Tananguard 02 - To Love a Lord (15 page)

“Draw the curtains, will you?” he told her
with a yawn.

She jumped slightly with his voice. He was awake. Was he watching her?
She remained slouched, doing her best to appear insignificant. Nobody ever noticed her, at least not that she knew of. But this was different. She was in his room and had been specifically instructed not to draw attention to herself.

She moved to the windows and did as he asked, drawing the curtains back to let in the sun. The windows were tall and large, and the curtains ran from the ceiling down to the floor. There were masses of fabric she had to grab and pull to the side to tie up where it belonged
. She did this with every window without incident. By the fourth window, she heard him moving around. She was curious to see what he was doing, but she knew her place. She kept to her work, pulling the last curtain aside when something untoward dropped down on top of her head. She straightened visibly, throwing her shoulders back and doing her best to stifle the scream that about erupted from her mouth. She could feel it moving in her hair, and to make matters worse, it slipped beneath her bonnet! She clenched her jaw shut and tied the curtain back in a hurry. Then she whirled around to flee the room and found a shirtless man staring at her. He had trousers on, but he was very much shirtless!

“You know. You really shouldn’t slouch. It’s unbecoming,” he told her.

She didn’t mean to make eye contact, but she did. He was studying her face, and the creature in her hair was moving again!

“My apologies,” she managed.
She made a small curtsy and bolted for the door.

Maggie swung the door shut behind her
. Then she pulled the white bonnet from her hair and the bun so she could dislodge whatever had jumped in there. She flipped her head over and began shaking her hair loose. It fell in long lengths down to the ground and with it a large, hairy spider thudded onto the floor. She stood and stomped the life from it several times over.

“I think it’s dead,” a male voice drawled.

Maggie squeaked in surprise and whirled around to find Lucas Hoffman watching her in amusement.

“
Again, my apologies, my Lord. I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said, looking away from him quickly. He was still shirtless! She pointed to the floor. “It…fell in my hair,” she whispered.

“
I see. I wondered what scared you from my room so quickly. I thought perhaps it was me,” he said with a laugh.

“N-no, my Lord,” she said
, shaking her head. She’d drawn attention to herself. Was she going to get into trouble?

“What is your name?” he asked.

“Maggie Whiting,” she told him.

“No
! Truly?” he asked. “I remember a little girl named Maggie, but you couldn’t possibly be her. Let me see.”

Suddenly, his hand was beneath her chin, tilting her face upward. She gasped in surprise, pulling her chin from his touch.
She stared at him in utter shock, and he was grinning at her.

“Now that you’re looking at me, I’m going to move your hair from your face,” he explained with that smile still lining his lips.

“No, my Lord. That would be indecent!”

“Perhaps, but I cannot see your face through it,” he said as he reached toward her.

“I will do it!” Quickly, she pushed her hair from her face, tucking it behind her ears to show she was indeed who she said she was.

He laughed. “Ah there you are
, and there are those lovely freckles I remember. How are you, Maggie?”

“My Lord?” she asked uncertainly.

“I asked how you were,” he said.

“I…I…am well. Thank you,” she answered hesitantly.
He remembered her? She was astonished, but not enough to forget propriety. She tilted her head downward again, taking her eyes from him.

He sighed.
“You don’t have to look away.”

“
I must,” she replied.

“I would like you to look at me, Maggie,” he said seriously.

She shook her head.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

“But…but you have no shirt on,” she whispered in distress.

He laughed good-humoredly. “No, it seems
I don’t. And that bothers you?”

She felt her cheeks burn. “Yes.”

“Have you never seen a man shirtless before?” he asked casually.

She shook her head. Again she felt his hand beneath her chin. This time she allowed him to lift her face. She found him studying her quite seriously.

“Interesting,” he said quietly. He shook his head, dropping his hand from beneath her chin. Then he stepped back slightly to eye the rest of her. “Can I ask a favor of you?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Remove that ridiculous piece of fabric you’re wearing,” he said.

“My…my Lord?” she asked
. She made the mistake of looking down slightly and felt her cheeks flush red at the sight. He was the handsomest man she had ever seen, and who knew one could look so fine beneath a shirt?

He gave her a smile that made her swallow loudly. Her heart raced as he reached toward her. He fingered Cook’s apron. “This,” he said. “Remove it.”

Oh no! Was he releasing her from his services? What would she do? Where would she go? Reluctantly, she untied Cook’s apron and slid it from her shoulders. He reached out for it. She bowed her head and handed it over.

“Hmm,” he said as he studied her. “I presume since you are wearing a much more fitted one still, this one is not yours.”

“No,” she answered solemnly.

“And what, may I ask, is beneath that one?”

She glanced up at him innocently. “What do you mean, sir?”

He nodded toward her apron. “Remove it.”

“But…” It was the only thing left to hide her unsightly figure.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

Maggie removed her apron and handed it to him as well. She was too distressed to notice his eyes sweeping over her, lingering in area that should have made her blush. “Are…are you releasing me, my Lord?” she asked quietly.

He laughed
, and his eyes danced in delight. “No. No, I’m not. Here,” he said, returning the aprons. “I was simply…curious.”

She was very confused. What was he curious about
? She took the aprons apprehensively, and as she did, he clasped her hand and pulled her toward his room. She tried to pull away, but he held on quite fiercely.

“My Lord, did I forget something?” she asked frantically.

He shook his head as he bent to retrieve her bonnet from the floor. “You’ll need that.” Then he pulled her into his room and shut the door behind them.

Maggie looked around, trying to decide what she still needed to do in here. Perhaps he wanted her to clean the web the spider came from.

He loosened the grip he had on her hand and gently pulled her across the room to a dressing mirror. He placed her in front of it and handed her the bonnet. Then he stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders. “You should do something about your hair before you return downstairs.”

She looked at him through the mirror. Their eyes met briefly, and he smiled softly.

“You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, Maggie,” he admitted as he studied her reflection in the mirror. His eyes dipped down to her chest.

Maggie
wished she’d put her apron back on. She
should
have put both aprons back on to hide her endowed bosom. Her cheeks flared hot, and she decided the best thing to do would be to put her hair back in order and be on her way. She moved her hands up to her hair, and he slid his down her sides and to her waist. She gasped, and he turned her toward him, pulling her hips close to his. They were too close, too close! She brought her hands down to try to push him away and panicked as she touched his bare chest. She jerked them away and heard him chuckle in delight.

“My Lord! Please, what are yo
u doing?”

“Have you ever been kissed, Maggie,” he asked softly.

She glanced up at him with wide, scared eyes. “N-n-no.”

“Don’t fear me. I’ll not hurt you,” and he bent down and brushed her lips with his.

She was frozen in place. She didn’t know what to do. She just kept her mouth closed, lips tight. The strangest desires were searing through her, and that frightened her!

“Relax. I just want a kiss. You can do that, can’t you?” he asked softly. He kissed her again, then again.

She found herself responding. She returned his kiss as best she could, hoping he would let her go. She didn’t know what these feelings were or where they were coming from.

His kiss deepened, his tongue sliding slowly across her lips before slipping between them. She inhaled sharply, and he took the moment to
thoroughly kiss her. She grabbed onto his shoulders, needing something to hold onto as her knees buckled beneath her.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. He pulled away
reluctantly, touching her face before pulling her behind him toward the door. He slid her to one side and out of sight. He placed his index finger to his lips and instructed silence from her. Then he opened the door.

“Mrs. Murphy,” he said pleasantly. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for the young lady who served you a bit ago. Have you seen her?”

He shook his head. “Just a glance as she slipped back out the door.”

“Oh, she must have gone back to work. Thank you, sir. Sorry to disturb you.”

He nodded, shutting the door again. He sighed. He glanced
in Maggie’s direction.

She was staring at him with wide eyes, uncertain if she was still afraid or if she wanted him to kiss her again. There was a bit of both within her.

“Are you angry with me?”
he asked her quietly.

She was trembling visibly.
“Angry?” she asked uncertainly.

“Maggie, are you angry with me for kissing you, for forcing you to kiss me?” he asked pointedly.

She was…but she wasn’t. How could she answer him honestly? “You…you scared me,” she whispered.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to. You overwhelmed me,” he said quite seriously.
He touched her cheek gently with the back of his hand.

“I…I did?”
she said innocently.

“Yes, in a very pleasant way. Thank you, for giving this to me.” Then he bent and brushed her lips one last time with his.

After that day, he seemed to always appear when she least expected.
It wasn’t natural. She did her best to avoid him. She wanted to avoid him. He made her…uncomfortable. He brought strange desires within when he was near her. She didn’t understand those desires. She didn’t understand the feelings that enveloped her every time he was around. She wanted to run from him, but she couldn’t. She had to work. She couldn’t help that he always knew which corridor she was cleaning or which room she was in. And when he found her, he would steal kisses from her. Soon she found herself looking for him while trying to avoid him. She anticipated those kisses, began to yearn for them. Then finally he took her to his bed…

Maggie sighed sadly. “He was always there. No matter where I went in that house—or outside it for that matter—he always found me.” What could she have done differently? Was there anything she could have done at all?

“So you see?” Thomas asked. “It wasn’t your fault. You were not his—”

“Thomas!” a voice shouted, interrupting Thomas’s words. He turned toward the shout, frowning.

Maggie used the interruption as a way to step from Thomas’s grasp. He
was wrong. She had given in to Lucas so easily. Whore, mistress…what was the difference? It’s what she was, and eventually Thomas would realize it.

“Thomas!” the man shouted again.

“Excuse me, Maggie. I must see what he needs, but I would speak with you more,” he said pointedly.

She sighed as he walked away.
She didn’t want to speak anymore about it, and he couldn’t force her to. She turned and began walking toward the woods. She would find a quiet place to hide and wait for Thomas to forget about her.

She could hear the conversation as she walked.
“Ah there you are, Thomas.” There was a pause as something else was said, something about a letter. Then Maggie clearly heard, “I see you’ve found an interest in Lucas’s whore.”

Maggie
cringed, covering her ears as she picked up her pace. She’d heard it so often of late, but the name cut her deep. And now Thomas had heard it. What would he think of her now that he knew she was right? Would he avoid her like everyone else? Her one friend…she would lose her one friend. She was numb all over, and she was going to cry…no, she was going to sob in anguish.

“Maggie
!” Thomas called after her.

She began to run. She made certain not to go in the direction Josephine went, but she did want to go into the woods, deep into the woods. She didn’t want him to follow. She needed to be alone.