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Standing up from her chair, Otilia took the pieces she had already cleaned to keep the dress, retrieved froality must be the tune in these difficult times

Heavy footsteps pounded in the hallway Robson, the foot to tell her they had finished the laundry

“Good , Otilia” The voice came from the door behind her

Her body went so rigid it must have been moulded in concrete Herstuck If there was one thing she would never, ever forget in her life, it would be that deep, low voice Long ago, she had co chocolate No, that coettable sound Over the years she had been such a naïve, romantic ninny, that she had co—sweet on the surface, but raspy underneath The voice had enchanted her as much as, or even more than, his appearance

Only now did she realise the silver candelabra she was holding becaers They clasped the metal with such force they whitened, the reliefs on the piece digging in her palms She made a conscious, superhuain In slow, deliberate movements, she raised the precious silver and placed it on the shelf Studiously, she turned to thein the doorway

“My lord,” she said in what she hoped was a cold greeting The curtsy she produced caantly, due only to decades of practice

For eight years, she fed a fervent wish that she never set eyes on hiain, not after she had made a stupid fool of herself A mistake she promised not to repeat in her whole lifetime

Curtsy done, she had no other choice than to raise her gaze to him As their eyes clashed, his widened for a -lashed, jet-black eyes lance

No deliverance for her here The sight of him still caused a vicious turmoil to move inside her as it always did But before, it had been a joyous rippling, like gentle waves in an ebbing tide Now, the waves smashed at each other in a tempest full of contradictoriness The emotions shook her insides in a series of back sweeps Her inner restive state provoked further stillness outwards, with a blank face to go with it So, when her honey eyes met his, they took on a frosty hue

He stood just inside th

e threshold, six foot four inches of haughty noble nearly all the doorframe with a powerful body clad in black finery

“Welco but

His hard, jet eyes narrowed on her for a split second before his expression smoothed to cool features; if that would be possible for such a rugged face

The arding Coal hair, blade nose, unyielding jaw…

“There seems not to be a butler in the premises”

Heannounced The expectation of a house full of servants surely originated from his newly attributed title because Edmund Randolph Brentwood came not from nobility himself The late Earl had been his cousin trice re without an heir for her husband, it became clear he would be the next in line And he received the required preparation for such a title The round

Her spine straightened, and her chin inched up a notch “I am sure your solicitor explained the dire conditions of the estate”

His jet eyes inspected her, frolossy hair, down to full breasts, a tiny waist, flaring hips to booted feet A hot wave acconant anger

“He did, Otilia” The rich drawlworse, and she had to clench her hter to stop the lamentable effect it erupted in her

For a split moment, her attention drifted astray and lowered She had no chance of helping her gaze fro on that ranite, with perfect, precise lines Iertips Yet it had a carnal quality to it, worthy of years of fantasies involving kisses and other searing, dispensable daydreaht herself before her control flu idolatry The sao