Olivia examined the chest she’d intended to search yesterday. Inside was a roll of royal blue fringe and a bolt of India muslin. She shook them out and laid them to one side.
“My Scottish nanny was thrifty,” Redcliffe said, observing her.
She smiled. “I remind you of your nanny?”
He captured her gaze. “Not even remotely.”
The room filled with expectation.
He laughed. “She was stout and had gray whiskers.”
“Were you fond of her?”
“I was. When I broke my arm falling from my pony, she seldom left my side.”
She smiled at the picture of him as a small boy, then turned away to examine a cabinet. When she opened a drawer, her skirt caught on a sharp piece of wood. She bent to free it.
“Allow me.” Redcliffe came over to her. “You won’t want to tear it.”
She certainly wouldn’t. She had few suitable gowns to wear and had been putting money aside for the local dressmaker to make her another.
Her balance unsteady, she resisted holding onto his shoulder while he squatted down to examine her skirt. As he worked to release the sharp piece of wood embedded in the fabric, his hand, strong and warm, swept over her leg. She stilled, watching his bent head, and closed her eyes, resisting the temptation to touch his thick brown hair.
“That’s got it.” He tugged down her skirt. “There’s a small tear. Shame.”
She opened her eyes to find his face level with hers. So close, there were intriguing deep blue depths around the iris of his arresting green eyes. For what seemed a long moment, their heated expression held her captive. Warmth threaded through her, a tug of desire, down low in her belly. She swallowed and looked away with the pretense of consulting her watch. “It is almost four o’clock. Shall we leave it for today?” Her tight throat made her voice sound strained.
“I suppose we must,” he sounded regretful. When her reluctant gaze rose to his, he looked as if he’d made an important discovery. “Allow me to assist you down those wobbly steps.”
His calm assurance made Olivia suddenly suspicious. Did he have this effect on every woman? Despite her determination to remain indifferent to him, he could render her nonplussed with a mere glance.
She wanted to refuse his offer. She was hardly in need of it, being sure-footed, but if she refused him, he would know the reason. Such a perceptive man. Quite maddening!
His warm hand on her arm sent further sensations skittering through her. He knew how he affected her! His smoldering gaze told her so.
When they reached the landing, she could respond to him calmly.
He thanked her. “We’ve searched all the obvious hiding places. There’s still some we might return to later. Tomorrow, the library for that secret passage. I suspect it’s behind the bookshelves.”
The prospect of entering a secret passage with him shocked and tantalized her. “But if we find the passage? What then?” She’d hoped to sound unaffected, but doubted she’d managed it.
The corner of his lips quirked. “We’ll embark on an adventure, Miss Jenner.”
Good heavens! The man was incorrigible! Olivia left him, her knees still unsure as she went downstairs.
She sat in her office, staring into space. She didn’t trust Redcliffe’s motives. Why did she ever think she could manage such a man? And why had she been so sure she could resist him?
She must!
With a sigh, she opened her record book to list items needed for the following week. Was it wrong to want love and a happy life for herself? Not wrong, merely foolish. She refused to cry over the past when her life as she knew had come to an abrupt end.
Chapter Fourteen
It was stillearly when Dominic rode Onyx along the lanes to the Graves’ farm. His mind stubbornly returned to the previous day with Olivia in the attic. When he untangled her skirt, he’d accidentally touched her ankle. He might have drawn a hand up her leg for the effect it had on both of them. She gasped, and his body tightened. The cavernous attic space quieted, the only sound, their breathing. When he stood, he fought the impulse to put a hand on her lower back and settle her against him, for her to acknowledge his desire. He now knew, without a doubt, she struggled with their attraction, too. Knowing that was like a gift. He wanted her. She wanted him. What could be more natural than to proceed accordingly? And when the time came for them to part….
He cursed. The pleasurable thoughts vanished, replaced with cold, hard logic. He could not seduce Olivia and then abandon her to her fate. So independent, he was sure she wouldn’t allow him to help her financially. If she welcomed his advances, he feared he would never want to leave her. And where would that leave them?
Resist her, he must, but it was becoming damnably difficult. He should stop searching the house and see her only when necessary. Even as he thought it, he doubted he would call a halt to their delightful time together, even though it no longer seemed urgent since the intruder hadn’t made another attempt. It might, in fact, never happen again. And what did he care if Uncle Alberic left a hoard of money? He shook his head. Another sticking point. He cared. Not about the money, which would go to those who needed it, but he looked for further insight into his uncle’s motives, which might point to what happened to him.
