Bridget’s chest rose and fell rapidly as the words sank in. She could not look away from him, could not stop herself from leaning the barest fraction closer, her breath mingling with his.
“If I am alone with you again,” Adrian finished, his voice barely controlled now, strained as if it were pulled from deep within him, “I cannot promise that I will not lose what little restraint I have left.”
Chapter 10
“What has come over you?”
Adrian stopped pacing in his study and looked over at Damien. He was standing by the drink cart, a bottle of whiskey in his hand, paused mid-pour into two tumblers. Adrian had not been at all surprised to find Damien waiting for him in his study when he arrived home. They usually handled the investigations together. Tonight was the first time Adrian had gone out alone.
Adrian opened his mouth, then shut it. He urged his mind to focus on a single thought, but it seemed impossible.
“I met the Earl of Winslow’s wife,” he finally stated.
Damien chortled as he resumed the pouring of their whiskey.
“God, I cannot imagine what that was like,” he said sarcastically. “I suspect she was as awful as the Earl himself?”
“That is the thing,” Adrian said, accepting the glass of whiskey. “She is not. In fact, I have never seen such a pairing of opposites.”
Damien raised a brow in intrigue as he took a sip of his whiskey.
“Well,” he prompted when Adrian said nothing more. “Is that all you are going to say?”
“She is the most fascinating woman I have ever met,” Adrian blurted out, then took a hasty swallow of his own drink. “According to others’ reports, she is a meek and mild-mannered woman, yet both times I have spoken with her, she is anything but. She is fierce in her determination. Dare I say it almost matches my own?”
With his thoughts starting to pour out, Adrian found himself unable to stop.
“She has the most intensely brown eyes, like honey speckled with gold and forest moss. They practically glow when she is impassioned. And her mind? She needs no assistance whatsoever with her thoughts. She is quick and resourceful. There is an independence about her that I have never seen from a highborn woman. I have seen bored wives step out to experience a bit of freedom from their marriages, but there is always a clumsiness to their actions.”
He shook his head, thinking of Bridget’s disguise and act at the Blue Parrot. The way her ripped dress clung to her form made her look more alluring than the most well-refined of courtesans in London.
“Not Bridget, though,” he went on. “She is… calculated. Sharp. Determined. You should have seen her at Henry’s. She kicked Tibault.”
Damien choked on his drink.
“She didwhat?”he asked through his coughs.
“I know,” Adrian laughed. “Kicked him right in the shin and ran upstairs to the pleasure rooms, bellowing her husband’s name like a scorned banshee. He was not there, unfortunately, but her efforts to find him today were nothing short of impressive.”
Damien’s brows rose in surprise.
“Even I must admit that is impressive. How did a man such as the Earl land a marriage to someone like her?”
Adrian shook his head, frustrated by such a fact. He could not imagine how such a woman as Bridget had found herself married to the likes of him. What he did know, however, was that she deserved better.
“He is not worthy of her,” Adrian muttered, then drained his glass.
He walked to the drink cart to refill his glass and caught Damien smirking at him as he leaned against the wall.
“What?” Adrian demanded.
“For the last year, you have spoken of nothing but your brother’s death,” Damien said, pushing himself off the wall. “Yet tonight the only subject you seem to be able to speak about is the Countess of Winslow. Whom, I might point out, you are already calling by her first name. I just find such a shift wildly interesting, is all.”
Adrian frowned as he continued pouring himself another drink.
“She just has me flummoxed, is all,” he retorted.
“Obviously,” Damien quipped, then sipped from his glass.
