AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was only one desk, but two chairs, and another low table between them. Dominic took the desk chair, flipping open his laptop as he sat, so Faith settled into the visitor’s chair—lower, more comfortable, and far too likely to send her to sleep.
Wearily, she reached into her bag for her tablet, contemplating just kicking her shoes off regardless. It was late. He’d understand. And her feet couldn’t smell that much, could they?
Hmm. Maybe better not to risk it.
‘Drink?’ Dominic asked, and when she looked up she saw that he’d taken off his jacket, his shirt collar lying open beneath it. Her gaze fixed on the hollow at his neck, just above his collarbone, and she wondered, in what could only be a sleep-deprived daze, what it would be like to kiss him there. How his skin would feel under her lips, under her fingertips. ‘I’ve got brandy, whisky, probably some rum...’
Faith blinked, and brought her attention back to the real world. ‘Um, a whisky would be great. Thanks.’
Work. She was here to work. She really had to remember that.
She swiped a finger across the screen to bring it to life, and brought up her email program. Thirty-seven new emails. And since this was a new account Dominic had set up for her to do the job at hand, chances were that very few of them were spam. She suppressed a groan. She was never going to get to sleep tonight.
Dominic returned from the bar in the kitchen area with two tumblers, filled with ice and topped with what she imagined would probably be the finest whisky. Did she even remember what that tasted like? she wondered. Her father had only ever drunk the best, most expensive Scotch whiskies, and he’d tried to ensure that she grew up with a taste for the finer things, too.
‘Here.’ Dominic bent down to hand her the glass, and Faith’s mouth moistened as that hollow at his neck grew closer.
This was ridiculous. She needed to go to bed.
As soon as she’d finished work.
Leaning back in the swivel chair at the desk, Dominic stretched his legs out in front of him, arms folded across his chest, and studied her.
‘What?’ Faith asked after a few long moments of scrutiny.
‘You did a really great job tonight,’ he said.
A warm glow flushed across her skin. ‘Thank you. I knew it was important to you that your clients start the trip off with a bang.’
‘And you certainly did that. The bus was a masterstroke.’ And yet still he kept staring at her.
‘Is there a But... here?’ Faith didn’t care if she was being blunt. It was far too late at night for subtle.
Dominic shook his head, unfolding his arms to push himself up into a straighter seated position. ‘No buts. Just a few questions.’
Questions. Possibly her least favourite things. ‘Such as?’
‘Well, I never got to see your full résumé. We didn’t even have a proper interview.’
‘And you want to do that now?’ Was the man crazy? ‘You realise I’m already doing the job, right? And doing it well, according to you.’
‘I know.’ Dominic sounded completely unruffled. ‘Like I say, I just want to know a little bit about your background.’
Her work background, Faith reminded herself, as her heart started to beat double time. All Dominic cared about was the job he’d hired her to do. Even if he did start developing suspicions about who she really was, he probably wouldn’t care unless it interfered with one of his meetings. All she needed to do was keep things professional. How hard could that be?
‘Well, I started working in events in London,’ she said, carefully editing out that part about how, as Lady Faith Fowlmere, she’d mostly been attending the events. Or, at most, throwing epic parties at her famous friends’ houses. ‘Then moved more into the tour guide side of things for a while.’ After she ran away from home and became Faith Fowler. ‘That’s where I met my previous employer, who hired me to run his tours in Italy, where I’ve been for the last year and a half.’ After Great-Uncle Nigel spotted her at an event in London and almost dragged her home and she realised that another country would be much easier to hide in. ‘That’s about it,’ she finished with a shrug.
Dominic gazed at her, his eyes still assessing. But finally he nodded. ‘Well, you obviously learned a lot in your time. Like I said, you’re doing a great job. I trust you’ll find more wonderful experiences to entertain us over the next few days. And you’re coming to Beresford Hall with us later in the week, of course?’
Faith froze, the pleased smile she’d had at his words fixing into place as she realised what he was asking. Beresford Hall. Family seat. Full of people who knew the aristocracy, knew the families, kept up with the news.
