Page 89 of All I Want for Christmas… Is You
Tenderness welled inside him, and he stood there drinking her in for a moment before clearing his throat. “You’ve dragged me out of my bed without so much as a by-your-leave, and now I find you dozing in my study? I don’t think so, Miss Bishop. If I’m not to be permitted to sleep, then neither are you.”
Dinah opened her eyes and blinked owlishly at him. “Nonsense. I wasn’t asleep.”
Oliver looked into those blue eyes and his heart gave a wild thump. No matter how often he gazed into them, her eyes rendered him speechless every time. When she looked at him as she was doing now, with all her attention fixed on him, it was as if she could see down to the very depths of his soul.
Did she realize her eyes went soft every time she looked at him, and her pulse fluttered in her throat when he smiled at her? She might deny it to herself—she might banish him from her presence—but Oliver would have wagered his last guinea he’d already won her heart.
The trouble was, Dinah either refused to admit it or didn’t know it herself, and her opinion was the only one that mattered.
“Oliver! Oh,no. What have you done?”
Oliver jerked his attention back to her. “What do you mean, what have I done? Not a deuced thing that I can recall.”
“What’s happened to your face, you ridiculous man?” She shot to her feet, hurried across the room to him, and turned his face toward her with a gentle nudge of his chin.
“Don’t say it’s bleedingagain.” Oliver traced a finger over the jagged cut over his left eye. “Grim did warn me ladies weren’t keen on blood. Not quite the thing, is it?”
The cut was deep, but his eye was worse. It was swollen closed, and his jaw was so shadowed with bruises it looked as if someone had slammed a boot into it.
Because someonehad. Lord Erskine, the devil. “Now, don’t look at me like that, if you please. It isn’t so bad.”
“Bad enough!” Dinah released his chin and took a step back, her gaze sweeping over him from head to toe. “Strip off your banyan, please.”
Oliver stifled a sigh. If the circumstances were different, he’d have been delighted to hear those words from her lips. “There’s no need, I promise you. Do you suppose I’d be standing here if I’d been shot?”
“You’re standing here with a head injury, aren’t you? If you’re telling the truth, then there’s no reason for you not to strip off your banyan.”
“You’re being absurd.” Still, Oliver removed the banyan and held his arms out. “See? Not a single bloodstain or festering wound.”
Dinah studied him with narrowed eyes. “Take off your waistcoat, too.”
Oliver huffed impatiently, but he unbuttoned the waistcoat, tossed it aside and turned in a circle before her. “Satisfied?” If he was going to strip off his clothes,someoneshould be.
“You promised your brother there’d be no more brawls.” Dinah waved her hand at him. “Put your clothes back on, if you please.”
“A brawl? It was a mere disagreement, nothing more. A minor difference of opinion between Lord Erskine and myself.” It had been a trifle more than minor, but Dinah didn’t need to know that.
She sniffed. “You’re fortunate Lord Erskine confined his wrath to your face.”
“Of course, he did. He despises my face because it’s much prettier than his.” Oliver fluttered his eyelashes at her.
Dinah snorted. “You may save your charm for a more susceptible lady, my lord.”
“Don’t be silly, Miss Bishop. You know you’re the only lady I want to charm.” Oliver slipped his arms back into his waistcoat and gave her an unrepentant grin.
Dinah ignored his flirtation. “What were you arguing with Lord Erskine about?”
“Nothing of any importance.”
“Well, there will be no hidingthatfrom Lord Archer.” Dinah nodded at his face. “I don’t envy you that explanation.”
“Explanation?” Oliver asked. “I don’t intend to explain a damn thing to Will.”
“I don’t see you have a choice. He’ll demand an explanation when you arrive at Cliff’s Edge.”
“Cliff’s Edge? You must be mad. I’m not going to Cliff’s Edge.” Oliver ambled across the room toward the fireplace, dropped into a plump leather chair and rested his slippered foot on the grate.
Dinah hurried after him. “Of course, you’re going. You’ve already promised you would.”
