Dangerous Silence

Chapter 14

Have you ever got soaked in freezing, stormy rain at night and then had a cold, toe dropping arctic cold shower? No?

Well don't even try it! I was-

"Achooo!"

-going to strangle that useless miserly, son of a bastard-

"Achoooo!"

-who had his purse shoved up his behind, as soon as I could get my hands on him!

"Achooooo!"

Or rather I was going to dunk him in that freezing water himself and freeze him permanently into a statue!

Putting my arms in the sleeves of the shirt he had given me, I realised that I would have to fold them quite a long way up for my hands to come out of the long sleeves and opened my mouth to curse that tall chauvinist with so long arms, but all that came out was another sneeze. "Achoooo!"

Buttoning the shirt with shivering, numb fingers, I plotted the numerous ways to kill him and held up the trousers before realising the problem. Spiffing!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened the door silently and peeked in to see him pour some...soup? He knew how to make real, edible soup? Give me one thing that man can't do. Yeah, keep on thinking, you can answer me anytime in the next decade.

Pouring it into a wooden bowl, he pulled out a spoon. Still turning around, he spoke,"What were you doing in there for-

The rest of his sentence was lost in a strange grunting noise at the back of his throat as he took in what I was wearing. Or in this case, not wearing.

Walking up to him with my most innocent, demure smile, I turned to the soup, tasting it carefully just in case he was not such an 'adequate' cook as I had assumed. Thankfully, he was, and I had gulped down two hot spoonfuls, ignoring the burning sensation on my tongue when he finally had composed himself enough to speak.

"Why, in Mammon's name, are you not wearing the trousers I had provided you with?"

I turned to him with another spoonful in my hand, blowing on it as I took in his slightly red cheeks and bit back a grin. "It is too big for me. And anyways, its not as if you've not seen me like this before." I gave a small shrug and slurped the soup noisily, ignoring the heat spreading all over my face at the memories of the Amazonian forest.

"If you haven't noticed, we aren't in the middle of the Amazonian forest, but in the middle of civilization." The red in his cheeks darkened slightly and I had the urge to pinch his cheeks. Mr. Rikkard Ambrose was actually blushing!

"Indeed, Mr. Ambrose?" I raised my eyebrows at him and his little finger gave a twitch. Dear me! He was getting certainly riled up nicely.

"Yes, indeed, Mr. Linton." His intense gaze lingered heavily on me, his eyes turning a shade darker. I opened my mouth to remind him about my clearly visible gender, and sneezed. Very hard. So much so, I was wondering how I had not sneezed out my lungs.

"And you'll get a cold." He held out his handkerchief and I took it, blowing my nose very unladylike. Well, standing in only a shirt and underclothes in front of my employer was not at all ladylike, so I'll be thorough with it.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I put away the handkerchief in the only pocket the shirt had. "Too late for that, I can assure you, Ms. Ambrose."

His finger gave another twitch as he tried to freeze me with another of his icy cold glares, and I promptly returned it. Well, I had been practising it. Better make use of it.