For that hour, the world made sense.
And then she arrived.
“E.I.C.,” she said, deceptively wistful, apparently only to herself as she strode through the bookroom toward his office. “I know it stands for ‘East India Company,’ but it just sounds like the noise one makes when something tastes bad. Ech. Eek. Ugh.”
He sighed, lifting his quill and staring down at its point, briefly considering impaling himself with it. “Libba.”
She leaned against the jamb of his office doorway, a vibrant-red pelisse gripping her arms and torso with a sky-blue dress underneath. Her hair was confined to a twist again and not spiraling down her back like a wanton invitation for touch. Her lips were not painted this morning. Her eyes were not haloed in kohl.
“What are you doing here?” he managed, forcing himself to set the quill aside.
“Did you really think you could run off without hearing my earful?” she asked, raising her dark brows. “I’m closing some of these windows, Jasper; it’s freezing in here.”
“Yes, fine,” he said as she passed around his desk and began doing it with or without his leave.
Immediately, the scent of jasmine punctured every defense he had built against it. Inside his ribs, his heart sagged in defeat.
“You know, it occurred to me this morning,” she said, pulling the second window back into place, “that I’ve agreed to do all of this for a flat I’ve never even seen. That was silly of me, given it is my payment for so very much effort.”
His eyes widened, flying immediately to the curious junior clerks who were admiring a woman in their midst. “Will you shut up?!” he hissed, slamming his hands to the desk to push himself to his feet and walking quickly to the door to pull it closed. “I don’t need my colleagues speculating on my departure, Lib.”
“Oh, are you feeling discreet today?” she said, giving a little grunt as she wedged the lock into place on the window,fully sealing the room from the outside air. “That’s funny. I’m never certain what you’ve decided should be a secret and what shouldn’t. You almost ruined everything last night.”
“I?” he said, pushing off the door and stalking toward her. “Me? Because I said, ‘Lib’? Something that easily could’ve been covered up or attributed to your phony language?”
“Ididcover it up,” she reminded him, tilting her head to the side and batting those long, glossy lashes, still rich and full even without the damned kohl. “You may have forgotten.”
“I certainly havenotforgotten,” he snapped, doing his absolute best to keep his voice down. “It was an odd gambit, kissing me in front of the woman I’m supposed to be wooing.”
“Was it?” she returned, giving him a tight, feline smile. “Jealousy is a powerful motivator. I thought you knew that.”
“Why would I know that?” he said, eyes falling to her mouth. “I’m not a jealous man.”
“Oh? Aren’t you?” she replied, leaning back against the bricks between the two windows she’d shut. “Because I had a thought that we might make youeven moresympathetic to lovely Miss Templeton-Rath if your princess begins to fancy her uncle instead. I have a feeling Mr. Rath would very much enjoy enhanced attentions from Princess Xandine. I wouldn’t mind, either. He isverygood-looking.”
His teeth clicked together, clenching hard enough that he could feel the ache in his jaw.
“Of course, that won’t work if you appear truly disturbed by it,” she said, her eyes grazing over his face, over the tension in his jaw. “It is a good thing that you aren’t a jealous man, then. And will not be.”
“This is absurd,” he said through his teeth.
“Oh, I agree,” she returned, dropping the flippant tone for a darker, sharper one. “Fully. We are both under a great deal of pressure about this scheme of yours and you refuse to give itproper direction. When I kissed you last night, you were meant to be shocked by my foreign ways, not going in for another taste.”
“Oh, indeed?” he replied, raising his brows and taking another step toward her. “Because that is how any man would respond to a half-dressed woman throwing herself into his arms?”
“I was fully dressed,” she replied with a sniff. “Youwere the one traipsing around naked in my parlor recently. Do not pretend the sight of flesh drives out all sensibility. I managed to avoid ravishing you that night, didn’t I?”
“‘Avoid’ it?” he said. “You were staring like a starving lioness. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”
She scoffed, but it sounded weak. Uncertain.
It sent a hot, electric thrill directly through his center and directly into his groin. She shuffled with momentary discomfort. Those soft, full lips sagged at the corners as she considered it.
“I wasn’t,” she managed.
“It is only natural,” he said before she could protest further, coming around the desk. He spoke softer. Lower. More understanding. “Like you said, we are both under immense pressure. It is just animal instinct, Lib. There’s nothing more to it, but…”
“‘But’?” she said, her eyes tilting up as he came closer, as he met her where she was leaned against his wall. “But now we’ve cracked the seal on it?”
