Page 28 of A Stranger’s Kiss

Olivia chuckled and stepped out into the fresh morning air. The rain from the night before made everything appear clean and bright. She ate quickly, dusted her hands on the back of her breeches, then dragged the ladder from the back of the small fenced yard to prop against the side of the townhouse.

The clay tile weighed more than she liked and balancing it on her shoulder while ascending the ladder was far harder than it had looked when she’d watched the roofer before. Still, while it was very slow going, she finally succeeded in shoving the tile onto the lip of the roof and glanced around.

She groaned. From the looks of the roof, there were at least five more broken tiles—maybe more. With a scowl, she descended, grabbed the hammer from the print room, then returned to the roof to knock the first cracked tile free. Her arms had already begun to ache when she pulled out the last broken piece and kicked it off the roof. She paused and wiped sweat from her forehead. She was fortunate, truly, that her roof wasn’t a steep one, but even so, she slipped more than once as she dragged the new tile into place.

By the time she’d finally finished settling the tile into place, sweat dripped from her brow and stained the back of her shirt. One tile. One damnable, infernal tile. She’d spent the entire morning on the thing, and from her newfound perch, she could see at least a dozen more that needed replacing.

“Damn it all to hell,” she swore under her breath. She wasn’t usually one to swear, but if ever a situation required it, this one certainly did.

She swung her leg over the roof’s edge, located the ladder rung with her foot, and began to climb down. A few feet from the ground, hands startled her from behind, locking themselves nearly under her arms onto the ladder rails. She gasped in surprise and fell back against a man’s hard chest.

“My apologies,” Nicholas rumbled in her ear. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Against her will, her heart pounded with excitement even as her temper flared. She whirled as his hands slipped around her waist, effectively caging her in his arms.

“I could have broken my neck,” she snapped.

“Hardly.” He grinned. “Not when I am right here.” He lowered his lashes, strangely thick dark ones even though his hair was blond.

She frowned in an effort to clear her thoughts and added acidly, “Or sprained my ankle.”

“You were on the last rung,” he murmured, his lips still quirked upwards in amusement. “And may I point out, I did catch you.”

He pulled her closer as if to underscore the declaration. She felt the heat of his hard chest, mere inches from her breasts. Her heart leapt into her throat, and for the briefest of moments, she wanted him to kiss her again.

Then, sanity returned. This man soon would—or should—wed her cousin.

Gathering her brows into a frown, she broke from his grasp.

“Women should wear breeches more often,” he murmured as she stepped away.

Startled, she glanced up. “That’s a scandalous thing to say,” she retorted in an effort to ignore her racing pulse.

“Why?” he asked with a lazy lift of a brow. “The garment befits them quite admirably, I must say. Surely, there is nothing wrong with admiring the female form?”

He had a way with words that thrilled the blood. Determined to ignore him, she asked bluntly, “Why are you here?”

He answered easily enough. “Why, I came to fetch you, my dear. Are we not calling upon your cousin? My carriage awaits.”

If he thought she was going anywhere in a carriage with him, he was so very sadly mistaken. “I do not recall agreeing to such a thing.” She pursed her lips and pointed to the roof. “Even if I had, I have a roof to repair.”

Nicholas cast an eye at the roof, then arched an amused brow. “I will send for a roofer.”

“I cannot afford one.” Olivia took a step toward the kitchen for another tile.

He caught her quickly by the wrist. She held still. His fingers felt like fire.

“Did I ask you to pay?” he drawled.

Olivia shook her hand free. “It’s my roof that needs fixing.”

This time, he stepped forward, easily blocking her way and she was forced to look into his face. The expression in his eyes made her heart skip a beat, the expression of a man not even bothering to hide his interest. What had he said? Aye, a true man doesn’t let the lass that caught his interest slip through his fingers. He goes after her.

But then, it was such a very rakish thing to say.

Suddenly, Mrs. Lambert’s head popped out the back door, “Oliva, darling, there’s a man to see you in the shop.”

From her dour expression, it was clearly a man Olivia didn’t wish to see. “Who, Mrs. Lambert?”