Mallory was in the process of deciding whether to read a book or take a nap when a knock came at her bedroom door. Charlemagne, who had long since abandoned her lap in favor of a sunny spot in another chair, cracked open his eyes and stared toward the door, clearly annoyed by the interruption.
"I don't blame you a bit," Mallory murmured to the cat in a low voice. The other feline, Elizabeth, stood up, stretched, then began grooming her fur, while Henry's damp black nose twitched with patient curiosity.
Inwardly, Mallory suppressed a sigh. Very likely the caller was Claire or Mama, come to give her arm another twist over the issue of dinner. But she'd already said everything she had to say on the subject and saw no point in being compelled to repeat the exercise.
Whoever it is, tell them to come back later," she ordered her maid. "I wish to rest and not be disturbed."
Penny, who'd been busy putting away handkerchiefs and tidying up various other sundries on Mallory's dressing table, stared for a pronounced moment before dipping an obedient curtsey and walking to the door.
Without glancing around, Mallory listened to the discreet murmur of voices whose words she couldn't quite make out. She recognized Penny's high feminine tone, but the person who answered was clearly not another woman. The caller's voice was low and throaty and laced with a seductive warmth that hinted at all manner of forbidden delights. In fact, she'd heard tell of more than one girl who'd swooned in his presence since even his most innocent statements seemed imbued with a frisson of sin as the words rolled from his tongue.
"Come now," she heard Adam Gresham coax in a silvery tone that was loud enough to carry this time. "I am certain your mistress wasn't talking about me when she said she didn't wish to be disturbed. Why don't you go ask her again? I'm sure she'll change her mind, do you not think?"
From the corner of her eye, Mallory saw Penny sag, then straighten again, the servant giving a firm shake of her head as she made a valiant effort to resist his entreaty.
"Or mayhap I'll just see for myself," he said, pushing the door wider despite the maid's presence. "Mallory, you're not really sleeping, are you?" he called in a half whisper, as he peered around the frame.
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"If I had been," she replied on a mildly acerbic note, "I would not be any longer. You're as inconsiderate as the twins."
"Oh, surely I'm not as bad as that pair of scoundrels," Adam remarked. "Though come to think, perhaps I am." Stepping around her maid, he walked into the room. "Anyway, I knew I wasn't disturbing you since I could see the tips of your shoes and realized you weren't abed."
"I might have been dozing in this chair," she countered.
"You might, except for the fact that in all the years I've known you, I've never once seen or heard of you slumbering in a chair. You've remarked on more than one occasion that you hate to sleep sitting up."
Halting in the center of the room, he made her an elegant bow before straightening to his full height of nearly six and a half feet. His mouth turned up as he flashed her a roguish smile, his teeth showing white against his swarthy complexion. He swept her with a fulsome look, his warm, chocolate brown eyes gleaming in obvious pleasure.
