Page 68 of Ruthless with a Rogue
“No offense taken, my lady.”Derek would have laughed, had it not required his complete concentration to keep her and Livy standing upright.
The butler swung open the door and didn’t blink an eye at his current mistress’s state.“Can I assist in any way, Your Lordship?”he intoned.
“Have a pitcher of water brought to her room, and if there are any plain baked goods in the kitchens, have a tray brought up as well.Miss Forester and I will escort Lady Elliot to her rooms.”
“Straightaway, my lord.”The butler bowed, and with a click of his heels, spun around to attend to his orders.
They approached the bottom of the stairs, and Derek paused, causing the ladies to sway precariously.Quickly wrapping his arm around Lady Elliot’s back, he managed to prevent her from falling face first into the stairs.
He leaned around Lady Elliot until he caught Livy’s gaze.“I think it will be easiest if I carry your aunt up the stairs.From there, I can assist her to her rooms, where you can take over.”
A look of relief came over Livy’s face, and she stepped back.He scooped up Lady Elliot, which elicited another fit of giggles, and made his way up the stairs.Lady Elliot poked and patted his chest and arms.
“What a fit man you are.What muscles!Olivia dear, you should feel these muscles!”She squeezed his bicep hard.“They’re like big rocks!”She craned her neck, looking for Livy, said muscles straining to keep the flailing woman and himself from toppling down the stairs.
“My Nigel was a bit softer, especially ‘round the middle.But I think I prefer that.Much more comfortable.Can you imagine being in bed with such hardness?”
A snort and choking sound came from the steps behind him, and he bit back a smile.The more he got to know Lady Elliot, the more he liked her.
When he reached the top of the stairs, he gently lowered the woman, and Livy immediately stepped forward to direct them to her aunt’s chamber.
Once at the bedchamber door, he surrendered Lady Elliot to Livy.“I should be go—”
“I’ll be down momentarily.”Livy cut him off.“Will you wait for me in the parlor?”
His mouth snapped shut, and he nodded, backing away as Livy wrapped her arm around her aunt.The two women stumbled into the bedchamber.
Damnit.Why hadn’t he just refused and begged off?
Derek had been pacing the parlor for the past ten minutes, probably wearing a hole in the already threadbare rug covering the creaking floor.He should leave.He really didn’t like whatever was happening in his chest right now.Or his head.Something wasverywrong with him.
“I haven’t had a chance to properly thank you.”
Derek spun around, gaze clashing with an earnest blue one.Livy fiddled with her skirts, uncertain.“For tonight with my aunt and…” She glanced away, the delicate muscles in her throat working.Like she couldn’t get the words to surface.She probably couldn’t.To speak of that night, of what she had been through, almost been subject to.
“No need to apolo—”
“Would you like a whisky?I find myself in dire need of a whisky,” she blurted.
He faltered for a moment.“I…never turn down a whisky.”
She hurried to the sideboard, pulled two glasses out of the sideboard, and filled them with a finger of amber liquid.Her movements were jerky, rushed, like she was out of sorts.And then she raised one glass to her lips and threw back the contents in one shot.
Derek blinked.Well, then.
She refilled her glass and then made her way to him with their glasses, a smile firmly in place.
He studied her and accepted the glass.“I never asked before…but you partake in whisky often?I’m not surprised, given what I’ve learned of you thus far, but it’s not exactly an unmarried miss’s drink of choice.”He took a tentative sip, and his eyes fell shut.“This is much better than whatever you had stocked before.”
“I was allowed to run somewhat wild growing up.Absent father.No mother.”She waved her hand.“You know, that sort of thing.So, I drank quite often with the neighborhood boys.”
His fist clenched on his glass.“I assume these neighborhood boys included your beloved Mr.Thorton.”His words ended on a bitter note, which only made him more vexed.
The smile curling her lips was genuine this time.She took a step closer to him, rested a hand on his chest.His eyes dropped to it, long slender fingers.Ungloved.On him.
“Yes.I ran wild with Mr.Thorton,” she whispered, and his gaze flew to hers.She traced one of the buttons on his coat.“Though we were not usually drinking whisky.”
A low growl built in his chest.She was playing a dangerous game.He hadn’t any idea what had gotten into her tonight, but Miss Forester was an intelligent woman.She knew exactly what she was doing.And if she was offering, Derek wouldn’t hesitate to accept.
