Page 27 (1/2)

Well, he did not appear embarrassed to speak openly “Your demons sound rather wild and temperamental, too” She scanned the cut of his expensive dark blue coat and the crisp folds of his cravat “Though you present yourself as quite the opposite”

“Does that make you uneasy, Miss Atwood?”

“On the contrary, I fear seeing you relaxed and unrestrained would make me a little nervous”

Again, his penetrating gaze studied every facial feature “My deet a little restless after dark, but I keep theht leash”

“Unless brutes attack you in the street,” she said, recalling the expert way he had fought the beasts “Then you let them loose”

“Then I let thereed He rose from the chair and moved to the platters on the sideboard He lifted the china covers and began filling a plate

Sybil took aand dull blue wallpaper stones added to the austere ating fro to indicate the owner’s history If anything in the room embodied the master’s complex character, it was the Elizabethan-inspired fire surround—tall and dark with intricate carvings and fascinating detail

Mr Daventry appeared at her left “To the plate in front of her He was so close she felt the saht “Coffee?”

“Please”

Mr Daventry leaned closer as he poured her beverage, and she was captured again by his alluring scent “Can I get you anything else, Miss Atwood?”

Solanced at the table and looked for the rack and butter dish “Toast?”

He moved to the sideboard and returned with toasted bread cut too thickly and butter in a chipped china keeper “No one here has time to polish silver”

“Butter is butter regardless of how it is served”

“Most ladies would frown upon our unrefined ways,” he said, returning to his seat

“I am not most ladies”