Page 20 of Black and Silver

Minnie found herself flushing at the ridiculous compliment as her heart lifted lightly in her chest. “You wretched beast,” she said, approaching him as he stood near the dressing table. “You are responsible for my condition.”

Lawrence laughed, and Minnie had meant it as a jest, but it was also true. Lawrence was the reason she had felt so happy and engaged throughout the sometimes arduous journey from London. She hadn’t thought about her plot or her intended destination for days, which had come as a surprise, since it had once been all she’d been able to think about.

“Would you be so kind as to do up the ties at the back of my gown?” she asked, turning her back to Lawrence and gathering up her loose hair, which she’d just washed, despite knowing thatwould leave it damp for supper, and holding it so her neck was exposed as well as her back.

“Certainly,” Lawrence said with a somewhat husky version of his usual cheer.

As soon as Lawrence stepped behind her and reached for her gown’s ties, Minnie became well aware of the reasons Lawrence’s voice had taken on the quality it had. All he did was fasten the ties of her gown so that it fit the way it was meant to. He did not dally overly long or take any sort of liberties. But his sheer proximity, the way his fingers moved across a part of her he had never touched before, never had a reason to touch, and the sheer, warm presence of him behind her had Minnie feeling as though he’d caressed her back and brought his lips to the pale skin of her neck.

She drew in a breath, nearly shivering when that caused Lawrence’s touch to become just a bit heavier. It was alarming to discover that she wanted his hands to venture away from her gown, to slide over her shoulders and across her collarbone. She wanted to feel the slight callouses on his fingers from his artistic work brush across her decolletage, and perhaps lower. More alarming still, she closed her eyes and fantasized about him clasping his large hand around her neck so that he was able to cut off her air and hold her very life within his power.

Lawrence cleared his throat a moment later, drawing Minnie back to the moment. She started and blinked as she came out of her fantasy, realizing the sensation between her legs was not a remnant of her bath.

“We should get a wiggle on,” Lawrence said with cheer that was decidedly false. “I’m certain we were expected at supper ages ago.”

Minnie turned slowly to look at him. His face was flushed and his eyes had gone dark with desire. If that was not enough ofan indication of his state of mind, his breeches were noticeably tented.

“Let me put my hair up first,” she said, her voice coming out as rough and passion-tinted as his. “It will only take a moment.”

She moved to sit at the dressing table, reaching for her hairbrush, which had been unpacked earlier, with a shaking hand. The carnal draw toward Lawrence was so strong that were they in an inn instead of his former beloved’s home, she feared she would have done something about it.

As it was, she took her time brushing out her damp hair and fastening it into a simple chignon. She was capable of styling her hair much more quickly, but she took her time to allow Lawrence’s state to settle into something presentable for supper.

It took a desperately long time.

“There,” Minnie said at last, once Lawrence had finally stopped exacerbating the situation by watching her stroke the brush through her long, dark locks and had taken himself to the other side of the room to look out the window with Clarence. “I think that will do.”

“It will do nicely,” Lawrence said, smiling as he came over to take her arm.

Still, the tension between them bristled as they left their room and headed downstairs. Minnie tried not to look at him, tried not to dwell on how handsome and desirable Lawrence was, or how natural it felt for her to call him by his given name. She tried not to think about a great many things, but failed.

All of that changed, however, the moment they joined Lord Otho and Lady Jessica in the dining room.

“I remember how long it took to compel myself to do anything when I was in your condition,” Lady Jessica said as they all took their seats, her smile false and her impatience obvious.

“I did not want to rush my darling,” Lawrence said with an adoring smile that wasn’t as false as it should have been. “Sherequested that her feet be rubbed, and since there is nothing I would not do for my goddess, Minerva….”

Minnie nearly broke into laughter as she sat across the table from Lawrence.

More importantly, she noticed the quick pinch of jealousy in Lady Jessica’s eyes, along with the sheer incredulity in Lord Otho’s expression.

Perhaps that was Lawrence’s game. Perhaps he merely intended to show Lady Jessica what she had missed by throwing him over.

She tried not to think of that horrific possibility as well as the footmen raced around the table with the first course of the night.

“I hope you do not mind turtle soup, my dear,” Lord Otho told Minnie with a look that was a bit too friendly. “It is my understanding that women with your affliction do not always take to the food they are served.”

Minnie answered with a completely straight face, “I have found that instead of developing an aversion to food, I have developed quite a craving for it, my lord.”

She picked up her spoon and dove into the delicious soup.

“I am curious,” Lady Jessica said stiffly, glancing to Lawrence. “Where did the two of you meet? The last I had heard of you, Lord Lawrence, you were tucked away in the country somewhere, playing with clay.”

On second thought, Lady Jessica’s sour disposition might have been enough to put Minnie off her food.

“I have spent a good deal of time at my country house near Winchester, yes,” Lawrence answered the question with more grace than it deserved. “But I am working in the medium of marble these days rather than clay, as I am certain you remember.”

“We met when dear Lawrence rescued me from a ravening band of highwaymen as I traveled from my home in Wales to London,” Minnie said, a bit louder than she needed to.

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