Page 41
She hadn’t missed him. At all.
And the fact that he’d been absent the entire night for the second night in a row didn’t bother her either!
In fact, she had kept herself quite busy. Mostly snooping through his things, trying to find anything she could about what he had been up to in the past two years.
She had found nothing interesting or incriminating, to her chagrin, except for a small metal trunk of mysterious origins with an elaborate lock she wasn’t able to open.
She blew away a lock of hair that had fallen onto her forehead from her mad dash to the door. “And where have you been, pray tell?”
William’s gaze scanned her up and down before settling on her lips. “Missed me, have you?”
Victoria scoffed. “Not in the least. It is rather unceremonious of you, however, to leave me locked in this tower the entire night.”
William leisurely took a watch from his pocket and flipped it open. “It’s barely sunrise. I thought you’d be asleep.”
Victoria cleared her throat. “Even so. Our deal required me to sleep under your roof for three months.”
“Ah.” He nodded and walked farther into the room. “But it doesn’t require the same of me.”
Victoria crossed her arms over her chest as she followed him with her gaze. “Do you mean to tell me that while I am forced to spend my nights here, you can gallivant around town to your heart’s content?”
“I have business to attend to,” he said, slowly shedding his coat and draping it over her chair. “I do not gallivant. Besides, I am a thief. Can’t really do my business in the light of day.”
“Is that what you were doing?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Stealing?”
“No.” His answer was succinct and didn’t brook further questions.
Victoria questioned still. “Then what were you doing?”
“Helping out a friend.” He paused and scratched his brow. “Um… not a friend. An acquaintance.”
“Do you even have friends?” she asked scathingly. She expected him to laugh and wave the question away. It was rhetorical and meant as an insult.
Instead, his face took on a serious facade as he answered softly, almost solemnly, “I do not.”
What followed was a brief and uncomfortable silence. Victoria didn’t do well with silence, especially not when William watched her under his hooded eyes as if planning something nefarious. So, she said the first thing that came to her mind. “I am hungry.”
William smiled. “There are meats and cheeses for sandwiches in the larder.”
Victoria frowned. “We have a larder?”
“Yes, a larder, a milk room, and a pantry all at once. Downstairs.” William gestured to the floor with both hands, as if Victoria didn’t know which way downstairs was.
“We have a downstairs? How was I supposed to know that?”
“You are right,” William agreed with a nod. “I have not been the most accommodating host. But to be fair, you spend most of your time out of the house. When was I supposed to show it to you?”
Victoria licked her lips. “The very first day.”
A lazy smile adorned his lips. “Touché. To tell you the truth, I have never had to live with anyone before, so I haven’t taken into account that I would have to…”
“Show me around?” Victoria stifled a chuckle.
“I suppose I should have realized that. My mistake.” There was a short, awkward pause before William cleared his throat. “Would you like a tour then?”
He extended his arm palm up, and Victoria watched it as if it was going to sprout a head and bite her. But after a moment’s hesitation, she nodded and placed her hand on his.
The jolt of awareness that passed through her was rather surprising. She gasped and attempted to pull her hand away, but he closed his fingers around hers, and, as if not noticing her reaction—and more disappointingly not feeling the same—led her toward the back of the room.
