Page 22 of The Time Of Queens

“Not even under a desk.”

I laughed, as I had to say, it was the most at ease I had felt when speaking to him so far.

“How did you know that I don’t like cucumbers?” he suddenly asked me, and I was so shocked by the turn of conversation that I jerked back a bit. He must have heard me… shit, shit, shit… how do I explain this…

“Miss Williams?”

“I overheard your sister speak of it,” I lied.

“And you thought it prudent enough to say… I must say, that was most considerate of you Keir… Miss Williams,” he replied, stopping himself from saying my first name again.

“I believe others would have done the same,” I argued, making him scoff.

“To save their own skin, perhaps.”

“Serving cucumber sandwiches for lunch is hardly a crime, and hardly deserves such a punishment as being skinned… don’t you think?” I replied, making him throw his head back and laugh, clearly enjoying this banter.

“Ah, but I so very much hate the taste of cucumbers,” he teased, after first dipping his head and getting closer as if to warn me of this fact. And well, as for me, I was having far too much fun in our strange banter to give it up just yet now telling him,

“Then if that be the case, I would make your staff sign a special document, acknowledging some royal decree that not a single cucumber should make it past your threshold for threat of death and treason… or such.”

He laughed even harder, actually putting a hand to his stomach, and the sight nearly brought a tear of joy to my eyes. I adored being able to make him laugh.

“Upon my word, Miss Williams, you do have a delightful sense of humour. For if this is the freedom of speech in whichyou speak of, then I do declare you never change, for I enjoy it too much and would miss it greatly indeed.”

I blushed a little, unable to hold back my own grin.

“Is this another document I should perchance sign then, one made just for me?”

He chuckled before he dipped his head closer again.

“Perhaps I shall produce such a document, perhaps it would also be one of employment so as you can never leave,” he said, and even his own words seemed to surprise him. As if the thought had come natural enough to say without truly thinking it through.

I sucked in a quick breath but quickly recovered, opting to keep our easy conversation going.

“I believe you have enough people under your employment, my Lord, so unless you are in need of a clumsy, free speaking, often choking lady’s maid to entertain you, then I must be getting back to my mistress.” I started to walk away, but stopped when his hand grabbed my wrist. Then he leaned down and asked in a husky tone,

“And what if I am in need of exactly that, Miss Williams? Would you stay if I asked you to?”

I didn’t recover from my quick inhale. His words wrapped me up in a safe cocoon that made me feel wanted by the man I loved. His fingers caressed softly where they still held me. My eyes braved the rise to meet his own, knowing the power they held when the purple colour burned beneath the darkness.

“My Lord, I…” I never got to finish as Adam walked in, disturbing our moment by saying,

“Ah, you found it, thank you, Miss Williams. It must have fallen from my pocket yesterday during our meeting, Dominic.”

I instantly took a step back. Draven, in turn, knowing where I was going, flexed his fingers tighter around my wrist beforebeing forced to let me go. To know that he hadn’t wanted to, made it all the harder to play the part, as I told him,

“Then I better get it back to my mistress… good day, gentlemen.”

After a quick curtsy, I left the room, unable to stop myself from glancing one last time at Draven.

A man who looked to be…

Falling in Love.

9

PLAN B

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