Danielle blinked. She’d always worked with men before. None of them were solicitous about her well-being. Certainly they weren’t prone to offer her wine.
“No, thank you, Mrs. Huckleberry. I’m quite all right. I’ll just be getting back to work.” She stood and smoothed her skirts.
A knock on the door made all three women turn. Mr. Cavendish stood in the doorway. His broad-shouldered form filled the space and cast a shadow in the small room. Danielle gulped and took a step back.
“My apologies for interrupting,” he said smoothly, bowing toward all three of them, “but I’d like to have a word with Danielle.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Why o’ course ye can, sir.” Mrs. Huckleberry gave a wide smile, grabbed Mary’s hand, and hustled the girl from the room.
Danielle was alone with Cade Cavendish in the cellar room. She continued to smooth her skirts in an effort to feign nervousness. She glanced down at them. Her skirts were quite appallingly unwrinkled, but if he believed he was making her nervous, she would have the upper hand. “Can I help you, Mr. Cavendish?”
Cade’s grin was roguish. “Apparently, you’ve sat on my lap. I was hoping you’d call me Cade.”
Danielle hurried over to the door, pulled him inside all the way, and shut it so the others wouldn’t overhear.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I say that too loudly?”
“Yes. You did.” She stared at him.
“Does that mean you won’t call me Cade?” The grin never left his face.
She crossed her arms over her chest and walked around him in a circle. “On the contrary. I’ll call you Cade.”
He arched a brow. “Not worried about your reputation?”
“Not particularly.” How would she learn more about this man if she kept walls like names between them? Using his first name was nothing but a good idea. And he’d suggested it. Even better.
“Why did you come here?” she asked next, glancing down at her slippers to continue the ruse of nervousness.
“I live here. Well, I’m staying here at any rate.” He swiped an errant piece of dust from the front of his light blue waistcoat.
“No.” She couldn’t help her smile. “Why did you come downhere? To see me?”
“Because.” Cade stepped past her and pulled a bottle of wine out of one of the crates stacked in the corner. “Good year. Why are you in the kitchens, by the by? In addition to arranging hair, do you also cook?”
She laughed at that. “I can’t cook a thing. But you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?” The man seemed to get distracted easily. Noted.
“Because I owe you an apology.” He turned back to face her, the bottle still in his hand.
“Did Lady Daphne send you?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “No. Contrary to what you might think, I’m not one to be ordered about by a woman. I’ll leave that to my brother.”
Trouble between the brothers? Also noted. And perhaps a slight unhappiness with women. Interesting.
“Don’t care for your sister-in-law?” Danielle asked.
“I adore her. She’s a wonderful little blue blood. I, however, don’t care for domestication. Rafe’s found it suits him.”
Danielle unfolded her arms and leaned down and braced her palms on the tabletop, facing him. “What are you apologizing for, specifically?”
He lowered his voice. “Why, for insulting you, pulling you onto my lap, if that is indeed what happened, and for mentioning your backside. I meant it, of course, but I see now, in the light of day, thesoberlight of day, that it was indelicate of me to mention it.”
She looked up at him through hooded eyes. She wanted to keep him off balance. Wanted him to wonder whether his apology was working. “What if I don’t accept your apology?”
He studied the front of the wine bottle nonchalantly. “That would be a pity, because it’s the only one you’re likely to receive.”
