hamster,” Chloe inquired, “why are you wearing protective armor?”
“Oh, this.” He flapped his oversized gloves dismissively at his leather apron. “I’ve a few new creatures to train, and the first lesson is teaching the beasts not to bite.”
Lawrence’s brow furrowed. “Is it working?”
“Not yet,” Jacob said, his cheerful confidence undaunted. “Don’t be surprised if this is my ensemble for the next few days.”
With that, he vanished down the corridor.
Lawrence looked at Chloe. “How certain are you that there’s no python on the loose?”
“Eighty percent,” she assured him, and sank into a plush chair. “Maybe closer to sixty-five.”
He glanced beneath the chair across from her before settling gingerly on the cushion. “Do you have extra leather gloves I could borrow?”
“Only silk. Leather makes it difficult to palm things.”
