Page 55 of Her Beast

The door opened a crack and Butkins’s face appeared in the gap. “I’m sorry, sir, I know you said you didn’t wish to be disturbed—”

“You have already disturbed me, so what is it?” Malcolm tossed his pen onto the desk, pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger, and closed his overworked eye.

“Er, it’s about Miss Harlow, sir.”

His eye popped open. “What about her?”

“Kemp says she’s asked if you will join her for dinner”—he coughed—“actually, Kemp said she asked if you’d join her for breakfast, nuncheon, tea, and/or dinner.”

Malcolm sat back in his chair. Well, this was… unexpected. “Is there something she wants?”

“Erm, apparently she is lonely, sir.”

Malcolm’s eyebrow shot up. “Lonely?”

“Yes, sir. That is what Kemp said.”

Well.

“Kemp told her you generally didn’t stop for nuncheon or tea.”

Malcolm gave his employee a hard look. “I see—which means Idostop for breakfast and dinner.”

Rather than cringe at his cold tone—as he normally would—Butkins unflinchingly stood his ground.

“I would have thought you, of all people, would have rejoiced at me leaving her alone, Butkins.”

Butkins opened his mouth, hesitated, and then said, “Kemp and the other servants who’ve waited on her say she is a very nice, pleasant, and polite young woman. They also say she seems to be… wilting the longer she is here. I think it would be a kindness to dine with her, sir.”

Malcolm hated how pleased the invitation made him. What sort of pathetic creature was he to take comfort in a lonely young woman’s invitation?

“Sir?” Butkins prodded.

“Fine,” he snapped. “You may tell her that I shall eat breakfast and dinner with her unless I am otherwise engaged.”

“Very good, sir.”

Malcolm squinted; was that a smirk on the other man’s face?

“Oh, Butkins,” he said, when the man turned to leave.

“Yes, sir?”

“Send Maisie to me.”

Butkins blinked owlishly behind his spectacles. “Erm, right now?”

“Yes,right now.And also send a message to Madame Sylvie and let her know I’ll be keeping Maisie for the foreseeable future.”

Chapter 12

Julia gasped when she opened the door to the greenhouse. It always looked lovely but tonight it had been transformed into a fairy wonderland.

She was still standing and admiring the dozens of colorful paper lanterns a few minutes later when the door opened.

Julia had convinced herself that her memory had exaggerated Mr. Barton’s size.

It turned out he was actually larger than she remembered.

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