Page 19 of Not Quite a Lady
There was a tap on the door and Lily came in. Jack snatched at the edge of the sheets and yanked them up to chin level, recalled that after yesterday’s fiasco it was a futile gesture, and tried not to glare.
The satin bedcover was in leopard skin print to match the chaise. He repressed a shudder.
‘Good morning, Miss France. I am having some trouble communicating with your footman.’
‘Percy will do as I tell him, Mr Lovell.’ She was quite exasperatingly calm. ‘Fetch Mr Lovell’s breakfast, Percy.’
‘Miss France, I cannot stay here.’
‘Of course you cannot.’ She smiled at him and Jack sat up straighter, raising his knees sharply in attempt to disguise the effect she was having on him.
Hell’s teeth woman, don’t you know what sort of condition a man is in, first thing in the morning? Have you no idea what a smile like that could do?
He pulled himself together with a effort.No, of course you do not.
‘Just as soon as Doctor Ord has been to see you and says you may move, you may have your clothes and your luggage.’
‘Thank you.’ Now he had a doctor’s bill to pay – and by the cut of the good doctor’s togs, that would not be cheap – and another inn room to find. And investors to woo while looking like the sort of man who got into brawls in the street.
‘I have an idea about where you might stay.’ Miss France perched neatly on the chaise, her skirts swirling around the jaws of one rearing reptile, the bright blue silk arguing nastily with the upholstery.
‘Probably the Green Dragon will still have a room available,’ he said indifferently.
Her eyes are the green of the dragon’s scales on the inn sign, a complicated mix that seems to change with the light.
‘I have had a better idea. Why pay good money out from your budget, which I am sure will be put to better use entertaining your investors, when you can stay here?’
‘We have just agreed that I must move.’
‘To the bottom of the garden.’ She beamed at him, obviously delighted with whatever hare-brained scheme she was hatching. ‘The previous owner was an amateur artist and he had the long attic over the carriage house in the mews converted into a studio.You can stay there.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’ Those green cat’s eyes narrowed and her full lower lip pouted. Miss France was not used to having her will thwarted, obviously.
What would it be like to bite that swelling fullness? Just a very gentle nip…
‘It would not be proper, and, as I believe we have agreed before, I am not a charity case.’
‘You will not be in the house, so where is the impropriety? And, if you insist, I will charge you bed and board, exactly what you would have paid at the Green Dragon. Mrs Oakman will cook your meals.’
He shook his head and she glared at him with an exasperated irritation which matched his own.
‘You are a very stubborn man, Jack Lovell.’
‘And you, Miss France, are a very managing woman.’
Endearingly, she shrugged. ‘Yes, of course. I am used to getting my own way. It does help to be very rich.’
She cocked her head on one side. ‘Please? I dislike not being able to say “thank you” to people who have helped me.’
Of course he should say no. It was preposterous and probably improper, bottom of the garden or not.
Lily opened her eyes wide and smiled at him. ‘Please? I have had the room cleaned and made ready for you. The footmen have worked so hard this morning…’
Preposterous, improper and impossible. Jack fought down the headache that was intent on kicking its way through his temple and took a breath. ‘Yes.’
What have I just said?‘Yes, thank you.’
