To demean Lord Templeton.
She forced the thought aside. Finding the reason behind her mother’s need for money might bring her closer to her father’s killer. That had to be her focus now.
Her heart missed a beat when she saw him at the window, staring towards All Saints’ steeple. His broad shoulders were rigid beneath the black coat.
Charlotte was talking. He paid her no heed.
But he turned when he heard the click of the door, his eyes closing briefly with agonising slowness. “You’re ready. Good. You should leave before the guests crawl out of bed.”
His frosty tone came as no surprise. The truth lay in the dark circles beneath his eyes, the stubble shadowing his jaw.
“I have no wish to linger,” Charlotte said, cool and immaculate in pale blue. “Heaven forbid we encounter a naked stag on the staircase.”
“Then you’d best not delay,” he said.
The distance between them felt like a chasm. One she didn’t know how to cross. No. This would not be her lasting memory of him.
She steeled herself and approached. He didn’t flinch when she touched his arm, only sighed when she kissed his cheek. “Perhaps when we’ve both dealt with our ghosts, we might meet under better circumstances.”
Tea at Gunter’s. A walk in Hyde Park.
He clasped her elbow, the protector in him missing the emotion behind her words and seizing on what he believed mattered most. “You plan to continue the investigation on your own?”
“My mother needed money too. I’m beginning to wonder if she truly died of an illness. The answer feels within reach.”
He drew her closer until only an inch separated them, the heat of his body a parting caress. “I suppose I’ve no right to forbid it.”
“No, but I’ll be careful.”
He gave a curt nod, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he released her. “Charlotte can be resourceful. I trust you’ll stay with her in Wimpole Street.”
“Until I uncover the truth.” She could linger. Every second with him felt like a gift. But she hadn’t been entirely honest. “There’s something you should know. The real reason I came here to work as a maid.”
He straightened, shifting his chain mail into place. “Yes.”
“I thought working here might help me bide my time, and you owed me something for the trouble you caused.” She swallowed past the bulging lump in her throat. The truthwould wound him. “Charlotte has a cottage in Scotland I might lease. I only had to stay here the month.”
Silence stretched.
Dominic swallowed.
He turned to the window, glancing at the church spire before facing her again. “Then leaving is the sensible choice. Whatever I thought we had clearly meant nothing.”
No. I love you.
“I told you I had no plans to stay.”
“I thought you’d changed your mind.”
Charlotte cleared her throat. “Perhaps we should go before we’re seen by a guest. I’ll not have it said I participate in these sordid gatherings.”
“Ramsey will escort you to the mews.” He moved behind his imposing desk, opened a ledger and began making notes.
She stepped away.
Her fingers still tingled where she had touched him.
What she would give to return to the cottage and feel the heat of his body against hers, to lie with him in sated bliss.
