Just how early was too early tobother a man at his place of business? And how exactly did one go about that if she wasn’t staring through his office in a borrowed uniform?
Such were the essential questions I pondered between bites of toast and sips of tea. I made a half-hearted effort with the morning paper, but it was a thoroughly wasted exercise, distracted as I was.
I rarely bothered to dress before breaking my fast, and this morning was no exception. Instead I wore only my night dress and wrap. It was, after all, one of the greatest advantages of my solitary lifestyle. Even in spite of Bouvier’s most fervent insistence on the inappropriateness of the habit.
I was, however, planning to wear a fetching sage morning dress for my visit, whenever I deemed it late enough. I was all but certain it would be thoroughly appreciated by a certain shy, occasionally charming solicitor.
I couldn’t help but imagine the way his eyes would crinkle in that astonished way. I’d never seen another like it. The nakedadmiration was clear in that expression. I found it made my heart give a little skip every time I saw it.
My reverie was interrupted by a fierce pounding at the front door. On instinct, I rose and walked to the hall, heedless of my state of undress. All I could see was the back of Bouvier as he tried to keep someone out. My stomach dropped before I heard the familiar tenor of his voice.
“Let me in, damn it! It’s urgent!”
“Sir, it is not an appropriate hour for callers. If you will wait?—”
“What part of urgent are you not understanding? I need to see her. Now.”
“Let him in, Bouvier,” I called down the hall. Both men froze before turning. Bouvier offered me nothing but a disapproving tut and raised brow. There was an “I told you so” about my state of undress just as soon as we had a moment alone. Little did he know, William’s reaction was hardly a deterrent.
He was frozen in eye-crinkle astonishment and, if I was not mistaken, a fair bit of arousal, given the severe bob of his throat as he stared at me. It was a heady thing, to be gazed at with such adoration.
That was the only explanation I could offer for my next suggestion.
“Come with me?” I asked with a nod toward the stairs. His head dipped with no real thought behind the gesture. All of his former urgency seemed to have died away at the sight of me. I ought to be concerned about whatever had him so distressed, but really, how was I to think of anything other than the reverence with which he stared?
I didn’t know if I had ever been more conscious of the way I moved up the stairs. Or the footsteps behind me. At the landing, I turned, waiting for him to join me. When he did, I grabbed his hand in my own and tugged him along to my dressing room.
There, I found Jane laying out my recently pressed gown and stockings. She was startled at the sight of my company but made an exemplary attempt at a curtsy when I dismissed her. Though it had been some years since a man had been in my dressing room, she wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the concept.
William, on the other hand,wasentirely unfamiliar and quite uncomfortable with the concept, given the stiff way he held himself and the way his eyes darted from object to object around the room.
“Would you care to sit?” I asked with a gesture toward the settee. He approached and sat with a stiff sort of formality, his back ramrod straight and jaw clenching and unclenching with uncommon regularity.
After several minutes, I broke. “Are you quite all right?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I bit back a smile. It would not do to find amusement in his discomfiture, no matter how endearing.
“You said you had urgent business?”
“Yes—well, no—I mean, it is urgent, but not so urgent that it could not have waited for you to dress.”
I stifled a giggle at his expense. “It is not as though I am naked, William. Honestly. I’m more clothed than Adriane was when she found me. Clearly you’ve seen women in their night dresses before.”
“No—I mean, yes. I have. Obviously. But not like that.” He nodded toward my form.
“I’m not certain I followed you around that bend…” That was a lie, I was baiting him for compliments in the worst possible way.
“Lord, I’m such a…” He tossed his head back on his neck and stared at the ceiling as though it had answers to all of life’s questions. As if the Lord would actually answer him. “I can’t do this.”
“What? No! William, I was just teasing.” He lolled his head back down with some effort, his sharp eyes finding mine with a haunting intensity before slipping closed with a shake.
“I— We— She was sick. She was unwell, and I never… And she didn’t look like that, and her gowns weren’t so… It wasn’t so terribly difficult not to… And you’re…” He abandoned yet another sentence with a sigh before bringing his hand to his forehead and dragging it across his face.
Somehow, I was fairly sure those half-finished sentences were compliments. They were certainly more intoxicating than the most poetic declarations of love and lust could ever be. And if I was understanding his statement fully, he and Adriane had never… Hadheever?
Each time we kissed, it was like a revelation to him. But the way his lips worked over mine... Surely such a thing could not be achieved on instinct alone. Right?
Regardless, he came here on an errand of some urgency. If his words and demeanor were to be believed, the urgent matter was not in his breeches, however much that fact might disappoint me.
