Page 25

At some point, he’d taken a step closer to her. Her and the cat. “Flick,” he whispered.

She swallowed. “And…Mr. Calderbank?”

“Griffin,” he gruffly corrected. “Since I’m bringing ye cats.” Kittens.

Pussy.

“Griffin,” she repeated, and her lips curled into a soft smile. “I…would you like tea?”

He suddenly wasn’t very hungry. “That’s why ye invited me, is it no’?”

Suddenly, she looked away furtively, and the shock of losing her attention made his hands fist. She turned toward the tea service already arranged. “I invited you to tea, Griffin, because I wanted to discuss something with you.”

He grabbed her before she could leave him, and when his hand closed around her forearm, he felt that strange warmth—the same he’d felt last night—climb his limb.

The cat decided that was an opportunity to leap from her shoulder to his. Griffin reacted predictably, with much cursing and flailing about, while the wee beast scampered up and over his head, then landed atop his opposite shoulder.

He managed not to drop his hold on Felicity’s arm.

She was smirking as she reached to coax the animal back to her shoulder, like some kind of piratical accessory. The damned thing certainly liked to be up high.

His scowl was caught by the light of laughter behind her spectacles, which slowly faded the longer he stared at her. And aye, he felt guilty about that, but he couldn’t seem to make himself stop. Any more than he could cease the way his thumb needed to make small caresses against her forearm.

She just felt so damned right.

Her tongue darted from between her lips, the sight arousing enough to make him swallow his groan. Was his gawking making her uncomfortable?

“Griffin?” she whispered.

“The secret door?” he blurted. They’d been discussing why she’d invited him. Yes. Concentrate. Words. “Ye’re ready to block it up?”

“If that is what it takes.”

She was holding her breath again, as she had during their dance.

“What takes? Why do ye need me?”

That hesitant smile again. “To help me name my new kitten?”

“Monster.” He released her, but frowned to keep her in place. “If no’ to discuss the door, why’d ye invite me?” Felicity.

“I…” Her chin rose, and she met his eyes. “I am a scientist, Mr.—Griffin. When I am faced with something strange, something I do not understand…I try to understand it.”

Fair enough. The curl lying against the corner of her spectacles was distracting. Or perhaps it was the serious expression in her eyes.

“Aye, I can understand that. Rupert is the same way.”

“Perhaps he inherited it from you.”

Her soft statement caused Griffin’s chest to tighten. “Nay,” he rasped. “No’ me.” He just wanted to keep his family safe, and he was the sort of man to use his fists and blades to make it happen.

Unbidden, his hand rose, his fingers brushing against her skin as he brushed aside the curl. “Why am I here, Flick?”

“I need you.” The whisper shot straight to his cock. “I do not understand this—this this between us.” In her arms, the cat’s purring seemed suddenly loud as Griffin tried to remember how to inhale. “This spark of electricity, this light, this…” She shook her head, breaking their connection. “This flash. It is unnatural, and I have never before experienced its like.”

Her words tumbled atop one another, forming a pyramid of meaning he couldn’t comprehend. Everything around them had faded to a muted sort of gray, and for a moment, the entire universe was staring up at him.

She wanted him.