Teasing Your Wicked Heart

CHAPTER 7

The mixed berry scone was the best thing he ever tasted, and the most annoying thing he had ever eaten.

As soon as he bit on the pastry, the jam had spread in his mouth. Some oozed out of the corner of his lips due to his inability to fully close his mouth. He had to dab his mouth with a napkin before the spreading liquid spilled onto his crisp white cravat.

He wasn't fastidious about his clothing, but really, a dark-colored jam on his white cravat?

And drat the woman, she had laughed at him!

Granted, she laughed rather adorably when she saw the dark-colored jelly creep itself to the corners of his mouth, but he would have appreciated a warning.

Sarah Jane laughed with abandon. She threw her head back which allowed the hair bun to loosen once again. She had muttered something that suspiciously sounded like "practice" and "you'll get better" but he didn't intend to remark upon it.

They promptly ended breakfast after the sweet treat. He had a certain way of eating, he realized. Salty before sweet, like any normal and decent person in England. And as he was halfway through the sausage that he took from the platter to smother it with bean sauce, Sarah Jane had, in his opinion, forcibly thrust the sweet pastry on his hand.

With his plate full of salty meat, he couldn't bring himself to put the scone down next to them. Because of the lady's urging, he had to eat it immediately, there was no way around it. He hadn't particularly relished leaving food on his plate, but the savory meat would be disgusting after the berries had overpowered his palate.

Wonderfully, his headache had completely gone and was in the disposition to enjoy the lady's company. After all, they were already friends. It was apparent that he would soon be spending much of his time with her.

Anthony was sure that Kinsmen Place wasn't as grand as the estates she had lived in. But the quiet elegance of the house was something to be proud of. He had mentioned that his mother had decorated Kinsmen Place, and everyone knew that Lady Killsworth had been the classiest of all women of the ton.

Everything she did was up to standard, and more.

His mother's clothes were all bespoke and measured to the liking of polite society. She had all colors, and jewels to match them. She had never ever done anything disgraceful that would cause a scandal.

That was Lady Killsworth, and that was Anthony's mother. She chose to reside in London whereas her son had fled, quite remarkably fast, to Trowbridge.

Shaking his head to rid of the thoughts of his mother and his past, he quickly took Sarah Jane's hand and placed it on his arm. Her hand was delightfully warm, and almost as inviting as her exotic jam.

Sarah Jane stifled a yawn. "Will you take me around your house, Anthony?" She smiled, an expression that didn't quite reach her eyes. The lady was tired.

"I was about to. Do you want me to show you your bedchamber instead?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized that he did not really know where the footmen had brought her bags.

"To retire, that is. I imagine your day was very tiring." Imagine that, his day was just starting.

"Oh!" She nodded and they ascended the stairs. Lady Sarah Jane trailed her other hand on the elegant railing, her fingers lightly touching the hardened paint.

"Your home is really lovely." Another yawn.

Anthony was intercepted by a maid in the hallway, and he hurriedly asked for the location of the lady's guest room.