Page 58 of The Fearless Miss Dinah

“Was she particularly fond of this brush?” he asked the maid.

“I doubt it,” the abigail said quickly. “I mean considerin’ how quickly she—”

Suddenly, the maid froze as if having caught herself before saying something she had not intended to say. Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I mean, just considerin’ is all.”

Clearly, there was more the abigail was not telling him. Such as, why she would come to him and not the housekeeper, and at this time of night? Someone had set her up to it, of that he had little doubt.

“Very well,” he said, pocketing the two pieces of hairbrush. “Tell the housekeeper to have a new one ordered tomorrow morning and brought around to the house straightaway.”

The maid looked quite relieved, and she bobbed a curtsy. “Thank you, my lord.” The young woman turned and hurried down the corridor.

“That was odd,” Henry muttered.

“I agree,” his valet said beside him.

Henry shook his head. Normally, such would probably drive him to distraction until he’d learned all that was truly afoot in his own household. Tonight, however, he was too tired to care. The emotions that had not stopped churning inside him since his conversation with Dinah many hours prior had worn on him all evening. He’d found comfort, even calm, as she’d hugged him. It was an emotion he’d never before been able to feel when thinking of the late Lady Stanton. However, when she’d decided, quite highhandedly, Henry felt, that he had to tell David...well, all his calm had erupted into an unsettling storm.

Now, all he wanted was to lie down, close his eyes, and enjoy unconsciousness for a time.

Henry’s hand took hold of the doorknob, and he twisted it. Only, the door wouldn’t open. He could turn the handle easily enough, but when he pushed against the door, it only moved a finger’s width before refusing to go any further. Something on the other side was preventing the door from opening.

“Go through the sitting room,” he instructed his valet. “See what the problem is.”

“Yes, my lord.” His valet bowed and then hurried into the sitting room.

Henry waited a few moments, then tried the door again. Surely by now, his valet would have cleared whatever was blocking the door’s path. And how the blazes had something even landed behind the door? He’d only been in there less than five minutes ago.

His valet walked back out the sitting room door. He tugged his jacket down, smoothing it with a hand, and then approached Henry. His mouth was set in a firm line, but he looked nearly pale in the low candlelight of the corridor.

“I believe, my lord, it would be best if you see to this matter yourself.”

Henry lifted a brow; never once had his valet spoken to him thusly. “Come again?”

His valet let out a nervous cough. “It has been requested that you see to this yourself.”

Been requested? There was but one person in this whole household who would ever dare such a thing. “The blazes she did.” Henry marched past his valet and tore open the sitting room door.

Dinah sat on the courting bench, all prim and poised, staring directly at him.

Henry shut the door firmly behind him and strode toward her.

“You, sir, are angry at me,” she said, unruffled and fully collected.

“So you locked me out of my own bedchamber?”

She lifted a single shoulder.

He had not noticed until that moment how very close her sleeves were to being completely off the shoulder. Indeed, the bit of skin that was showing was suddenly very tempting. He could hardly look away. What would she do if he took her in his arms, trailed kisses over her shoulder and up her neck?

After what she’d just done, he felt she probably deserved the shock.

Only, what if she pushed him away? What if she looked at him in horror?

That, he could not stand.

“Well?” she asked, bringing him back to the room. Back to the fact that there were still several paces of space between them. Back to the fact that he had never once taken her in his arms, other than the friendly hug of that afternoon.Thathadn’t ended well. What might she begin demanding of him if he actually kissed her?

“You know why I’m upset,” he mumbled, turning toward his bedchamber door. “Now if you will excuse me.”

---