Read Online The Savage Miss Saxon by Kasey Michaels - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Kasey Michaels
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none-too-clean hand across her brow, leaving a smudge behind.
“Indeed,” Alexandra replied testily, upset with herself over the slight fluttering the mention of his lordship’s name had set up in her stomach. “Then don’t keep him standing about needlessly, Nutter. Tell him I’m not receiving visitors this morning.”
How dare he call on her uninvited, she thought angrily. Yes, the seven days her grandfather had mentioned were up this morning, but who would have thought the man would be so obtuse as to think she actually expected him to put his nose back in her business after she had so flatly told him to take it out? Besides, she looked a fright, and there was no way for her to get to her room and put herself to rights without first passing through the Great Hall and exposing herself to Linton’s bound to be supercilious scrutiny.
Thinking herself safe from further interruption, she turned to the cabinet that held Sir Alexander’s best wine, her intention being to wipe the bottles free of the dust that lay over them in thick coats. As she reached for the first one, she was halted by a voice that warned, “If you’re planning on disturbing those bottles, I’d think twice if I were you. They don’t rest on their sides in those racks by accident you know.”
Nicholas! Anger fought with the undeniable thrill of hearing his slightly amused drawl as Alexandra struggled to remain calm. Anger won. “How dare you barge in here after I told Nutter to send you away?” she demanded, her dark eyes sparkling in the dim light.
“If it’s being alone with me in here that bothers you, Alix, I must say it’s a little late for you to become so moral—seeing as how we’ve already slept together,” he answered her.
“ Slept together? ” she shrieked, setting up an echo in the stone room. “Slept together!” she hissed again, carefully keeping her voice lowered so Nutter, whose hearing far outclassed his eyesight, could not overhear. “I did not sleep with you. I slept in one of your bedrooms. Besides, it was Harold who shared my chamber, not you.”
Nicholas’s head turned slightly as he peered at her provokingly with his good eye. “Harold, you say? Was it interesting?”
“You know darn well Harold is sixty if he’s a day, and that he slept on the floor just inside the chamber door,” said Alexandra tightly, hauling back mightily on the reins of her temper. “Oh, why must you be so provoking?”
Nicholas took a snow white handkerchief from his pocket and busied himself with wiping at the smudge on Alexandra’s forehead. “I don’t really know, my dear. Perhaps because it’s so lamentably easy to provoke you. Rather unsporting of me, d’ya think?” He finished wiping her forehead and replaced the handkerchief in his pocket. Stepping back a pace, he examined his work and declared, “There you are, all right and tight. Do you wish to give me a kiss in thanks?”
“You must be stark, staring mad,” she told him before she turned her back on him entirely.
“What ho!” came Sir Alexander’s exclamation from the doorway to the treasury. “Have I tripped across a case of April and May amid the wine bottles? Well, no matter. After all, you are betrothed now, aren’t you.”
Alexandra could have cheerfully strangled her grinning grandfather, but at Nicholas’s next words, her anger became redirected.
“Ah, Sir Alexander, you’ve well and truly caught us out, haven’t you. But never fear, the arrangements for the marriage are already well in train. I promise you, I have been nothing if not thorough. The ceremony takes place just after the new year—any more haste would be unseemly, don’t you think?”
“How enterprising of you,” Alexandra gritted while inwardly jumping up and down with glee. Not until after the new year, was it? she thought happily. Little do these two jolly connivers know I reach my twenty-first birthday New Year’s Day. What a fine pair of fools they’ll look when
“Indeed,” Alexandra replied testily, upset with herself over the slight fluttering the mention of his lordship’s name had set up in her stomach. “Then don’t keep him standing about needlessly, Nutter. Tell him I’m not receiving visitors this morning.”
How dare he call on her uninvited, she thought angrily. Yes, the seven days her grandfather had mentioned were up this morning, but who would have thought the man would be so obtuse as to think she actually expected him to put his nose back in her business after she had so flatly told him to take it out? Besides, she looked a fright, and there was no way for her to get to her room and put herself to rights without first passing through the Great Hall and exposing herself to Linton’s bound to be supercilious scrutiny.
Thinking herself safe from further interruption, she turned to the cabinet that held Sir Alexander’s best wine, her intention being to wipe the bottles free of the dust that lay over them in thick coats. As she reached for the first one, she was halted by a voice that warned, “If you’re planning on disturbing those bottles, I’d think twice if I were you. They don’t rest on their sides in those racks by accident you know.”
Nicholas! Anger fought with the undeniable thrill of hearing his slightly amused drawl as Alexandra struggled to remain calm. Anger won. “How dare you barge in here after I told Nutter to send you away?” she demanded, her dark eyes sparkling in the dim light.
“If it’s being alone with me in here that bothers you, Alix, I must say it’s a little late for you to become so moral—seeing as how we’ve already slept together,” he answered her.
“ Slept together? ” she shrieked, setting up an echo in the stone room. “Slept together!” she hissed again, carefully keeping her voice lowered so Nutter, whose hearing far outclassed his eyesight, could not overhear. “I did not sleep with you. I slept in one of your bedrooms. Besides, it was Harold who shared my chamber, not you.”
Nicholas’s head turned slightly as he peered at her provokingly with his good eye. “Harold, you say? Was it interesting?”
“You know darn well Harold is sixty if he’s a day, and that he slept on the floor just inside the chamber door,” said Alexandra tightly, hauling back mightily on the reins of her temper. “Oh, why must you be so provoking?”
Nicholas took a snow white handkerchief from his pocket and busied himself with wiping at the smudge on Alexandra’s forehead. “I don’t really know, my dear. Perhaps because it’s so lamentably easy to provoke you. Rather unsporting of me, d’ya think?” He finished wiping her forehead and replaced the handkerchief in his pocket. Stepping back a pace, he examined his work and declared, “There you are, all right and tight. Do you wish to give me a kiss in thanks?”
“You must be stark, staring mad,” she told him before she turned her back on him entirely.
“What ho!” came Sir Alexander’s exclamation from the doorway to the treasury. “Have I tripped across a case of April and May amid the wine bottles? Well, no matter. After all, you are betrothed now, aren’t you.”
Alexandra could have cheerfully strangled her grinning grandfather, but at Nicholas’s next words, her anger became redirected.
“Ah, Sir Alexander, you’ve well and truly caught us out, haven’t you. But never fear, the arrangements for the marriage are already well in train. I promise you, I have been nothing if not thorough. The ceremony takes place just after the new year—any more haste would be unseemly, don’t you think?”
“How enterprising of you,” Alexandra gritted while inwardly jumping up and down with glee. Not until after the new year, was it? she thought happily. Little do these two jolly connivers know I reach my twenty-first birthday New Year’s Day. What a fine pair of fools they’ll look when
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