Klemens watched her face, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Hold still,” she scolded him.
“You’re tickling me,” he complained.
“I’m hardly touching you!”
“Your little finger is tickling my palm. Who would have known that it’s such a sensitive part of the body?”
Pippa paused and looked into his eyes. They weresky blue, brimming over with laughter. “Just be quiet and hold still.”
“Yes, Fräulein,” he said meekly.
She dropped his wrist. “This won’t do. I think I know what to do. Don’t move; I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Indeed, Fräulein. I wouldn’t dare move.”
Indeed, he was in the same position when she returned.
“I didn’t even blink,” he informed her. “Do hurry, because I’m developing a cramp in my neck from remaining frozen in this position.”
An involuntary laugh escaped her lips. “Give me your hand again.”
He lifted it obediently.
With a quick movement, Pippa pulled a pair of scissors from the pocket of her apron and lifted them.
He moved back with a yelp.
“Goodness! It’s just a pair of scissors! It’s not as though I’m about to assassinate you with them.”
“You wouldn’t be the first,” he muttered so low under his breath she thought at first that she must have misheard.
She lowered the scissors. “Are you saying that someone tried to assassinate you?”
He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Not exactly with a pair of scissors. It was during a parade. He was caught before he could do any actual harm.”
“But that’s terrible! Did you get hurt?”
“No. I don’t want to talk about this now. I want to get out of this shirt!” He tugged at it with growing irritation.
“And I am trying to help! If you would only remain still so I don’t actually stab you with the scissors.”
“What exactly do you intend to do with them?”
“Cut off the cufflinks.” Pippa pointed at them. “The reason they won’t open is that the buttonhole has been sewn shut. What was your valet thinking, literally sewing you into your clothes?”
“What indeed?” Klemens said faintly, gazing at his cufflinks as if he had never seen them before.
“And how come you did not notice what he was doing?”
“I tend to be rather sleepy in the mornings.”
“I did not get that impression,” Pippa muttered under her breath. “It can’t be the first time he’s done that, either.” She suspected he had known all along it was sewn shut and merely refrained from telling her to tease her. Or just to see what she would do to fix the situation.
After a moment’s hesitation, he put his hand in hers. “Just don’t cut off my fingers.”
With a few snips the cufflinks came off. A few more, and the cuffs fell open.
