And strong thighs.
And a very taut backside.
Her cheeks heated.
Evie gasped with delight.
“Jo, you’reblushing!” she crowed.
“I am not,” Joanna protested even as she slapped her hands over her cheeks and turned her back on her sister. “It’s just…warm in here.”
“Stifling, but that’s not why you’re blushing. YoulikeKincaid, don’t you?” Evie came up behind Joanna and gave her arm a playful pinch. “No wonder you wanted to be his secretary. Was this your ploy all along? Come to England and fall in love with a dashing detective?”
Joanna slapped her sister’s arm away. “Don’t be absurd. Kincaid is going to help us retrieve Mother’s ring and identify my birth father. That’s all. Our relationship is strictly professional.”
But if that was true…why had she tingled when he’d touched her? Just a glancing sweep of his fingertips across the small of her back as she’d preceded him into his office, but still…
She had nevertingledbefore.
Certainly not for Charles, or any of the beaus that had preceded him. Yet she’d tingled for Thomas Kincaid. All the way from her nose to her toes…and everywhere in between.
“You will not speak of this conversation to anyone.” Because she knew exactly how her sister operated, she wagged her finger warningly at Evie’s lotion-covered countenance. “That specifically includes Kincaid.”
“Why would you presume I would tell Kincaid anything?” Evie said, all wide-eyed innocence brimming with thinly veiled mischief. “I do not even know the man.”
“Because you love nothing more than to play match maker. But there’s no match to be made here. We didnotcome to London to fall in love.”
“I did,” said Evie unabashedly. “With a duke. A blindingly gorgeous, adorably charming, obscenely wealthy duke. He’ll fall in love with me at first sight. We will take carriage rides around the park and attend the theater and send thetoninto an absolute tizzy. You’ll see.”
Joanna had no doubt that she would. Once Evie set her mind to something, she was a force to be reckoned with. Her sister’s duke—whoever he may be—did not stand a chance. But while Evie was dreaming of romance, Joanna had no such notions.
“I am to report to his office first thing tomorrow morning,” she said, striving for nonchalance. “You may come, if you’d like.”
“And interrupt your alone time?” A sly smile curled Evie’s mouth. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“It isn’talonetime.”
“Oh?” She batted her lashes. “Is someone else going to be there?”
“For your information, yes. There is.”
“Who might that be?”
“James and Jane.”
“Are they investigators as well?”
“Not exactly,” Joanna hedged.
“Servants?”
“They’re cats, if youmustknow.”
“Cats!” Evie chortled, her slender body shaking with giggles as she fell back onto the bed. Bouncing lightly, she sat up on her elbows and grinned. “Cats! Joanna, you do make me laugh.”
“So glad to be of service,” Joanna said sourly. “I was going to walk up to Bond Street since the rain has stopped. If you’re finished taking amusement at my expense, would you care to join me?”
Evie’s gaze sharpened like a fox who had just smelled a rabbit. “Isn’t Bond Street where all the best shops are?”
