CHAPTER 7
A REUNION IS SWEET BUT SHORT
Meanwhile, in the kitchen
Having consumed two cups of coffee and all the bread and cheese Clara had offered him whilst sharing what gossip he knew from London, Tom Walker stood and begged forgiveness.
“It’s been a long day, Clara, and I really need to be getting out of these damp clothes,” he said by way of an excuse.
“Well, I need to be finishing the master’s dinner,” Clara replied. She had spent the time whilst Tom was regaling her with stories putting together the soup and main course for that night’s dinner as well as the servants’ supper. She had bustled about the kitchen for nearly an hour, wielding a wicked looking knife on a hunk of beef followed by some vegetables that didn’t deserve the ferocity she showed them.
Now that everything seemed to be either on the stove or in the oven, she turned her attention to some apples. “Well, off with you then,” she said, waving a gnarled hand in his direction.
Tom gathered his greatcoat, hat, and valise and headed upthe servants’ stairs. He had just made it to the second-floor landing when a soft body collided with his.
“Ooof.”
“Oh!”
He leaned back as far as he could in the tight, confined space of the stairwell at the same moment the woman who had joined him on the stairs took a step up to give him more room.
His eyes widened. “Anne?”
“Tom?”
The two stared at one another, their gazes level given she was up one step from the landing. “Aye,” he said, finally blinking.
She inhaled sharply, and for a moment, neither of them moved.
All at once, her arms were around his neck, and Tom was forced to drop the valise so that he might steady himself by wrapping an arm around her. The bag tumbled down the steep stairs, bumping and thumping as Anne’s lips found his.
Tom was sure he had never been kissed quite like Anne was kissing him, as if her life—and his—depended on it. Besides her soft, suckling lips, there were her fingers, which were doing their best to comb through every bit of hair he had left on his head.
If he had been feeling chilled from his damp shirt and waistcoat, he certainly wasn’t now, what with her practically plastered to the front of his body. Her livery was probably growing just as damp, especially where her bosom pressed to his chest.
As for the rest of him, it still seemed it was in the process of catching up to what his mouth was doing, his hands dropping his greatcoat and hat to move to her waist. His nether region certainly understood what was happening, forhis cock was rising to the occasion in a way it hadn’t done in a very long time.
He hoped she wouldn’t notice, but when her hips tilted against the bulge in his breeches, he broke off the kiss and struggled to catch his breath.
“I’m so glad to see you,” he whispered.
“Obviously,” she replied, a grin brightening her face, even in the darkened stairwell.
“Apologies, doll, but I cannot help?—”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” she murmured. “Have you anywhere you must be?”
He glanced down the stairs. “I was going to wash up before, well, before I was going to come find you,” he stammered.
“There’s a guest bedchamber we can use on the first floor,” she whispered.
“Anne...” he started to scold her.
“It’s all right. Her ladyship gave us permission. I didn’t even ask—not that I would—she just offered it. I think because she appreciates how quickly you got her here,” she explained. “And...”
Tom chuckled softly. “She is a bit of a romantic,” he murmured.
“No one else can know,” she said in a quiet voice.
