Page 22 of Black and Silver

A different sort of curiosity struck Minnie. “Is that why you threw him over when he sought your hand in marriage?” she asked, arching one eyebrow and pulling the proverbial hat pin from her head.

Lady Jessica’s eyes widened a bit before narrowing into a different sort of understanding. “He told you, then?” she asked.

“He did,” Minnie said, finishing her tea and setting the cup down. “Lawrence and I share complete openness and honesty with each other.”

“Yes, well, that does not surprise me,” Lady Jessica said, tilting her head up slightly so that Minnie could see her flared nostrils.

Minnie swallowed her impulse to attack Lady Jessica for what might have been a slight. “You refused him because of his artwork?”

Lady Jessica laughed. “No, I refused him because he is the stupidest man in the Kingdom of Wessex, and in all of Britannia.”

Hatred so sharp that it sent bile up the back of Minnie’s throat gripped her. “I beg your pardon?” she asked in a harsh whisper.

“Surely, you must have noticed,” Lady Jessica said, her manner relaxing.Nowshe wanted to play the sister sharing wisecounsel? “The man is pleasing to look at, and as I am certain you know, he has certain skills that make him decidedly tempting.”

Minnie went hot all over. She did not know, but after dressing for supper, she suspected. Now she desperately wanted to know everything.

“He is as simple as a child,” Lady Jessica went on. “One who never learned his letters. He cannot converse with any ease or grace, and he has embarrassed himself on so many occasions that I have lost count. He is silly.”

Minnie blinked and stared incredulously at the woman. Could not converse with ease and grace? Had they not just been sitting at the same table as Lawrence followed her in spinning the most delectable tale of excitement and adventure the dull woman before her had ever heard?

But then, Minnie was beginning to see that Lady Jessica’s idea of good conversation was probably merely parroting the same things that everyone else in thetonsaid. Lawrence did not care for such things, so she likely thought that stupid. And she must have discovered Lawrence’s difficulties with the written word.

“It is as if we know two different Lawrences,” Minnie said, pretending everything was amenable between the two of them. “I find Lawrence to be jolly and clever. I have never found myself bored in his company or wishing to escape before I perish from dullness. If you will excuse me, Lady Jessica,” she said standing before her hostess could fit a word in, “I believe I will retire for the evening.”

“Oh! I, er….” Lady Jessica tried to rise to bid Minnie goodbye, but she was too late and too clumsy.

Minnie swept out of the room with a scowl, indignant that someone as shallow and uninteresting as Lady Jessica could be bold enough to criticize Lawrence. All she had managed to talk about, nearly from the moment they’d arrived at the house, washer blasted improvements to the house and how brilliant she thought she was because of them.

As it happened, Minnie met Lawrence coming from the other hallway as she entered the front hall and approached the stairs. He, too, wore a scowl that hinted his conversation with Lord Otho had been just as frustrating as hers with Lady Jessica.

“I take it you’ve no wish to remain in company with our host?” Minnie asked as they met at the foot of the stairs and headed up together, shoulder to shoulder, walking in step.

Lawrence huffed an incredulous laugh and shook his head. “I’ve no wish to converse with a man who speaks of women as if they are horses.”

Minnie could only imagine what that meant.

“It is lucky for him that he has married a woman whose resembles a horse, both in appearance and manner,” Minnie grumbled.

Lawrence peeked sideways at her, an amused grin spreading across his face. “Is that what you think of my former object of desire?”

Minnie shook her head as they reached the top of the stairs. “I do not know what you ever saw in her.”

Lawrence smirked. “If we find that statue you’ll see.”

That caused Minnie to burst into a wide smile as they neared their room. “I am determined to find your artwork, now more than ever,” she said, keeping her voice low. “And I no longer have even the slightest qualm in stealing it once we do. In fact, I think we should steal a few other things from these odious people while we’re at it. They certainly deserve it.”

Lawrence laughed as he stepped ahead and reached for their door handle. “Good gracious, woman,” he said, his eyes dancing with affection. “I’m beginning to wonder if I didn’t rescue the highwaymen from you instead of the other way around.”

Minnie laughed as they stepped into their room. “Either way, you were heroic,” she said.

Without thinking, she lifted to her toes and kissed Lawrence’s cheek.

The effect was scintillating. Lawrence twisted to face her, half catching her in his arms. Minnie didn’t pull back, which left them staring into each other’s eyes at close proximity.

More than that, Minnie was highly aware of the large, soft, well-appointed bed just behind him. It would take nothing at all for them to fall into that bed, where they could enjoy each other immensely, all night long.

“We should make a plan to search the house while we still can,” she said instead, her voice rich and gruff with desire.

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