“Thank you, sir.”
*
Adeline stared sleepilyout of the front window at Kingsbury’s broad shoulders under his greatcoat. She should be more frightened. It had, by all accounts, been a frightening day. But instead, her mind wandered to an image of Malcolm’s smiling face as he ate peanuts. How safe she had felt with his strong arm wrapped around her from behind as they cheered at the pig races. And her chest warmed as she thought about his concern for her every step of this trip. She smiled. This was a man she could give herself to, knowing he would take care of her body and her heart.
She was the one who had put them in danger. If she hadn’t taken the artifacts, her father wouldn’t have sent anyone after her. He probably wouldn’t have cared where she was. He had made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t his, and he would be glad when she was gone from his house. The one detail about today that still bothered her was how the blond man with the scar across his cheek had not cared about the artifacts. Instead, he had pulled out a piece of parchment hidden inside the statue. The statue of Artemis, clearly a replica, had been holding her own secret. What could it be?
The moonlight shone brightly onto the road, and they made good time arriving into Avington without any further calamity. Malcolm dismounted. He came around to open the chaise’s door for her. “I hope she will let us in at this late hour. Make sure to do your wide-eyed owl look again.”
“My what?”Her owl look?
“Yes, like that. You look like an adorable owl blinking those luminous whiskey-colored eyes through your spectacles.”
He turned and walked up to the front door of the Red Rooster. Adeline still reeled from the way he described her very ordinary brown eyes. Luminous? She went to stand next to him, trying to channel an adorable owl. The door opened, and a rotund lady in a mob cap and flannel robe stood at the threshold. “Yes?”
“Please excuse the late hour, Mrs. Shelley. Tom sent us. He said you might have a room for me and my wife?”
The lady looked them over from head to toe, and perhaps deciding their clothing was fine enough, she nodded. “If Tom sent ya, then I guess I do. I’ll get my boy to put away your horse in the stable.”
“I can take care of it,” Malcolm said.
She waved a hand as they stepped inside. “Na, he is probably sitting in the kitchen eating me out of home and hearth. It’s his job anyway.”
She pulled a ledger from the drawer of a side table in the foyer, along with a pen and ink pot. Opening it to the middle, she turned. “Sign here. The room’s two quid for the night. Paid in advance.”
Malcolm scrawled his name and fished out the coin for the proprietress. She nodded. “Follow me.”
The room was homey and clean. The proprietress bustled about, lighting two lanterns one on each side of the bed. In the corner was a small fireplace, which, with a bit of coaxing, the fire within began to crackle. In the opposite corner was a screen to create privacy for the necessary. Lord, did she have to use the necessary. After the lady left, Adeline turned to Malcolm. “I must ask you to leave me alone for a few moments. I need to freshen up.”
Malcolm chuckled. “I’ll go down and fetch the trunk and my bag.”
Once he was gone. Adeline used the chamber pot and also found a stand with fresh water and a small stack of cloths. She hurried to undress from her traveling clothes. Washing away the sweat and dirt from the long day with fresh water left her refreshed. Reluctant to put back on the chemise she had worn all day she rooted around in her bag and pulled out a clean chemise that she had one of the crosses wrapped in and donned it instead.
It fell to mid-calf but was an opaque linen, so still reasonably modest. She looked down at her bare calves and feet, wiggling her toes. Indecent would be fine with her tonight. She knew she wanted Malcolm to take her in his arms and make love to her. Seduction was a foreign concept to her, so perhaps it was better to just stay scantily dressed. Surely, that would be enough to show him what she wanted.
She moved to the bed to sit and began to pull pins from her hair.
The door opened. Malcolm walked in with her trunk and his satchel on top. He set them down and shut the door. She knew the moment he saw her because he froze in place. His gaze roamed over her slowly, pausing at her bare feet. He opened his mouth but then shut it without saying a word. Adeline smiled and continued pulling pins from her hair. A strange but pleasant sense of power thrummed through her at his thunderstruck expression.
“Stop,” he said.
Her hands froze at his command.
He strode across the room. “Allow me. Please.” His voice was a low murmur. His eyes blazed, but not with anger, with something she hoped was desire.
She nodded and stood, turning to present her back to him. A shiver of anticipation traveled down her spine as he pulled pins from her hair. Then he unwound the braids one at a time. His fingers combed through her curls, releasing the hair from the braids. Adeline sighed as he massaged her scalp. She felt him bend and bury his face in her hair.
“How do you still smell so good at the end of the day?” he asked.
She shrugged as he swept her hair back from her neck and turned his attention to kissing a spot behind her ear that made her shiver again.
“Adeline, will you tell me what you fantasized about in the bathtub?” His fingers danced down her neck and across her clavicle.
She started and twisted to look up at him. How could he know? Her cheeks flamed. But he gazed down at her with an intensity that made her embarrassment melt. Perhaps if she told him the truth, he would do the things she had imagined. “I was thinking about you. You were kneeling by the tub and washing me…thoroughly.”
“Mmmm, was I washing here?” He skimmed the backs of his fingers down the curve of one breast.
She nodded. “And across my nipples.”
