She slapped her hand over his mouth, then snatched it back the instant she felt his lips against her palm. “You can’t say things like that!”
“If you call me Nick, I can’t help it.”
“Whisk the eggs, Nicholas.” Sadie said as sharply as she could manage.
He beat the eggs. “You haven’t answered my question, Sadie.”
She tried to remember the question past the heat his reaction to her calling him Nick had conjured.
“Did you enjoy yourself in the brewing room?” Nicholas repeated.
Right. That question. Sadie didn’t bother to check if any of the kitchen helpers were close enough to hear—she knew Nicholas would have erected an aural ward before asking her that. He might want to untangle her secrets, but he wouldn’t expose her to others. “Yes and no.”
He tilted the bowl, as if he knew what texture he was trying to achieve, then continued whisking. “I can guess at the yes, but why no?”
“Because it is a reminder of what I’ve given up. What I have to give up.” She held up a hand. “And don’t tell me I don’t have to. I do.”
Sadie measured flour into another bowl, then looked for a heat-glyph to melt the butter. To her surprise, Nicholas changed the subject.
“Did Pippa learn anything from Abigail’s maid?”
“Nothing conclusive, but everything she has heard supports our theory that Abigail is pregnant. And the maid did confirm that she was Prince Benedict’s lover and that he was the one who broke things off between them only a week before your mother’s invitation arrived.” A thought occurred to Sadie. “Drop the aural ward for a moment.”
Nicholas looked at her in confusion, but nodded after a moment. “It’s down.”
She spun to face the rest of the kitchen. “Mrs. Benson, has Abigail ever requested any ginger tea?”
“Requested?” The manor’s cook scoffed. “More like demanded. Her maid came in here the first day and informed me that her mistress requires a ginger tea with lemon every morning before she even gets out of bed, and since it must be hot when she wakes I must send up a fresh pot every half hour from sunrise until she requests breakfast.”
Sadie turned back to Nicholas with a satisfied smile.
“Is that supposed to mean something?”
She rolled her eyes. “Ginger tea is the next best thing to a nausea potion for morning sickness.”
He shook his head. “I almost feel sorry for her.”
“Don’t. Feel sorry for the babe, but not Abigail. She either wasn’t careful enough to take a contraceptive brew, or shepurposefully didn’t, hoping to entrap the prince—and now you. Either way, she deserves to deal with the consequences.”
Nicholas shook his head. “It might not be that simple. Things are different in the city among the nobility. Being caught buying a contraceptive potion could be as damaging to a lady’s reputation as being caught leaving a man’s bedchamber. Abigail might have honestly been doing her best.”
Sadie raised a brow. “For someone who loves to act surly, you are far too nice. I will grant you that there is a chance Abigail’s pregnancy was accidental, but how she has handled the entire situation has been very deliberate.”
“And annoying,” Nicholas muttered.
Sadie almost joked that dealing with near-naked women must be one of his most onerous duties, but she wasn’t sure she could handle the thoughts her words would trigger. She wasn’t afraid of hearing how much he had enjoyed seeing Abigail in the sheer nightgown—she knew Nicholas better. What she feared would be seeing how he thought of her.
And knowing, without a doubt, that was the direction his mind would go was even scarier.
She felt closer to Nicholas than anyone save perhaps Pippa. But Pippa was such a friendly, nice person who got along with everyone. She had practically adopted Sadie when she moved to Lamsdel. Being her friend was effortless because of who Pippa was. Sadie didn’t have to share herself.
So, perhaps she felt closer to Nicholas after all. He wouldn’t accept a superficial personality. She might not have told him her secrets, but she hadn’t hidden from him either.
Almost half of her month at Marstede was gone. For once, Sadie decided to ignore one-third of her grandmother’s advice. She would live in the present, and she would remember the lessons she had learned from the past, but she wasn’t going to worry about the future. She’d be living it soon enough.
Sadie showed Nicholas how to fold the dry ingredients into the wet and they talked about anything and everything except magic and what had happened in that very kitchen two nights before. If Nicholas’s thoughts turned in those directions, then they did so only deeply enough that Sadie never heard nor saw them.
They were so engrossed in their conversation, that they didn’t even leave the kitchen while the cake baked, and instead leaned against the counter talking the entire time.
