AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-One
Henry had been right to summon some manservants to help him. In the end, it required himself and three others to finally corner the rat and catch it. It gave Henry a warm, pleasing feeling to know that he could now report to Dinah that her room was once again devoid of rodents. Would she thank him with an embrace? With a kiss?
After all the servants had left, he moved to the door, blankets still peeking out from beneath, and knocked softly.
“Dinah?”
No noise.
“The rodent has been seen to. It’s safe to come out again.”
Still nothing.
Henry tried the knob. She hadn’t locked the door. He pushed against it, the blankets proving little resistance. He stepped in. The fire burned low, casting only the smallest bit of light into the room. Dinah wasn’t hard to find, as she’d pushed one of his wingbacks quite near the fire and was currently curled up on it. Her legs were tucked beneath her, her hands holding onto the armrest, and her eyes watching him closely.
“Did you get it?”
Henry nodded. “You will never again see that rodent.”
She shut her eyes and sagged against the chair. “Thank goodness.”
The nearer to her he walked, the more he became aware of just how close to the fire she sat. “Why the devil are you sitting so near the fire on a hot summer night?”
“You don’t think I was going to allow thatratthe opportunity to sneak up on me in the dark, do you?”
She was sitting in the most well-lit spot in the room.
Henry pulled the matching wingback over closer to her, but not quite so close to the fire. He was already warm from the exertion of chasing and catching the rat. “He won’t be sneaking up on you tonight or ever.”
“Please tell me there aren’t other rats in the house.”
“He was the first—and the last.”Hopefully.
“Good.” She settled a bit on the chair, relaxing but still unwilling to put her feet on the floor. “I should warn you now. If seeing rats here at Angleside Court becomes a habit, I shall insist we remove ourselves to one of the other holdings.”
Henry rested back in his seat. He rather liked the way she’d saidwe. “They bother you that much?”
“A rat found its way into my bed one night shortly after my mother had passed. It crawled across my legs and bit me multiple times before I was able to kick it away.” Dinah visibly shuddered. “I have never been able to tolerate them since.”
He’d never seen this side of her before. He loved the fearlessness he always saw from Dinah, but seeing her huddled up on his wingback, in his bedchamber...well, it was yet another reason he needed space from her. Yet another moment that threatened to draw him in so deeply, he would never recover when she eventually left him.
He stood. “Your room is once more safe. I hope you sleep well.”
She looked up at him, blinking. “I was in full earnestness before. I’m sleeping in here tonight.”
He ground his jaw, wishing it would grind away the heat that flooded through him at her statement. “I don’t think that is a good idea.”
She scowled at him.
He scowled back.
If she thought she could beat him at his own dark-look game, she was sadly mistaken.
Dinah slowly stood from the large chair, inching her way closer to him, her glower growing deeper with every second. She stopped directly in front of him, close enough that he could smell the rose scent that always lingered behind her. Her scowl intensified until her nose scrunched up and her lips were not but a tiny, pink pucker.
Henry placed his hands on his hips and bent in low, simply to show her he wasn’t backing down. Not at all because he was desperately wishing the last few inches of space between them would disappear completely.
Dinah darted away. Before he knew what was happening, she was sitting atop his bed, tugging off her slippers, tossing them aside, and pulling his blankets over her legs.
