Except, her withheld laughter didn’t feel like it was directed at him, so much as being mirth that invited him to join in. Looking into the warm brown depths of her eyes, he found the humor himself. His very proper mother had just invited five different women to sleep in his bed.
He coughed, trying not to let his own laughter escape.
Movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned just in time to see Abigail’s hand connect with Sadie’s half-full wine glass.
The glass tipped.
Abigail gasped and started apologizing.
And Nicholas threw up a ward that trapped the burgundy liquid before it spilled over the edge of the table into Sadie’s lap.
His eyes narrowed on Abigail. She had been gesturing wildly as she spoke, and seemingly knocked into the glass by accident, but she had never before gesticulated like that. It wasn’t ladylike.Not to mention, her gasp had come almost before the glass tipped.
Sadie stared at the wine held back by his magic, then turned to him. “Thank you. You saved my dress.”
Her thanks was more heartfelt than he expected—not that he thought she wouldn’t appreciate the ward, but it was only a little wine. Nicholas wouldn’t have considered Sadie to be the type to get too worked up over a spill like that, even if it hit her directly.
Then he remembered that Sadie was borrowing his mother’s clothes. His mother wouldn’t blame her—or care—if the frock was stained, but Sadie would feel horrible and probably worry about replacing it.
Before Nicholas could tell Sadie it was nothing, Abigail thrust herself into the conversation. “Your reflexes are so fast! Not a single drop reached Sadie.”
Even as she fawned over him, he heard her vexation that Sadie had escaped unscathed. Nicholas channeled his mother and smiled, though he wasn’t pleased in the slightest. “Well, it would have been a shame for the dress to be ruined.”
Abigail sniffed. “It is two years out of season. A stain might have done Sadie a favor by forcing her to replace it.”
“Nonsense. Sadie looks wonderful in that dress. Why should she replace it?” He said it just to rile Abigail, but Nicholas meant it. The styles hadn’t changed so much over the past few years that Sadie stood out in her borrowed finery. People not obsessed with ladies’ fashion wouldn’t be able to identify what made her gown dated. Nicholas had known the frock was two years out of vogue without Abigail’s comment, but only because he remembered the last time his mother had worn it.
“I’m glad no one had to run off to change,” his mother interrupted. “I should hate for Sadie to have missed the announcement of what order you ladies will take your turns spending the day with Nicholas.”
That easily, Abigail’s attention was completely redirected. Nicholas would say he owed his mother, except if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t be putting up with Abigail at all.
And when she announced who he was to spend the rest of the day with, he didn’t feel like thanking her at all.
“Since Abigail was the last to get to walk with you, Nicholas, it is only fair that she be the first you spend the afternoon with, doing the activity of her choice.” She smiled at Abigail. “Do you know what you want to do?”
“Oh yes. I want to go to the larger village to shop.”
Hmm, a trip to Lamsdel. The company would be terrible, but maybe Nicholas could get a few of his questions about Sadie answered while he was there.
“I’ll order the carriage. How soon would you like to leave?”
“I’ll need an hour to get ready.”
An hour? To get ready how? He didn’t ask. “Then I’ll see you in the foyer in an hour.”
???
It was Sadie’sturn to avoid Nicholas. Thankfully, Madeleine’s latest matchmaking endeavor would keep him away for four of the next five days. She simply had to survive her day with him. A day with just him while knowing she’d be in his bed that night.
Easy. Sadie had years of experience in not confiding her secrets in people. She also had a handful of exceptions that inevitably proved the importance of keeping her own counsel.
What she didn’t have was experience wanting so badly to be proven wrong. She’d never felt half of what Nicholas brought out in her, even for the people she had admitted her telepathy to. Nor had she ever been tempted to tell a potential partner, only friends.
She had learned enough, however, to recognize that the attraction between her and Nicholas would only make the fallout that much worse if she told him about her magic.
It had hurt when Sadie told her first friend after leaving home about her power. She and Catherine had become friends almost instantly when Sadie moved to her village. They’d gotten along so well, Sadie had felt sure she’d understand. But Catherine had accused her of manipulating her thoughts and tricking her into being friends.
How much worse would it be if Nicholas decided she had mind-controlled him into wanting to sleep with her?
