Page 44

“Yes,” she whispered.

He stepped so close he could smell her…delicious. Flowers and something herbal and sweet and hers. He picked up a strand of hair that fell from the array of curls she had framing her face and returned it to its place. “Yes, you remember, or yes, I can bed you?”

He watched with satisfaction as her perfect pink lips parted and reddened.

“Yes, I remember,” she said.

“And yes, I may come to your bed?” he asked.

She swallowed and nodded.

A groan was born in the depths of his throat, but he suppressed it.

“Good,” he said. “I already looked through the ledger and didn’t find anything resembling Spencer’s name, but you surely want to look at it yourself.”

She nodded again.

He cupped her face. “Do not be afraid, Calliope. I’ll make sure you enjoy every moment of it.”

She breathed quickly in and out and said nothing.

He left her proximity and turned around at the door. “I was just very afraid for you and the girls. You already received a threat. Today was the next step to execute it. I simply want to protect you, but you make it very difficult.”

17

Later that night, Calliope stood by the window in her bedchamber with Miss Furrington sitting on the windowsill next to the ledger Calliope had been studying for the past few hours. The cat watched the dogs, her pupils so dilated they almost covered her green irises.

Nathaniel was down in the mews. She couldn’t hear him through the glass, but it seemed he was training the dogs. The three of them sat, staring up at him, looking all happy and sweet. Then he would say something and make a gesture, and they would rise, their ears standing at attention.

Calliope’s chest warmed. Why did her heart do some strange sort of lurch every time she looked at him, every time she was in his presence? Perhaps it was something about him that made him look so lonely. She knew she had misjudged him early on, at that ball. She’d thought of him as nothing but a rake.

But the more she knew of him, the more she liked. The more she wanted to be in his company, look at him, talk to him…

Touch him.

That kiss he’d given her… The touch of his hands, of his body against her, they did something incredible and electric to her, sent beautiful currents of life flowing through her.

She touched the ledger he had brought from the Naval Board. He had done his part to meet the agreement between them. How much longer could she postpone the inevitable? Sooner or later, he would bed her, and she would, hopefully, get pregnant.

He’d come to her tonight, that was what he’d promised. The thought of resuming what they had started caused both a tight knot in her belly and a gorgeous exhilaration in her blood.

He turned, presenting his side to her. As he methodically picked up three sticks, tossing each into the farthest part of the yard, the slight downward tilt of his lips, the subtle furrowing of his brow, and the distant, hollow look in his eyes made her windpipe constrict tightly.

Her fear melted as the urge to talk to him won over, and she walked out of her bedroom and climbed down the stairs towards him.

As she opened the door, the dogs growled, turning to look at her, and she froze.

Nathaniel glanced at her, his expression warming. “Sit,” he commanded the three beasts. “This is your new mistress. Argos, you protected her today. Good boy. You should do it every time she needs your help.”

Argos stopped growling and looked at Calliope with wet eyes, his tail starting to wag.

“Um,” said Calliope, still not moving. “Are you still busy with them?”

“No,” said Nathaniel as he patted their heads. He didn’t have on a waistcoat or a coat, only his white shirt, the ties at his collar undone and the sleeves rolled up to show his gorgeous, muscular forearms covered with soft-looking blond hair. A pleasant agitation settled in the pit of Calliope’s stomach. “We’re finished, aren’t we, lads?” His gaze softened even more as he looked her over. “Don’t be afraid, Calliope,” he said with a tenderness that had her stomach clench deliciously. “They won’t touch you. Come here.”

She swallowed. “I’m not sure they want me to. I smell of a cat.”

“Are you afraid of dogs?”