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Sin by omission.
She didn’t like telling untruths. Especially ones that could land her in prison for deceiving a duke.
But she had to take the risk. She needed to buy enough time to search for Mr. Shadwell and ask him why he’d come looking for her at Underwood.
Without warning, a hulking shape loomed behind her and large arms hugged her, pinioning her wrists together in front of her navel.
“What are you doing sneaking about my library, Perkins?” a deep, gruff voice asked.
So much for avoiding the duke.
Chapter 7
Mari twisted in his arms, trying to break away, but he held her easily, one of his large hands trapping both her wrists.
“Are you a spy?” he demanded.
“Pardon? Of course not! I’m a governess. I thought we established that yesterday.”
“A spy from a rival railway company. Or perhaps from one of the fire brigades.” His arms tightened around her, drawing her back against his solid warmth. “Very clever. Send a lady who’s just my kind of temptation to steal my secrets.”
His kind of temptation?
Her heart fluttered in her ribcage, trying to escape her chest.
“I’m not a spy,” she said. “I’m here to instruct your children although I won’t be much use in that endeavor if you squeeze me to death.”
He dropped her wrists but didn’t move away. “My apologies. You’re not a spy. You’re merely a governess.”
She bristled. “That’s right. An ordinary, commonplace governess.”
He bent closer, his breath fanning her cheek. “I thought you said you would wear voluminous smocks, Perkins.”
“My trunk was stolen, Your Grace. If you wish me to wear shapeless smocks, you’ll have to provide them. But just so you know, your footmen appear to be singularly undistracted by me.”
His low laughter struck a chord somewhere deep inside her. She liked making him laugh.
“How dare they be undistracted?” he asked.
“WellIdidn’t expect them to be. You’re the one who had that wrong-headed notion.”
Probably she should step away now. But she rather liked the feel of his body behind her. His proximity was somehow more comforting than threatening.
Really, what she wanted to do was lean backward and fit herself more closely against him.
If he wrapped his arms around her, it might feel like the first safe place she’d ever known.
And she who makes a sheep of herself, becomes prey to the wolf.
She stepped away and turned to face him.
If his presence behind her had made her heart race, his front view was even more devastating to a girl’s composure.
Rumpled chestnut hair falling over silvery eyes. No coat to speak of. And his cravat was undone, looped loosely over his neck with the ends dangling over a wedge of bare chest.
Bare. Chest.
This was precisely why she must avoid him. This heat that shimmered through her body. The way she couldn’t tear her eyes away from that tantalizing glimpse of bare flesh.
