Page 44 of Once More, My Darling Rogue
Releasing a deep breath, he began to fold a strip of linen around her hand. “No, but you were never supposed to get hurt. I don’t want you doing any chores that cause you pain.”
“Perhaps you should hire a footman to assist me.”
“Eventually I will.” He began wrapping the other hand.
“And a valet.”
“I need my money for other things right now.”
“What things?”
He concentrated on his task.
“Not my business, I suppose,” she said tightly.
“No, it’s not.”
“Then you shouldn’t have spent your money on the silver brush set.”
“It wasn’t that much.”
“It was very costly. I recognize quality when I see it. I don’t know how I do but I do. Like the carriage that brought you here. It was very fine indeed. Is it yours?”
“No, it belongs to the man who raised me.”
“Why don’t you refer to him as your father?”
“Because I’m not worthy enough to be his son.”
“Why not?”
She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t answer, that he merely tautened his jaw and concentrated more diligently on his task. The relationship between an employer and a domestic was such that they didn’t share secrets and dreams and yearnings of the heart. She should let it go, but she seemed unable to follow her own counsel. “Are you saving your funds to purchase a carriage?”
Finished with the wrapping, he gave her a pointed look. “No.”
“What then? Another residence?”
“You’re quite the busybody, aren’t you?”
“It’s not fair. You know nearly everything about me and I know nothing at all about you.”
“If you knew everything about me, I daresay you would not be impressed.”
“Did I know nothing about you before I came to work here?”
He skimmed his fingers along her cheek, catching stray strands of her hair and tucking them behind her ear. “We didn’t talk much.”
“I suppose I was more concerned with impressing you than having you impress me.”
“Something like that.”
His fingers lingered at her ear, circling the delicate shell. “You’re not to do anything else that causes you discomfort, is that clear?”
Nodding, she thought she could sit for hours while he touched her like that. His finger skimmed along her neck. She was incredibly tempted to mimic his actions, but she feared if she did that he might stop.
Even without her distracting him, he stopped. She wanted to shake her head until her hair came loose again, so he would put it back into place. She thought if he had ever touched her like this she would have remembered.
“Perhaps we didn’t talk much because I was shy,” she said.
