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Ester tilted her mouth at the corners, hoping she appeared suitably unconcerned. “Certainly. He is on the lower floors.”
“I see. He did not inform me he was to be here tonight.”
“Am I to understand that my husband must account to you whenever he is coming by?”
“Of course not,” he said stiffly, looking mildly surprised at her retort.
The man’s shrewd eyes went to the office door behind her. “You were in his office alone.”
Oh, drat.An odd sort of panic bubbled in her veins, and Ester furiously thought of the way of allaying the suspicions burning in that beautiful gaze.Be brazen. The opposite of Ellie, who was always demure and respectful around Edmond Glendevon. That should rattle him more than a tidy explanation. Ester lifted her chin and sashayed over to him, her pulse pounding in her ear. “Is there a problem with me being here or in my husband’s office?”
His gaze hooded. “Of course not. You are welcome any time, Mrs. Glendevon.”
She smiled sweetly up at him. “Lucien has assured me of the same. I merely wanted to ensure his brothers were willing to afford me the same courtesies.”
“We do,” he said. “Never believe otherwise. You are a part of our family.”
She stopped a mere scant inch from him. “Thank you.”
His eyes widened slightly, and an interesting color flushed on his savagely elegant cheekbone. Amusement rushed through her and a sort of pleasure that she could discomfit a man so ruthlessly handsome and self-assured. “Are you blushing, Edmond?” Ester provocatively drawled before she could stop the madness possessing her.
He stilled. “What did you just call me?”
A peculiar sensation shivered inside her chest. “Edmond. It is your name, is it not?”
He stared at her for such a long moment that Ester almost fidgeted.
“You are standing too close, Mrs. Glendevon,” he said with icy politeness, drawing a line of formality between them.
How curious.
Ester tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear and peeked up at him with a small smile. “Come now, weare…brothers and sisters. Surely you are permitted to call me Ellie, as I’ve invited you to do several times. And I, of course, shall call you Edmond.”
Some of the tension leaked from his shoulders, and Ester’s belly clenched as she belatedly realized he had doubted her identity right before this moment.How?Only close families were able to tell her apart from Emma and Ellie. And that bit about Ellie inviting him to use her intimate name had been a mere guess because she knew of her sister’s generosity.
Ester reached out and plucked a small wisp of string from his shoulders. The man inhaled harshly, and she smiled up at him innocently, while inside, she laughed. “A piece of lint.” She held it up for his inspection. “See. Your valet needs a word.”
“I am a gentleman who dresses himself.”
Ester blinked. “Of course, you are.”
He swept another glance over her, and she had the alarming thought that he could somehow see through her.
“You are standing too close, Mrs. Glendevon.”
“You could always step back…Edmond.” She lifted her hand to his jacket again, and he snagged it.
His touch was firm yet not forceful, but Ester felt the heat of him through her gloves. “Another lint,” she murmured.
“I shall retrieve it myself.”
“Forgive me,” Ester said, tugging at her arm. “I am so used to tending to my brothers I acted without thought.”
She again laughed inwardly at the look he gave her, as if he did not know what to make of her.
He slowly released her hand and stepped aside. “You are different today.”
The quivery sensation in her belly grew. “Am I?”
