Read Online The Temptation of Your Touch by Teresa Medeiros - Free Book Online Page B

to make sure one of her buttons wasn’t about to spring free of its mooring without her leave. “Perhaps Dickon could—”
    Lord Dravenwood’s glower returned. “I have no intention of letting that surly little brat near my throat with a straight razor. Is there no one else in the household who could assist me for a time in the morning and evening? The butler perhaps?”
    “Oh, no,” Anne said swiftly. “I’m afraid Hodges’s duties are far too demanding. We couldn’t possibly spare him.”
    Another skeptical grunt. “What about that lad from the village who brought me up here last night? He wouldn’t have any formal training, of course, but he seemed the sort who would be quick to learn and eager to please.”
    “Derrick Hammett?” She nodded toward the leatherbound trunks piled up in a corner of the entrance hall. “He delivered the rest of your baggage to the front stoop shortly after sunrise and departed before anyone could so much as thank him or offer him a shilling for his trouble. I sincerely doubt he’d be interested in the position. Most of the villagers won’t come within shouting distance of the manor. Even Mrs. Beedle, the laundress who comes once a month, won’t set foot in the house, but insists we carry all of the soiled linens out to her kettle in the courtyard.”
    Scorn laced the earl’s deep, resonant baritone. “I suppose it’s because of that superstitious twaddle about the ghost.”
    “I gather you don’t believe in such apparitions?”
    He lifted one broad shoulder in an indifferent shrug. “We’re all haunted in one way or another, are we not? If not by spirits, then by our own demons and regrets.”
    “Are you speaking from experience, my lord?” Anne could not resist asking.
    The chill returned to his eyes, giving them a frosty glint. “What I am doing, Mrs. Spencer, is speaking out of turn. If the local villagers refuse to serve at Cadgwyck Manor, where did you find the staff you have? Such as they are,” he added, eyeing the chandelier, which appeared to be in imminent danger ofcollapsing beneath the weight of the cobwebs drifting from its spindly arms.
    “They were engaged from other areas. With Mr. Hodges’s expert assistance, of course.”
    This time he didn’t even bother with a grunt. He simply studied her face through narrowed eyes, his penetrating gaze threatening to breach all of her defenses. Anne had forgotten how it felt to have a man look at her that way. She honestly wasn’t sure any man had ever looked at her that way.
    She couldn’t help but wonder what a man like Lord Dravenwood saw when he looked at her. She had no Milk of Roses to smooth out her complexion, no rice powder to dull the faint sheen of her nose, no paste mixed with lampblack to darken her lashes to a sooty hue. The greatest luxury she allowed herself these days was tooth powder, which she used to polish her teeth upon rising and before bed each night.
    Did he even realize a woman’s heart beat beneath the cloth-covered buttons of her staid bodice? Did he suspect that some nights she woke up tangled in her sheets, her body aching with a yearning she could not name? A yearning that was beginning to bloom again beneath his steady gaze.
    Reverting to the stiff formality that always served her so well when dealing with his kind, Anne said, “I’ve already rung for your breakfast, my lord. Ifyou’ll allow me to escort you to the dining room, I’ll see to it that you are served immediately.”
    She was turning away from him, seeking to escape that dangerous gaze, when his hand closed over her arm. It was the second time he had touched her, but that didn’t lessen the delicious little shock that danced along her nerves. She hadn’t felt delicate or feminine for a long time, but it was difficult not to with Lord Dravenwood’s dark form looming over her, his large hand easily encompassing her slender forearm. The back of his hand was roped with veins and lightly dusted with crisp, dark