“We will?”
“Or... we can simply skip the tea,” she went on, ignoring his query.
“I’ll just grab the biscuits,” David said as he plucked the plate of biscuits from the tray and returned to the threshold. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving, and I have reason to believe I’ll require sustenance for what is about to happen.”
Marian displayed a prim grin. “I’ll bring the tea,” she offered as she lifted the salver from the low table in front of a rose velvet settee. “I don’t know about you, but I’m rather thirsty.”
David watched as she approached him, carrying the tray as if she’d done it a thousand times. Perhaps she had. “If I haven’t told you already, I find you rather gorgeous,” he blurted.
Marian blinked before she allowed a brilliant smile. “If you’re thinking to ply me with compliments to entice me into your bed, then you should know that your plan is working to perfection,” she said.
His mouth opening and closing much like a fish, David attempted a response before he realized she was giving him a compliment of sorts. “This way,” he said as he led her to the next flight of stairs, this one located on the opposite wall from the first. “My mother took this room since it faces east,” he explained when they had reached the top of the stairs. “My...apartment,” he said in a teasing voice. “And the mistress suite are back here,” he added as he indicated the floor’s only corridor. “As well as a guest bedchamber and a bathing chamber.”
“And the third floor?” she prompted as she glanced about for evidence of another flight of stairs.
“Servants’ quarters and if I remember correctly, a nursery,” he murmured. “They can be reached using the servants’ stairs there in the corner.”
“A very efficient floor plan,” she remarked as he paused before the last door along the corridor. Holding the plate of biscuits in one hand while he used his other to push the door handle, David hesitated before opening the door.
“Please know that I did not plan for this to happen,” he said, finally leaning against the wood panel until his bedchamber was revealed.
“How could you?” Marian countered, sweeping into the room. “Unless you knew something I didn’t know.” She headed directly to the low table in front of the fireplace and set the tea tray on it. She went about preparing cups for tea, impressed that Glover had seen to lighting several lumps of coal in the fireplace. With all the drapes pulled shut against the chill, the meager flame provided enough light by which to see.
About to mention his growing suspicion about the Earl of Penhurst’s intentions for the two of them, David decided it best he simply enjoy the results. He was betrothed. He was aroused. And he was about to share a bed with a woman for the very first time in his life.
