Meet Me at Midnight (Romance, Completed)

Chapter 9

"Beau?"

He turned in the hallway, the peak from his baseball cap shading his eyes. His gaze remained firmly aimed at his feet.

"Yes, ma'am?"

Wonderful, Mother had got to him too. "Augusta, please."

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Lips that had kissed mine? I sensed a certain familiarity, unless my overactive imagination was playing tricks.

"Not allowed to call you that, ma'am."

"Okay, sir." I stressed the second word. Two could play at that game. "I'd like to get some more bookshelves installed in the study I share with Angie. Is that something you can do?"

"I'm sure I can."

Beau's accent sounded pure English, without a hint of the sexy French lilt Midnight slipped in on occasion. And he had a beard. It may have been a short beard, and neatly trimmed, but Midnight definitely didn't have a beard at all. Not even stubble. Could I have been mistaken?

"Really? I wasn't sure how good you were with your hands."

That got me a proper smile, even if he did try to hide it behind his fist. "Rest assured, I'm very good with my hands, ma'am. I'll measure up early next week."

The way he said that, confidently with a touch of humour, belied the shyness exuding from his exterior. Oh yes, Beau was definitely hiding something.

"Thank you so much. A girl can never have too many books."

As I walked off, a plan formed in my mind. If Beau was indeed Midnight, and he met me after the party on Saturday, surely he'd come clean-shaven like the other times? So, all I had to do was find him on Sunday and see whether he was still sporting a beard.

And if his face was smooth? Well, I'd have a lot of thinking to do. If I convinced him to bring this...this thing between us out into the light, I'd have my parents' disapproval to deal with, not to mention being the talk of the village. Girls like me just weren't supposed to date the household help, no matter what Lady Anne might have done with Rufus.

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Saturday night, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The piano tuner had done his thing, although my ears couldn't tell the difference, and Stéphane the pianist was talking to Gregory while the string quartet played a Vivaldi medley. Even mother was smiling, and the grudging "well done, darling" she'd given me earlier was high praise indeed.

I'd gone with a navy blue silk dress tonight, knee length with a flared skirt, chosen not for its glamour but for easy access. Yes, it was official—I'd turned into a brazen hussy. The mere thought of wrapping my lips around Midnight's unmentionables left me salivating.

"See something you like?" Angie's voice in my ear startled me.

"Huh?"

She nodded in Gregory's direction, and I belatedly realised I'd been staring towards him while my thoughts were elsewhere.

"Oh, er, yes. I guess so."

"He likes you too."

"Does he?" Apart from a brief hello and a peck on the cheek, he'd barely been near me all evening.

"Definitely. I heard it from Susan, who heard it from Chloe, and Chloe's always right about things like this. Rumour has it Gregory's going to invite you on a mini-break to the family cottage in the Lake District."

I should have been excited, but instead, my heart sank. With Midnight dominating my every waking thought, heading off for a cosy weekend with another man was the last thing I wanted to do. I took a long gulp of champagne then coughed as it went down the wrong way.