AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kali kneaded her paws on the discarded dress, sniffing at a pearl hopefully to see if it could be eaten.
Her trunks were in the corner. Bypassing the frilled gowns her mother had insisted on purchasing, Alice found one of the sensible traveling costumes she would wear on her voyage to India.
Such a waste, all these delicate, hand-embroidered confections.
She wouldn’t need them where she was going. On her travels she would wear only serviceable cottons and linens in practical hues that wouldn’t show dust or attract attention.
Shaking one of the gowns, Alice noted with satisfaction that the dove gray muslin hadn’t even wrinkled after being folded at the bottom of the trunk for days.
She didn’t need a maid to help her fasten this gown because it had only three concealed hooks in front. Very sensible for ocean crossings.
Kali rubbed against Alice’s ankle.
Sinking to the floor, she scooped Kali into her arms, cradling the cat’s warm, squirming body against her chest. She scratched her belly, and Kali flopped back with her legs spread wide in a most unladylike manner.
Kali’s ears perked up and her body stiffened. She jumped out of Alice’s arms and ran to the glass-paned balcony doors.
Kali growled, low in her throat, scenting something interesting on the air.
“If I open the balcony doors, you mustn’t leap off. We’re several floors up, you know.”
Kali quirked her head. She was quite a clever cat and nearly always followed instructions.
Alice tried the doors. They finally creaked open after she threw her shoulder against them. Obviously, they hadn’t been opened in quite some time and there was a shameful amount of dust and cobwebs coating them.
Kali swept past her feet and perched on the edge of the balcony balustrade, staring down at the gardens.
Alice stepped outside.
The air smelled of apple blossoms and the clean fresh scent of the world after a good, cleansing rain.
Nick was helping his gardener repair Gertrude’s enclosure. As Alice watched, he stripped off his coat, tugged off his cravat, and opened the buttons at the top of his white linen shirt, exposing a triangle of tanned skin.
Next he rolled up his sleeves.
She probably shouldn’t be watching him like this. Suppose he glanced up and noticed her staring. But she couldn’t seem to look away.
Especially when he began working, lifting heavy boards and using a hammer and nails to fix them into place.
Sinuous muscles rippled in his forearms and his large, strong hands moved with swift skill.
The noonday sun and the hard labor soon dampened his shirt until it clung to his broad back and chest.
Tonight she would have his hard, muscular frame pressed upon her bosom.
He would touch her. Here.
She slid her hand beneath her bodice and lightly squeezed one of her breasts as she watched him lift another board and hold it with one arm as he hammered, swift and sure.
She snatched her hand away from her bosom and ducked back inside, resting against the wall, shaken by how deeply the mere sight of him affected her.
She was panting, her chest heaving up and down in the same way it would if she had been running.
There was no question as to whether she found him attractive. She’d never felt this way before, not even close. She wanted him to touch her. Wanted his hands all over her body.
This wasn’t mere intellectual curiosity. It was too strong and elemental and it captured her too completely. It was frightening how this longing changed her into someone she barely recognized.
Could she control her emotions? Would her desire for him end when she needed it to end?
