With Love (Blackwood & Friends #1)

Chapter 7: Miss Eversley's Greatest Fib

Chapter 7: Miss Eversley's Greatest Fib

Wasn't this just the most interesting and peculiar thing to happen to him today? Jason mused as he came to a halt in the passage outside his private chambers and leaned his shoulder against the wall, watching.

If he had thought to find Miss Eversley outside his rooms, in this wing of the manor house, he would have believed his mind insane. Yet, here she was, and there was a decidedly guilty air about her.

He chose not to make his presence known immediately since her back was to him, and instead Jason merely enjoyed the view and entertainment she presented. She was up to no good, it was clear in the way each step was light and painfully careful, reluctant to let her toes make even the slightest sound against the floor. She'd lost the bonnet she had been wearing earlier when Wilhelmina had visited, but other than that subtle change she remained the same as he had seen her last in the parlour room- wearing that soft coloured gown with the neckline that dipped just slightly lower than decent, though perhaps it was hardly noticeable and it was just the result of his wayward thoughts of late.

The passage was dark, the only light spilling into the narrow corridor from the opposite end by way of a bay window, and Nicola was moving with painstaking slowness towards the closed door to his chamber. Nobody else in the family resided this side of the manor, it was only him, while Blanche and his mother, and even Miss Eversley, had chambers in the opposite wing, on the other side of the house, which suited him just as well since his comings and goings well into the night wouldn't be monitored as astutely.

So, it was quite damning that Nicola was found here, when there was certainly no plausible reason for her to be here, and Jason was about to allow her the benefit of a doubt, thinking that just perhaps she had strayed and was simply passing his rooms, but then those nimble, gloved fingers began to extend to the brass handle of the door.

He cleared his throat.

Her head jerked around so hard a few pins were strewn from it and skittered along the floor while those russet-tinted curls began to loosen. Eyes huge, brows raised, mouth parted, Nicola squeaked. Yes, squeaked, and he couldn't help the surprised smile on his face at the sound. "Either I have caught a mouse," he told her slowly, still leaning against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest, "or a very pretty snoop."

Those damnable lips of hers snapped shut and made a peculiar movement that notched them to one side. He absently cursed his grandmother for pointing out such an unusual and appealing feature on the girl, for he had never noticed it before and now that he had... well. Nicola spoke in a way that was adorable. Her lips were animated and she favoured the right side of her mouth, often quirking it up as she articulated her speech, using those small even teeth to emphasise her diction as well. The top was shaped as gracefully as a cat's, the bottom plumper and more luscious. No, she definitely didn't look like a beetle...

A guilty blush flared up the long column of her neck, trailing over the slightly square lines of her jaw and chin.

"I am not snooping," she declared with a small shake of her head.

"No? Then you must be a mouse."

She held her hands together before her, palms turned up to the ceiling, and crinkled her brow imploringly, lips puckered to one side. That look, that face... his body thrummed. "Would you believe me if I said I was lost?" she appealed.

Jason shook his head slowly. "Try again."

Her nose scrunched and her shoulders lifted in an imploring gesture. "Blanche sent me to tell you something?"