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He hated to see her scowl and was suddenly put out by it.
“God, what the hell am I doing?” He breathed as he stared blankly at the fireplace.
“Pardon, sir?” Petal asked wondering if he was talking to himself or her.
Aidan stared at her for a moment. “Just stop all of this ‘sir’ nonsense. I hate formality with a vengeance. Stop calling me Sir.”
“Yes, sir,” Petal replied, then immediately winced. “Sorry.”
“Stop apologising.”
“If that is all, I had better be getting on with my chores,” she replied, paying careful attention not to call him sir, or apologise again.
Aidan scowled at her. “What other chores do you have this early in the morning?”
Petal hesitated. If she was honest, lighting the fire in this room was the last of her jobs for now. The entire house had been cleaned thoroughly only last week, and her chores upstairs were completed on a daily basis. She had swept the upper hall, polished the surfaces, and lit the fires that were hers to light. There was nothing else for her to do until breakfast was served. Then she would begin the daily duty of replenishing the water jugs and making the beds. She wracked her mind to come up with something but couldn’t think of anything.
“I can bring you some tea if you like?”
“No, I don’t like,” he grumbled. “I want to know why you are doing your chores this early.”
Petal sighed. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“Yes, yes, we have been through all of that,” he snapped impatiently, wondering what a man had to do to get a conversation with someone.
When she still didn’t give him an answer, he peered at her suspiciously. “What are you hiding?”
“Me?” She tried to look innocent but suspected she failed splendidly.
“I think you had better be honest with me and tell me what is going on around here.”
Petal studied him, desperately trying to ignore the wild thrill of feminine delight that swirled through her. He was incredibly handsome, even more so now that he was upright. The dark scowl on his face only made him look like a petulant child and endeared him to her even more. Fighting to quell her grin, she kept her face expressionless like she had seen Rollo do on many occasions.
“Nothing is going on, sir,” she replied crisply. “I am just going about my work. If you have a problem, maybe you should speak to Rollo.”
Before he could say anything else, she bobbed a curtsey and hurried out of the room.
Aidan glared at the closed door in disgust. He had never been so efficiently or effectively stonewalled in his entire life. Now he knew for definite that she was avoiding him. It irked him to think she didn’t want to be in his company. He had never had that from a woman before. Most women of his acquaintance were usually like the irascible Edwards.
Sighing deeply, he glared at the bell pull beside the bed but knew from the past, and extremely painful, experience that it was beyond him to take even one step in that direction. His legs hurt with just the slightest movement sometimes, and today was no exception. He couldn’t risk damaging his legs further.
With one last dark look at the door, he reluctantly slouched down beneath the covers. In spite of the early morning, sleep eluded him. Instead, his thoughts turned toward the rather intriguing maid who had just evaded his questions him as deftly as if she moved amongst the ton.
“Now that is a woman with secrets,” he murmured aloud, wondering why he was so interested in her.
He was still thinking about her when he fell asleep half an hour later.
CHAPTER FOUR
Petal was exhausted when she quietly let herself back into his room later that night. She now ached practically everywhere from the exertion of fetching and carrying heavy trays and
buckets all day. But that wasn’t what troubled her the most.
Every time she had entered the master’s bedchamber, he had watched her avidly, as though he was trying to figure out what secrets she kept. It disturbed her greatly. She had waited and waited for him to resume their conversation. For some reason, he had not. To her surprise, she was a little put-out that he hadn’t tried to talk to her again. Because she had never had this occur before she had no idea how to deal with the protracted silences. The only thing she could think to do was carry on as normal until he engaged her in conversation.
To say that it unnerved her was an understatement. As a naturally chatter person by nature, it was instinctive for her to want to chat to someone in her company; if only to pass the time of day. Unfortunately, her job dictated that she couldn’t, and so the sheer effort it took to ignore him and carry out her duties as if he wasn’t there was simply exhausting.
To add to her worries, each time she had worked in the master’s room, the rather pious stare of the irascible nurse had grown increasingly threatening. Edwards appeared to have taken up post beside the bed, and apparently disliked Petal even being in the bedchamber. She reminded Petal of a gargoyle waiting to strike those who ventured too close. As long as she didn’t attack Petal, then Petal had decided to treat her with a wary indifference as well.
