Page 30 of Wicked With You
“You should bear in mind you will be required to accompany me to town. You’ll not hide from your scandal there.” His words were flat and implacable and the idea of being so exposed again scraped against her composure.
“I am not afraid,” she said staunchly, though her heart beat wildly inside her chest. “But my brother will need to accompany us, as a chaperone of sorts, to still those wagging tongues from sullying my reputation even further.”
“Very well. The modiste I’d sent for in town should arrive tomorrow. You are to order ball gowns, at least six, new boots and dancing slippers—hats and gloves, riding habits, and day gowns. I’ve already sent to town an order for two new cloaks. If your pride still smarts at this, I will deduct the wardrobe from your salary.”
“Not at all, these clothes are work expenses.”
He chuckled and they continued strolling. Holding her cloak tighter, she went toward the beach, stopping when the water lapped at the tip of her boots. How she wished it were summer and she could walk barefoot and sink her toes in the sand.
“I believe I shall risk feeling the waters on my toes,” she said suddenly.
“It is cold, Miss Crawford.” She wrinkled her nose. “I daresay if you survived a dip of your body in a lake, without any illness, my feet and my person might very well survive this.”
Mina stooped down and nudged off her boots, revealing her bare toes. Mina yelped at the coldness of the sand and stones. Good gracious.
“Where are your stockings?”
Suddenly, she felt embarrassed. Still, she did not quibble. “They had holes.”
A low rumble filled the air, and she glanced over at the pier, wondering if a train had pulled into the station.
“It’s thunder.”
She snapped her head skyward, alarmed to feel a drop of icy rain on her cheek. “It is about to rain?”
Mina was not entirely prepared for how the sky opened and immediately doused them in rain. She shrieked, and the earl grabbed her hands and sprinted with her toward the carriage thankfully parked close by.
“My boots!”
“Leave them.”
Something pierced one of her feet and she stumbled with a cry. Simon glanced down and, to her shock, grabbed her about the waist and tossed her over his shoulder before breaking into a run. Thankfully she had not worn the small bustle to widen the skirt of her gown. The speed at which he moved with her weight was impressive, if not jarring, and before she could even protest, she was slung down and caught perfectly against his chest, then urged up inside the carriage.
The earl said something to the coachman she could not discern, then hauled himself inside. His hair was damped, and the man was hardly out of breath.
“Good, you are barely wet. The heat from the warming pans will provide enough—”
Mina laughed, the light, airy sound echoing in the carriage as it rumbled away. “You are utterly deranged, and I would never have discovered it if…”
She swiped away a trickle of water that ran from her hair to her cheek. “Even if all of London had witnessed it, they would still not believe that Lord Creswick tossed a lady over his shoulder like a barbarian. We even ran, leaving my boots!”
“I shall replace them,” he said, his blue eyes gleaming. “Now let me see your foot.”
Said toes reflexively curled on the carriage floor. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the skirt of her dress slightly, baring her ankles to his gaze.
“It was the bottom of your feet that were hurt, Miss Crawford.”
She did not remind him to call her Mina, suspecting he reverted to formality whenever she tossed him into disorder.
“Was it your ankle that was hurt?”
“No.” Holding his regard, she lifted her legs and placed her foot in his lap.
First Simon removed his gloves, then, retrieving a handkerchief from his pocket, he dusted the sand from between her toes and under her feet.
She wriggled them and he looked at her. “I am extraordinarily ticklish. A thing my brother in the past took fiendish advantage of.”
“There is a red bruise, but the skin did not break.”
