Page 43 of A Lady of Means
Belatedly, he registered that he’d been seated between her younger sister Olivia and their chaperone, and no one had spoken in a full four minutes.Five?He should probably stop eye-ravishing Moria and say something.
Her youngest sister Olivia took him in like he was under a microscope.“He is quite the specimen.”
Moria gave her sister an exasperated look from across the table.He loved the way she looked when she was exasperated.“Specimen?Really?”she tipped her teacup to her lips.His whole foolish body felt envy for that teacup.
Olivia nodded and then said to Moria in a stage whisper, “He should be studied for science.I didn’t know they existed in his…variation.”
Their companion groaned, before resuming her occupation of feeding the newly christened baby atop her lap.How did these people keep up with all the inhabitants at one table?It had always been him and Perry, Perry had never let him want for joviality when he was around, but how lonely must it have been for Perry before he’d come along?Perry was the type of aristo that could sit at a bedecked table such as this, brimming with circumstance, yes, but also wit and conviviality.
Devyn winked at Olivia.A chuckle escaped from him when a blush crept up Moria’s neck.
“Nothing I haven’t heard before, my lady, but I’m nothing special, just a warrior.”
Olivia tilted her head to the side.“Tell me, what does your diet consist of?And your exercise regime?I’m assuming…weights, running, maybe drilling, boxing, and some swordplay?”
Moria rubbed the bridge of her nose.Her sister and brother-in-law looked on with appreciative eyes.
“Of course, my lady.A captain must be a master of many…skills.”
“I’ve always thought Moria would have made an excellent soldier.”
“Olivia, that’s—” the Earl of Westmoreland tried to cut the youngest of the Pembrookes off but she was unflappable.
“She is the most accurate shot of my siblings and an excellent horsewoman.She’s always been good at games of strategy as well.”
The open affection with which Lady Olivia beamed at Moria cracked him open a little bit.Moria gave a soft smile and looked away uncomfortably, shaking her head.Why was she uncomfortable with hearing such genuine praise?
Her words from the library came back to him.They wanted a mercenary, someone who could be bought for a price for their own purposes, but no cost they offered was worth the price of my pride, my revenge.
“Not a mere foot soldier, then; more like the goddess of war.”
Olivia gave an appreciative tilt of her head.“Are you sure you’ve only just met her?”
Moria set her fork down on her plate with a loudthwap.She was staring at him, teasing her bottom, perfect lip between her teeth.The other occupants of the table had fallen still, awaiting his answer like they’d sensed the familiarity too.
His eyes were trained on hers; he said the words like a caress between them.“I met her in another life, perhaps.”
“How fortuitous that you found her again, then.”Said Lady Noelle, raising her water goblet to him in a small salute before taking a sip.
He wasn’t expecting it when Moria chimed in with, “You know that I’ve always made my own luck, sister,” and popped a morsel of bread in her mouth.
God help him, he had scant days left until he left for foreign enemies, but his world had narrowed down to claiming one little huntress and her perfect mouth.
ChapterTwenty
The Burn Bookof Lady M
General Waddingham: Your Christian name proved harder to find than a list of your many transgressions and abuses of power, and there were many voices willing to talk about how you’ve accepted a laundry list of bribes for favors.
* * *
“Stubborn as an ox,that’s what ye are.”Callum shook his head.“If ye’d only used yer brother’s connection, ye could have stayed under her roof instead of with the handsome vicar friend.You could ha’ stayed there, instead of waitin’ here for her to return.But no, what do I ken?Jest a dunderhead from the highlands wi’ nae connections t’call upon meself.”
“First,” Devyn pointed with the roll of linen he was using to tape Calum’s hands for a scheduled boxing match against a fellow officer.“That’s not really how any of this works, not for a baptism.It made more sense at the time to say that I was a visiting friend of the vicar’s.That’s the scheme her companion and her vicar friend decided upon.Second, I’m discovering that my battle strategy does not seem to carry over to drawing rooms.”
Devyn was taping Calum’s hands for a fight when Calum pulled a startled face, clutching his bare chest dramatically.“Ye don’t ken.”
Devyn rolled his eyes.“Peregrine never saw fit to inform me that he was acquainted with the Earl, in any event.”
