Page 69 of The Lady is Trouble
Piper made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Don’t mind me. Please, continue.”
“Where were we?” Julian asked, gaze shifting to Humphrey with desperation he knew said,please save me.
Humphrey rolled his eyes, his cheroot hanging so low it almost touched his collar. “Laundry cottage. Not fit for royalty, but it’ll be hard to burn down.”
All eyes turned to Ashcroft to gauge his reaction. Julian released an inward sigh of relief. At least Humphrey had not called himfireballagain.
The Duke took the casualness of the entire scene—cheroots and open collars in front of ladies was notde rigueur—in with mildly arrested surprise. Studied the room like a painting hanging in the National Gallery, as if he struggled to find his place within the flowing lines. He rubbed fingertips together Julian would bet a hundred pounds had gotten hot. “It’s more than adequate. Charming, in truth. And I’m sure,” he added, struggling to conclude the account, “there are country amusements to be found. Hunting, fishing, the like.”
Finn snorted, and Julian shot him a lethal look.
“We have a gamekeeper arriving any day.” Julian fidgeted, trying to ignore Piper’s gaze traveling from his crossed ankles to his face in a measured assessment. Tried to ignore the heat that swept his body just after.
“Next week,” Minnie supplied with a little wiggle of her pinkie in Piper’s direction, which possibly served as some sort of girlish apology.
Piper steepled her hands and rested her chin on her fingertips. Anyone else would consider the posture angelic, but he knew better. “A gamekeeper with no prior experience as a gamekeeper, am I correct?”
An unexpected burst of ire settled in Julian’s gut. He would apologize for mismanaging the situation if she’d allow a private arena in which to do so. But, no, she had to trot the League’s baggage out for all to see. “The lad has years of experience managing a pack of stray dogs in Whitechapel. Is that sufficient?”
“And his gift?” Her probing gaze nailed him to the spot.
He raised his glass, letting brandy provide a moment’s respite. As a healer, Piper deserved to know this and more. Bloody hell, her grandfather had created the League, in part, forher. Julian was letting his personal feelings impair his life’s work, like he’d known he would if he became involved with her. “It appears he can communicate, send thoughts, without speaking.”
“Any control?”
Julian shook his head. “He’stalkingto everyone. On the street. In the market. And when the thoughts point to being his, he's being savagely beaten for it. A family member of someone in the League let us know.”
“Then he’ll need me,” she said, driving a splinter of guilt beneath his skin.
“Yes.”
“Him, too,” she added and nodded to Ashcroft, who followed the conversation with the zeal of one watching a vigorous fencing match. Julian hated to tell him, but these were the onlycountryamusementsto be had. “My roster is growing. Without my involvement. Or advisement.”
Julian thumped his glass to the desk with a blatant display of impatience. “Should I provide a whip so you can draw blood from this interview?”
She exhaled on a whispered oath, which only sought to raise her breasts—marvelous ones, by the by—beneath her simple silk day dress. A lock of hair he knew was soft to the touch slipped loose from its clip to brush her face.The woman would look stunning in a corn sack. And this sour consideration, more than any other released since she stepped in the room, elevated his temper and his cock until he questioned if he’d be forced to hide behind the desk after all.
“I’m sorry,” was all he managed. “I didn’t think.”
She palmed the door with a slap. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Your Grace.” A glance over her shoulder aimed like a dart at Julian. “With my chaperone and at least two guards in tow.”
She exited the room as imposingly as she’d entered it, and he was halfway to the door himself before realizing he’d revealed his hand. He might have even surprised Humphrey and Finn this time. It was just too damn easy to forget his close connection to Piper.
Frightening, but with every day that passed, he felt less need to hide it.
How peculiar his obsession must look to others, he thought, as he went after her like a hound after a fox.
When it was entirely reasonable to him.
“Welcome to Harbingdon, Ashcroft,” he heard Finn murmur as the study door clicked shut behind him.
Chapter 18
Speaking silence, dumb confession. Passion’s birth and infants’ play.
~Robert Burns
Piper bolted downthe arched hallway, her footfalls echoing off marble, the sting of tears a hot lick behind her lids. Sunlight shot through beveled panes in a brilliant display when she wished for rain and clouds the color of Julian’s eyes.