“My—my servants have every third Tuesday off. Have I been indefensibly rude and forgotten an engagement between us?” he asked.
She swallowed hard. “Er, no. We had no previous arrangement to meet today. I simply…I want to talk to you, Henry.”
He glanced behind him. Donovan was in his study waiting for him. Certainly when he’d heard a feminine voice at the door, he would have abandoned his plans to flee Henry’s father. He glanced behind Evangeline and wrinkled his brow. “Where is your maid? And how did you get here?”
Her shoulders flexed back. “I…did not come with a maid.” She was suddenly breathless. “And I sent my carriage away.”
A sudden shot of heated awareness jolted through Henry and he felt an uncommonly powerful desire to tug this woman into his foyer, slam the door behind her and pick up where they’d left off in the music room the previous night. But he was no rake. He didn’t ravish ladies.
But this one certainly tempted him.
“Come in,” he said. “I do have company.”
Her mouth dropped open slightly. “Oh, oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I can—”
He caught her hand to draw her inside and shut the door behind her. He had to lean past her to do it, and God, but she smelled good. Damned honeysuckles. She must have put some essence of it in her soap, because it clung to her. Made him wonder where else it lingered.
He backed away. “Don’t be silly. Come.”
He motioned her to follow him down to his study. As he stepped in, Donovan spun from where he was organizing Henry’s desk back into some shape. “It didn’t sound like your father so I did not flee—”
He broke off as Evangeline stepped into the room behind Henry. Her gaze darted down and heat filled her cheeks.
“No,” Henry said with false lightness. “Er, Lady Evangeline, may I present my good friend, Mr. Donovan McGilvery.”
Donovan’s eyebrows lifted as he stepped forward, hand outstretched to Evangeline. “Lady Evangeline,” he said as he bent over her knuckles for a brief kiss. Henry felt an odd urge to pull her hand away before she did that herself. “I have heard a great deal about you.”
Henry’s eyes went wide and he shot McGilvery a look as Evangeline glanced his way. “Have you now? I hope only good things.”
McGilvery chuckled. “Only the very best of things, I assure you.”
“And how do you two know each other?” Evangeline asked.
“The scientific society I am a member of,” Henry said softly.
“Then you are a scientist,” Evangeline said with a more relaxed expression. “Are you an astronomer like Henry?”
“Not quite as good as he is, but yes. The stars are my interest.” McGilvery replied with a nod. “But I think it is time for me to depart. It was a productive day, Killam, but I can see you have duties to attend to and I admit I am tired of staring at figures. I shall certainly dream of numbers tonight. It was a pleasure meeting you, my lady. I’ll see myself out.”
“Good—good day, Mr. McGilvery,” she called out, shooting Henry a look as the other man left them alone. All alone. In his house with no servants. Without a chaperone of any kind.
And in that moment, recalling he was not the rake was proving more difficult than ever.
“I’m very sorry, I don’t know why he departed so swiftly,” Henry said as he motioned toward the settee by the fire. “May I make you tea?”
“Tea would take a while if your servants are not in residence,” she said.
“You doubt me?” he said with a smile. “I actually make very good tea, my lady.”
“I’m certain you do, scientist that you are. It is only that my time is limited. Perhaps some of that sherry instead?” She motioned toward the sideboard.
Henry nodded and brought out two pretty crystal sherry glasses. When he handed hers over, she immediately took a sip like she was girding herself for whatever was about to happen. He had so rarely seen Evangeline nervous, he almost feared the reason. Feared it had to do with that amazing kiss they’d shared the night before. He’d been trying so hard not to lose himself in thoughts of it.
“Your friend said something about your father,” she said, setting her glass aside and watching him as he took a place on the settee beside her.
He could have chosen any other seat in the room. But he hadn’t.
He cleared his throat and wished he could clear his mind so easily. “Er, yes. I wasn’t expecting the viscount, but feared it might be him when we heard the knock. I do not think he’d appreciate me hanging about with McGilvery and doing mathematics in my study.”
“Mr. McGilvery seems a nice enough fellow,” she said softly. “Your father would disapprove of him?”
“He isn’t titled, and you know better than most what a toady my father is. He doesn’t approve of anything ‘beneath me.’ He sees my work and anyone who joins me in it as that.”
She leaned a little closer, and his heart felt like it might explode from pounding so hard. “Henry—”
He took her hand. The motion silenced her, and she stared at their intertwined fingers for a beat that seemed to last a lifetime.
“Why are you here, Evangeline? I know it isn’t to make small talk with me about my friend or my father or tea or the weather or the price of ale.”
“You’re so certain I wouldn’t care about any of those things?”
He arched a brow. “You came here unannounced with no chaperone. It can’t have been for such mundane discussion.”
“You are so direct,” she mused, almost to herself. “I suppose that is in my favor. Henry, I did come here with a purpose. I wanted to talk about last night, about…the kiss.”
He pulled his hand from hers and got to his feet. As he paced away, he ran a hand through his hair and shoved at his spectacles, trying to find purchase. Here was the moment. The moment when she told him he ought never have let that kiss happen. The moment when all his little fantasies would be dashed.
“I recognize what I did was very wrong,” he began as he faced her with as much bravery as he could muster.
Her brow wrinkled. “What you did?”
“Kissing you.” He swallowed. “Thoroughly.”
She stared at him a moment and then she pushed to her feet. She took her time crossing to him, he thought that might be by design. But despite seeing the manipulation of her movements, he was still mesmerized by them. Step by step, she glided toward him, her dark blue gaze fixed on his. She held him in place with just a twitch of her hips, just a tilt of her smile. At last she reached him, nudging in far too close. Almost touching him.
And then she did touch him. She reached up, her bare fingertips skimming his cheek, his jawline and across his lower lip. It felt like fire when she did it, tingling, burning, wonderful fire that would consume him and he would love every moment of it. Even if it destroyed him in the end.
“I kissed you, Henry,” she reminded him. “And I have been able to think of little else since.”
His mouth dropped open. He was dreaming. That had to be it. He had fallen asleep over his figures and this was all a dream. A very vivid dream where he could smell Evangeline and feel her warmth seep through him despite her just coming in from the cold.