Page 38 of Meet A Rogue At Midnight
His hand dropped from her chin to seek her hand. He lifted it to his mouth. “I wouldn’t want you any other way.”
And he kissed her knuckles. The same spot where Jonas planted his kiss.
“You will be my pet project,” he murmured.
“Mr. Jonas Braithwaite, ma’am.” Mrs. Tillmouth’s announcement cut through the drawing room.
Livvy gasped, her attention snapping to the door. Jonas stared daggers at her hand resting in Mr. Haggerty’s. Blood rushed from her head. Mr. Haggerty’s grip tightened. Blinking at Jonas, she tried to pull her hand away, a discreet pull, a yank, followed by a heartier wrenching that finally set her hand free.
Her mother made introductions, detaining Jonas with a light touch to his arm.
“Your furniture maker,” Mr. Haggerty said for her ears only.
At least Jonas wore plain blue broadcloth today. His nattier velvet attire would make convincing Mr. Haggerty of Jonas’s wood-working skills nigh to impossible.
“He is the grandson of Mr. Braithwaite of Braithwaite and Sons Furniture Company,” she said quietly. Or was it Braithwaite Furniture and Sons? Her pulse pounded in her ears, and her face felt hot.
“And you toiledalonewith him in your tower?”
“I had little choice.”
Mr. Haggerty hummed his doubts, an air of formality cloaking him again. It had to be his armor in the world. Despite it, he seethed with jealousy, taking in the gold earring and leather breeches as Jonas made his announcement.
“I’ve come to work on the chair.” But his eyes were on Livvy, sayingI’ve come for her.
Yet, he was silent. Where was the bold man of last night?
“I do not think you needed to come to the drawing room to announce that,” Mr. Haggerty said. “The servant’s entrance would have been more appropriate.”
“Mr. Braithwaite is a longtime friend of the family’s.” Her mother actually took a half-step between the men, her voice modulated. “We all owe him a debt of gratitude for the work he’s done on the curule chair.”
“It’s true,” Livvy put in. “If it had been me, the hinges would’ve disintegrated. Half the bead carvings lost and the chair’s arched back rest split in two.”
Mr. Haggerty stood taller beside her, glaring across the room. “That talented are you?”
Jonas’s eyes burned a shade of cobalt. “A deft hand, the right amount of lubricant…yes. I have a care with everything I touch.”
She wanted to crumble on the spot. Jonas was a touch crude. Her betrothed bristled beside her while Mr. Kendall coughed politely in his balled fist. She wasn’t an expert at sexual things, but that sounded a little off and highly charged with innuendo.
Swallowing hard, she said, “We shouldn’t keep Jo—uh, Mr. Braithwaite from his work.”
“We’reallcounting on him,” her mother put in, a fine reminder they needed him.
Mr. Kendall sat down on the settee and shuffled papers. “We won’t keep you from your work, then.”
Her mother smiled benignly, both hands clutched at her waist.
“I’ll have to go with him.” Livvy’s gaze shot from Mr. Haggerty to her mother and Jonas. “To let him into the tower. It’s locked.”
Did her shoes sink deeper into the carpet’s pile? She imagined Dante’s circle for liars expanding again for her and the colossal mistruth she’d just said. Her mother’s knuckles turned white against her plum silk skirts, and Jonas, well, her pirate simply smiled easily for the first time since entering the drawing room. The tower door hadn’t been locked in years.
“Yes. He certainly can’t repair the chair in here, now can he?” her mother said smoothly.
“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, Mother.” Livvy snatched handfuls of her odious, beribboned skirts and scurried for the doorway.
“Olivia, don’t tarry over your father’s notes,” her mother called after her. “We have our guests to attend.”
Her heels clicked fast on the entry. Her shoes. She couldn’t trounce through the snow in a perfectly good pair of silk slippers. She snatched her black wool cloak off the hook.
