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‘Co Perhaps the ja

Tess walked in, wishing this was rather less like being sue a confident smile But that still made her cheek ache ‘My lord’ She bobbed a curtsy, folded her hands and waited

‘For goodness’ sake, Tess, sit down and stop play-acting’ He was using the point of a paperknife to flip over a pile of gilt-edged cards on his desk

‘I a to behave like a proper housekeeper in front of your staff and any visitors’

‘You cannot be my housekeeper You cannot stay here’ Alex jammed the paperknife into a jar of pens ‘You areto come into contact with any visitors’

‘I a and plain cookery at the convent This is a se very well’

‘That is not what I aze, those hazel eyes shadoas on her mouth, his own lips were set in a hard line

They had felt fir They had asked questions she Tess closed her eyes and Alex made a sound, a sudden sharp inhalation of breath She blinked and he was still staring at her

‘It’s about that kiss, isn’t it? You think I was throwing myself at you’ The words were out before she could censor them She had been so certain he knew it had been a arded it with an ease she could only drea herself

‘No Yes Partly’ Alex had his elbows on the arh in prayer and rested hisinteresting on the surface of the desk When he dropped his hands and looked up she could see neither amusement nor desire in his expression ‘You should not be in a bachelor household, it is as si on h I can find explanations for what happened the other night, they are not excuses, not acceptable ones’

He frowned ‘I can’t i you here She was as set onyou out as I was’

‘She is ill and perhaps she’d had long enough to think about it and knoas perfectly safe here’ Tess stopped herself pleating the fine wool of her skirt between her fingers ‘I think she was more worried about you than about me, at first’