Page 43 of The Mysterious Miss Lydia
Imogene would rather cut off all her hair then willingly send a viscount to dance with her pitiful sister.
“Miss Lydia?” he tried again.
Was it her imagination or was his gaze directly on her.
It couldn’t be. She was well hidden in the dark.
She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back against the books. He’d go away soon enough.
But he didn’t go away. He walked farther into the room. He strode right past her to the end table beside two armchairs before the fireplace and set the candle down.
She held her breath.
“Either some servant left a lump of dirty laundry in a most unfortunate place beside the bookcase, or my dance partner has come in here to hide.”
Her lips parted in surprise at his comment, her breath catching and sounding absurdly loud in this silence.
She couldn’t see much of him because he’d left the small circle of the candle’s light to sit in one of the chairs. All she could make out was his profile as he lounged back as if making himself comfortable as he waited for a response.
From her.
The thought would normally make her tongue swell and her pulse hammer. But with the cover of dark keeping her hidden from his view, and unable to see his disturbingly handsome features…
“Did you just call me a lump of laundry?”
His chuckle filled the air. “A lump of dirty laundry. And yes.”
She pulled her legs up, her lips quivering with the urge to smile. “That’s a horrible thing to call someone.”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he returned.
She pursed her lips. Ithadgoaded her into speaking. And now that the silence was broken, she found that she was rather comfortable sitting here in the darkness and surrounded by his quiet.
Not everyone was the good sort of quiet. Some people were uneasy with silence, and that feeling was infectious.
It was a rare treat to sit in companionable silence. Though her mind had never ceased trying to make sense of all that had transpired between them, she found her fears dissipating the longer he sat in silence.
Finally, she said, “You’re not saying anything.”
“Neither are you.”
She nodded. Fair point. She rested her chin on her knees as she considered the dark space where he sat, seemingly unmoving. She had so many questions…
And for once, her tongue wasn’t too tied to ask them.
The thought made her smile a little, despite everything. Who knew that all it took was the shield of darkness to ease her awkward ways?
If only she’d known. A little chuckle escaped her, breaking the silence.
“What’s so amusing?” His tone was wry, and she was sure she heard his smile, if that was possible.
And to her amazement...she answered. Without stress or fretting or her tongue swelling. Blessed be the darkness! “I was just thinking,” she said slowly, as if her lips had to learn how to speak like a normal person. “If I’d known it was so much easier to talk to people in the cover of darkness, I might have started creeping in the shadows years ago.”
Silence.
She winced slightly and buried her face against her skirts. She sounded like a lunatic.
But then he laughed, and it wasn’t mean. Not in the least. “So, you are shy then, is that it?”
