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“A few times” It was a lie She should have paid more attention when Nicole perfor me so closely”

The desk chair scraped against the boards Four long strides and he was at her side

Lord Farleigh towered over her “But you knoash the hly with a linen cloth?”

Frustration turned to annoyance “I can clean the fire without assistance I do not need you to stand overparent”

Rose sucked in a breath She hadn’t rown tired of subservience And hoas she supposed to concentrate when fears for Nicole’s welfare was at the forefront of herher hunched shoulders, she braced herself for a severe reprimand

Instead, Lord Farleigh did so far worse He squatted down at her side, those well-developed thighthe seane filled her nostrils and journeyed south to tickle her stomach

“I ah I a at ti these tasks for you” A sigh left his lips and breezed past her ear “What I’ to say is that the transition will not be easy”

Rose stared at her dirty hands “No, it’s not”

It wasn’t theon a lu to her body in all the wrong places It was the uncertainty of it all that gripped her around the throat and threatened to squeeze

Was her father liable to appear at the door and drag her back to London?

What had happened to Nicole when the servants had woken to find mutiny afoot?

“I’h home had never been a pleasant place for her, shein one’s own bed

“Is this your first time away?” He stared at her lips and chin

To offer any explanation would only result in more lies The intimacy of the reen eyes, proved unnerving After all, he was a viscount A gentle words of comfort to a maid

“Youthis will always be your home and that no one can take it away frohts, he should insist she get on with her work