Page 19 of One Bed for the Bluestocking
“Ah,” Arthur said, flipping through the sketches.“That sounds more comfortable than your average expedition.”
“Not really,” Kate said without thinking.She immediately wished she could take back the words.It wasn’t as if she wanted to discusswhyit had been so uncomfortable.
She looked up to find Arthur studying her with a piercing stare.“What was so uncomfortable about it?”
She tried to make her voice light.“The quarters were a bit… cramped.”
Colin leaned forward, weaving his fingers together in front of him.“Just how cramped was it?”
It was a good thing the lighting in the interior of the old pub was so dim, because Kate was certain her cheeks were crimson.“Uncomfortably so.”
Roderick snorted.“The way ye’re blushing, ye’d think ye had to sit on Mr.Sterling’s lap or some such.”Kate’s cheeks flamed, and Roderick gave a cackle of delight.“Jesus Christ—ye did have to sit on his lap, didn’t ye?”
She caught Colin and Arthur sharing an amused look.
“It’s not funny,” she muttered, reaching for her drink.
“Oh, come on,” Colin said.“It is a little bit funny.”
“Especially when you factor in the pair of badgers fooking a few feet away,” Roderick added helpfully.
Kate was desperately trying to think of a way to shift the conversation to a new topic when a shadow fell over their table.She glanced up and saw Iain Galbreath, the illustrator Nathaniel had hired and subsequently fired from the position she currently held.
Suddenly, their previous conversation didn’t seem all that bad.She forced herself to smile.“Iain!Good evening.”He said nothing in return.After a beat of awkward silence, Kate continued, “Are you enjoying a drink with your?—”
“These are your drawings?”he asked, dragging her portfolio across the table.
Kate was grateful that Roderick was still holding the sketch of the fornicating badgers, so that wasn’t the first thing he saw.Iain narrowed his eyes as he flipped through her recent sketches.By the time he came to the watercolors of Marigold the puma and the snowy owl, his face had settled into a sneer.
“Hmpf!”He pushed the portfolio away.“I suppose these are passable, but it’s obvious that you are ageneralist.As a specialist in entomology,Icreate illustrations of insects that are more accurate than you could possibly…”
He trailed off as Arthur pulled out the painting of the swollen-thighed beetle with its iridescent green shell and placed it on top of the stack.
Roderick was openly smirking.“Ye were saying?”
Iain’s face turned beet red.“That’s… That’s nothing!A cheap sort of… parlor trick.”
“That’s talent,” Colin said firmly.
“Not that ye’d recognize it,” Roderick added cheerfully.
“Fellows, really!”Kate shot them a pleading look.“I have not yet had the pleasure of viewing Iain’s entomological illustrations.But I am sure they are excellent.”
“Not really,” Arthur muttered.
Kate cast him a glare, then turned toward Iain.“Perhaps sometime the two of us could get a coffee and discuss the challenges of scientific illustration.”
Iain’s nostrils flared.“I’m sure you would like that!The chance to copy my ideas.My techniques!”He drew himself up.“No, thank you!”
Kate sighed.At least she had tried.“As you like.Let me know if you ever change your mind.”
“He won’t,” Roderick said.“’Tis the mark of a small man, not to be able to acknowledge the talent of others.”
“Roderick!”Kate hissed.
Iain looked as if he might explode.“What did you say?”
Roderick met his gaze steadily.“Ye heard me.”
