Page 113 of Murder on Cold Street
Livia, taking her present, diplomatically absented herself by saying that she would go try it at once.
Lord Ingram wasted no time in kissing Charlotte and Charlotte wasted no time in enjoying it very much.
She then proceeded to give him not one but two hot water bottle cozies. “See, I made one for you that looks almost exactly like my Christmas tree dress—I know how much you adore that. But since you bought an extra hot water bottle, I’m obliged to also give you the one I made for myself. Does it not look like the prettiest Christmas pudding you have ever seen?”
He laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. “I see now I have no choice but to think of you when I hold my hot water bottles close.”
She preened. “Precisely. Now what did you get for me?”
He went outside to the passage and returned with a sizable box, which she recognized immediately as a dress box.
A gentleman not related or married to her should not give her clothes.
Excellent.
Inside the box was a... a...
She shook the garment open and inspected it from all sides. No doubt about it. An open redingote in a shade of pink that did not exist before the invention of aniline dyes, and an airy white underdress? This was a tea gown, the laciest, ruffliest, most tucked and ruched tea gown she’d ever seen.
“How did you know I wanted one?”
“I didn’t. But do you remember propositioning me at Stern Hollow?”
She had laid out the underdress along the back of a padded chair. He ran his hand down its front. Heat streaked downherfront. “At Stern Hollow I did a lot more than propositioning you.”
“Well,beforewe knew you’d be doing more than that, you invited me to come and visit you at your cottage while Mrs. Watson took her afternoon nap. I have been thinking about that invitation ever since. And even a stick-in-the-mud like me knows that ladies wear tea gowns for such occasions.”
Was he turning up the hem of the underdress and putting his hand inside? Heat rushed up to her—
She cleared her throat. “So you intend there to be such occasions in our future?”
“Of course. When I come back to London for the Season, a free man, I hope to see you in a tea gown very, very frequently.”
She had to put her hand over his to prevent him from doing anything else perfectly decent and respectable to the tea gown. Their eyes met; mischief gleamed in his.
But as seconds passed, his gaze turned serious. “Be careful, Holmes. We might not have ripped off the last veil of civility, but Moriarty must consider you an enemy now. Or at the very least, a highly inconvenient adversary.”
She leaned in for another kiss. “Of course I’ll be very, very careful. I have a tea gown I still need to wear in front of you, when you come back in spring.”
