“Dewhurst,” she said firmly.
He made an odd sort of movement, as if to step toward her and then halting himself at the last moment. Something like a wince crossed his face, and he turned sharply.
“I’ll send a maid.” He left the room abruptly.
Angelica heard the steady, solid clump of his shoes as he strode down the corridor and then, it seemed, down a flight of stairs. Then it was lost amid the other household noises.
Her heart didn’t stop pounding, nor did the tingling in her belly cease until several moments later when the first servant arrived with buckets of steaming water for her bath.
Angelica closed her eyes and sank back into the tub, the water swishing over her shoulders. Whatever scented oil the maid had sprinkled into the bath was sweet and citrusy, and its residue sat atop the steaming water like circular rainbows.
“What is it called?” she asked without opening her eyes. “The scent you poured into the water?”
Ella, whose movements were neat and exceedingly efficient, had moved behind Angelica and was brushing out her hair. “It’s named neroli,” she said as Angelica sighed at the heavenly feel of the bristles over her scalp. “The mistress would give you a small bottle of it if y’like.”
“That would be very kind,” Angelica said, and lifted her head as the young woman tucked a folded towel between her neck and the edge of the metal tub. “It’s a lovely and unique scent.”
“Comes all the way from It’ly,” said Ella. “Or is it Ind-ya? Alack, I don’t try to remember it all in me little noggin.” She giggled and continued with the brushing.
Angelica had noted that a gown, chemise, and under-necessaries were waiting for her on the dressing table, and marveled to herself at what comfortable lodgings Rubey provided. If she felt a pang of unease in regards to what otherservicesthe red-haired woman might offer, Angelica pushed it away with relative ease.
Voss was trying to keep her safe, and so far he’d succeeded. She had made the decision to trust him, and so far he hadn’t given her reason to question his motives.
But then, Maia’s disapproving expression, complete with wagging finger, popped into Angelica’s mind and ruined the relaxation of the bath.
Pickle bumps and fern-dots and blast it all! Her eyes opened and she realized that her mouth had twisted into a frown, all on its own.
She could just hear Maia, like an annoying shriek of conscience: “But you don’t know the man, Ange. And you’ve gone with him without a hesitation! What are youthinking?”
What was she thinking, indeed.
She was thinking about his beautiful eyes and the way they made her feel when he looked at her. And the lush kiss he’d coaxed from her, making her knees weak and her body rush with heat.
And she was thinking about the deeply hidden, lost expression in his eyes when they’d been speaking only a few moments ago. He needed something from her.
Perhaps he was afraid of dying. Or someone he loved was dying, or had died. Something.
Ella had set aside the brush and had just finished pinning Angelica’s hair into a loose knot at the base of her neck. Now Angelica watched as Ella bustled about the chamber, preparing towels that had been warming in a little metal trunk near the fire. Such a luxury she’d never even conceived.
“The mistress says what a terrible night y’had,” Ella said, closing the top on the trunk with a quiet thud. “You were s’tired when you came in, I thought I was dressin’ a babe for bed. I hope you slept well.”
“I did,” Angelica said.Well, there’s the answer to that question. Too bad Maia isn’t here for the confirmation that her sister’s virtue is still indeed, intact.
Ella came forward, a renewed wave of neroli wafting from the warm towel, and Angelica rose from the tub. As she stood, she noticed two little marks low on the maid’s neck.
They looked like small red dots. Or puncture wounds.
The skin around them was smooth and white, and the circles were neat and each was perhaps the diameter of a tiny pea. As Ella shifted, draping the warm, scented towel around her, two more marks were exposed on the back side of her upper shoulder.
A chill replaced the steamy comfort from Angelica’s bath, and she couldn’t tear her eyes from the marks on Ella’s neck.
She was suddenly, uncomfortably certain she knew from where those four wounds had come. If she hadn’t been witness to the carnage from thevampirslast night, Angelica might have thought little of it. But after seeing it for herself, she knew there was no mistaking bite marks.
The maid tucked the towel around Angelica and moved away, seemingly unaware of the horror that must be shining in her charge’s face.
Had she been attacked also? And Voss rescued her as well, bringing her to safety at Rubey’s?
Try as she might, Angelica could see no other marks or scars on Ella’s arms or throat, and she was just about to be bold and rude and ask the maid about the marks when a loud shout erupted from below.
