Wicked Heart (Brazen Bluestockings #1)

Chapter 3: A Light Scratch

Once suitably confident that Darcy was happily entertained in the kitchen by Cook and her scraps of food, Ivy wandered through the house in search of her friends—after stealing one of the freshly baked buns, of course. Her eyes strayed to the stairs leading to the private bedrooms upstairs, perhaps hoping to see a certain handsome gentleman. But when there was no sign of Tilbury's latest visitor, she sighed and continued her trek through the house.

She found Miss Olivia Newton outside in the garden, where she was cutting roses from a bush. Her friend looked up as she approached. "Ivy!" She smiled. "I expected you some time ago."

"Sorry." Ivy fought back a smile as she remembered Mr Hemsworth telling her she said that an awful lot. He was not wrong. "Darcy ran off. Again."

"I suspected as much." Olivia chuckled. "That dog has as much energy as you do."

"Possibly more." Kneeling next to her friend, Ivy picked up a second knife from the wicker basket of flowers and began cutting roses to help her friend. They sat in silence for a little while as they filled the basket.

She had known Olivia for as long as she could remember. They had both grown up in Tilbury, so it was no surprise they were good friends. But while Ivy had never been further away than the next village over, Olivia would sometimes disappear for weeks at a time to visit her uncle the duke or to attend the London season. There were times when Ivy envied her friend. She would love to see the world outside Tilbury, but as the daughter of an untitled former solicitor who had earned enough to purchase himself a plot of land, she was unlikely to ever leave.

A thorn scratched across the skin of her hand, and she cursed.

Olivia's dark head turned towards her. Seeing the line of blood, she shook her head. "You should have worn gloves."

"I forgot." There was even a spare pair lying in the basket. She sighed.

"Sometimes I think you might forget your head were it not attached to your body." The words might have stung had they been said by anyone else, but Olivia was smiling and her grey eyes twinkled with mirth. Nodding towards Ivy's hand, she said, "You should probably clean that."

Ivy debated just rubbing it off on her dress, but the thought of her mother's disapproving look when she came home with yet another stained garment stopped her. She was about to stand up when a white handkerchief materialised next to her.

"Allow me to assist?"

Sam Hemsworth stood behind them, his hand outstretched and the sun glinting in his dark auburn hair. Something lurched awkwardly in her abdomen as she stared up at his handsome face.

"I... Oh, thank you."

When he held out his other hand, she allowed him to assist her to her feet. She stared at him with bated breath as he took her hand in his and wrapped the linen fabric around it. His grip on her hand was strong and deliberate, and yet somehow felt incredibly intimate with his bare skin against hers. Her skin tingled wherever he touched it.

This must be what attraction felt like. She bit down on her lower lip to keep herself from saying something foolish. Her friends had always spoken of being attracted to men, but this was the first time she had truly felt it herself. While she had joined her friends in giggling over the handsome Viscount Ravenscroft, and she could appreciate the good looks of men who visited the village, this was different.

Their eyes met over their hands and she couldn't help but wonder if he felt it, too. This strange pull to lean in closer. To be near.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made Ivy's cheeks burn. Turning to her friend, who had stood as well, she motioned to Sam.