Page 21 of The Spinster's Secret Scoundrel
“The eggs,” he said, as though the pieces clicked together instantly. “You hide things inside them.”
“Lace, mostly. Sometimes tea.” Ada swallowed. “The first Christmas I was here, I took my eggs into town to try and sell them at the local market. Betsey took me aside and offered me a way to make much more money than the profits from my little ornaments. She gives me the lace; I wrap it with tissue paper and conceal it inside the shells before painting them. The cracks are hidden with lacquer and paint. She brings me the proceeds when she picks up the next batch of finished eggs. Unfortunately, I only have a few months to collect as many shells as I can before the geese stop laying. Hence, the grain.”
He nodded, a slight bob of his stubbled chin. Thierry’s skin was warm when he brushed his knuckle along her cheek.
“It’s a pity your pretty eggs get broken. You put such care into painting them.”
For some reason, this made Ada’s chest tighten. Her vision swam.
“I enjoy it.” She sniffed. “The painting.”
“You make beautiful art.”
“It’s not art,” Ada protested. “I’m not that good.”
He was fully on the stoop by now, taking her broom from her nerveless hands. Leaning in, with his breath skimming over her cheek. “You are beautiful.”
Ada swallowed and gathered herself. “Money, Thierry.” She held out her hand, palm up, in the scant space between their bodies. Thierry dipped into his pocket and gently placed a handful of coins in the center, then closed her fingers around it.
“It’s not as much as I promised you, kitten.” His hand fell to her waist, tugging her closer. His breath skimmed over her cheek, sending a surge of desire through her. Shewanted.
And he knew it.
Still, Ada hesitated. When she wanted things, they had a way of going painfully awry.
Yet everything in her life was going awry anyways. Why deny herself one night with this charming rogue? Unlike her last experience, being with Thierry promised to be satisfying, judging from the kisses they’d already shared.
She drew a shuddering, ragged breath. “Not here, where anyone might see us from the road.” Behind her, she found the latch to her front door and opened it. “Inside.”
He looked momentarily startled. For a heart-stopping moment, Ada wondered whether she’d misread the promise in his eyes. Then, his roguish grin returned, the one that had made her heart skip from the moment she’d first threatened him with a short old sword and an empty pistol.
“I was hoping you’d want that.” He smirked.
Once Ada realized what he meant, she felt her face flame and an answering grin tug at her lips. The door closed with an audible click. He stalked toward her, shoes thumping on the floor she’d just swept.
“Start undressing, Thierry,” she ordered. “Beginning with your boots.”
He knelt. One moment later he was padding barefoot toward her, shrugging out of his jacket. “Since you like to play games, kitten,” he said as she backed away, fingers tugging at the laces of her dress. Having no maid, hers were practical, with lacing at the sides or front. “You’d best run, because wherever I catch you is where we’re going to—”
With a yelp, Ada abandoned her lacings and darted up the stairs, laughing.
Thierry caught her two steps from the top, hauling hard on a fistful of skirts so she tripped, barking her shin as she went down on hands and knees.
Laughing, she rolled onto her left hip, then pushed up to sitting. Thierry was on her in an instant.
“You’re quick,” he said right before their lips met.
“Not quick enough to make it to the bedroom,” Ada complained before curling her tongue into his mouth for a filthy kiss.
“Mmm, I did not expect that from a shy virgin,” he breathed when they parted again. He was on his knees between her thighs, trying to push the linen over her hips. It was stuck in a bunch beneath her bottom.
Ada froze. “I’m not—”
Fearing his judgment, her tongue promptly tied itself in a knot. She couldn’t have explained if she wanted to, which she didn’t.
But all Thierry said was, “Even better,” and gave her a wolfish grin.
“You can’t mean that,” she gasped seconds before their mouths collided again. He managed to yank her skirt out from beneath her and tugged it up over her head. For a moment her world was nothing but faded linen and anticipation. Then it fell away and he was there, hair mussed and smiling. At her.
