Adams, Eve - The Banished Bride [Brides of Bachelor Bay 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (14 page)

She pushed away from the piano. “Oh, girl, do get dressed. It’s well into the afternoon and unacceptable for you to be in your robes. I’ll take my tea in the parlor. It’s such a beautiful day. Perhaps later you can hold my parasol while I take a walk around the grounds. I don’t like to stay too long in the sun, you see. It hardens the skin into shoe leather. You’d do best to start following my same precaution before the damage to your skin is irreversible.”

Amelia pursed her lips. How dare this woman insult her skin. Amelia had beautiful skin and made it a point to not remain in the sun for too long so not to dry out the only flesh she had to cover her bones.

“Whatever you say, Aunt Mildred.”

“Call me Mildred. No need with the aunt. We aren’t related, thank the Almighty.”

This woman was something else. Amelia bit back what she wanted to say. After all, she did have to live with the old bat.

For now.

“Was there anything else?”

Instead of answering, Mildred scooted up to the piano once again, lifted the cover off the keys, and began to play. The sound crackled in Amelia’s ears and sent her scurrying out of the room and into hers to change. Once she had on one of her favorite dresses that fit her exactly the way a dress should, she felt better and descended the stairs to fetch Mildred her tea.

She closed the swinging kitchen door behind her and collapsed against the wall with a long sigh. Her gaze traced the room as she searched for tea leaves. This morning they were perfectly waiting for her right on the table that sat in the middle of the room. But now the table was empty, and since Mildred was the only other person in the house, and Amelia knew she hadn’t moved them, the old woman had to have.

Lovely.

She opened cabinet after cabinet until she found the pouch of tea leaves and pulled it down. It slipped from her fingers and dropped to the floor, and tea leaves scattered everywhere.

Amelia muttered a very unladylike curse and bent down to pick them up.

“Is there a problem, girl?” Mildred called out from the other room.

“No.” She hated that Mildred didn’t bother to call her by her name. Who would be so cruel? A flash of the conversation between Lizzie and Amelia replayed in her mind. She’d never bothered to learn the names of any of the men or women working for the Gallaghers.

Amelia closed her eyes against the foreign feelings of regret. She was nothing like Mildred. Amelia simply never learned the names of the servants. Mildred knew her name and chose not to call her by it.

That was not the same thing.

Amelia dropped down to her knees to scoop the leaves up just as Mildred’s nasty cat came strutting into the room. Peaches took one look at her and quite literally turned up his nose. He then sat down and proceeded to scratch at his head, back, and anywhere else he could reach, and spread cat hair all over the tea leaves.

“Shoo,” Amelia said and pushed at him.

“Meow,”
he responded in what sounded close to a growl. He glared at her and shook wildly, spreading yet more hair. Once satisfied with the amount of hair he’d covered Mildred’s tea leaves with, he walked out of the room.

“I hate that cat,” she muttered and started to pick cat hair out of the leaves.

“As do I.”

She lifted her gaze to see Noah standing in the back door leading to the outside. Mortification slammed into her cheeks for him to see her on her knees, separating cat hair from tea leaves.

Jumping to her feet, she ran over to the sink to wash her hands. She reached up and attempted to pump the handle, but it barely budged. Using both hands, she pushed and pulled until her arms ached and still she’d barely managed dropping an inch of water into the basin.

“Allow me.” Noah pumped the water with a single hand and didn’t appear to struggle at all.

Damn him.

“Thank you,” she said and scrubbed at her hands until they were pink and still she couldn’t get them to come clean. After several attempts, she gave up and nodded for him to stop pumping. Without having anything to dry them, she wiped her hands on the front of her skirts and let out a petulant sigh. Of course the dirt wouldn’t come off when she scrubbed at it, but when she wiped her hands on her pink and cream skirts, the dirt transferred to the material without any problem.

She wanted to remain angry at him, but right now she’d rather share his company than Mildred’s. “What brings you by?”

“I came to see you.”

She smiled at his admission, but then dropped it when she remembered what Andrew had said. It would be all three of them together or nothing at all. That’s the way she wanted it. Just the memory of the way they both took her at the same time, her body stretched to the hilt by their combined flesh, had her nipples hard and perspiration sprouting on her forehead.

Heated embarrassment smacked her cheeks at her vivid memory. She swung her gaze up to Noah.

“Why are you blushing so beautifully?” His dark eyes had a wicked glimmer to them.

“Noah?”

He brought up his hand and cupped it behind her neck. “I can’t stand seeing you do an ounce of work. Leave with me now. We’ll run away together and never look back.”

That sounded wonderful, but without Andrew it wouldn’t be the same. She wanted them both. “I can’t.”

He dropped his hand and took a step back. “You can’t? Or you won’t?”

“Both. Andrew said it would be all three of us or nothing. I want that.”

The twinkle in his eye hardened as he set his jaw. “So let me make sure I have this for certain. If I wish to be with you, it must be in the accompaniment of my brother? I can’t have this thing without him?”

“Thing?” She caught his word and glared at him, her concern for his reaction now replaced with anger over his offensive choice of words. “You think I’m a thing?”

“Amelia, you know that isn’t what I meant.”

“Do I? You are a cad, Noah Gallagher. I am not just some
thing
you can play with. If that was the reason for your visit, you may leave.”

“Girl, is my tea ready?”

Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes. “The water isn’t yet warm, Mildred.” Thanks to her anger fueling her movement, she managed to pump enough water into the kettle for a cup of tea. She struggled to carry the kettle but finally made it to the stove, no thanks to Noah. He simply stood there and watched.

“You, uh, plan on having that heated, don’t you?”

“Not that it is of any concern to you, but of course.”

Noah laughed behind her, and she stiffened. “You should probably start a fire in it then.”

She set her hand on the stove, and her shoulders sank. It was cold. When did that happen? It was warm this morning when she’d made tea for Mildred. Swallowing her pride, she turned to Noah. “Please tell me you know how to build a fire.”

He lost that playful grin and frowned at her. “You don’t?”

Lowering her gaze, she shook her head. It embarrassed the hell out of her to admit to yet another one of her shortcomings.

“Let me show you. Gather some of that kindling there in the bucket.”

Amelia reached into the bucket and immediately pulled her hands back out when she stabbed several fingers with splinters. Noah didn’t even look up as she brought a finger to her lips. Not knowing what else to do, she wiped her bleeding fingers on her skirts, adding new stains to the existing dirt and other various disgusting things she’d picked up off the floor.

“Do you have that kindling?”

“I’m bleeding.”

“And I’m waiting.”

She dropped her jaw. No one had showed her an ounce of kindness since last night. Why should she think Noah would have been any different?

“Here.” She thrust the kindling at him.

He opened the stove. “Now, watch how I’m doing this. You stack the wood in the belly like so.”

She bent down close to Noah to watch him. Eventually she’d have to know how to build a fire on her own. Being so close to him, she smelled him, his masculine scent wafting into her senses and clouding her judgment. She wanted to kiss him and licked her lips.

One little kiss. No one would know. “Noah?”

“What is it?” He asked, his focus still on the fire.

She inhaled. Dear Lord, he smelled just as wonderful today as he had last night. Her mouth watered, and she swallowed hard to keep herself from drooling all over him.

“I can’t see what you’re doing.”

“Come here.”

“I’m right here.”

“No, right in front of me. Just like that. Now reach in there and stack the kindling.”

Amelia’s wrists brushed up against the sides and covered her with thick black soot. Wonderful. More stains to add to her skirts.

“Like this?”

He brushed her hair off her neck, and next she felt his lips brush against her skin. Prickles of goose bumps attacked her flesh. “Keep going. You need more.”

That she did. Trying to keep her focus on the kindling and not the way Noah had started to tickle her neck with little flicks of his tongue, Amelia sucked in her lower lip and bit down.

“You’re doing it wrong.”

“Well, I can’t very well know what I’m doing when I’ve never done this before. Besides, you’re distracting me.”

“Not distracting.” He turned her in his arms. “Think of me as inspiring.”

“You truly are a cad.” She smiled as she delivered her insult lightly.

“I’m your cad, baby.” And then he kissed her.

His lips devoured hers, licking them open with a slip of his tongue. He pulled her closer to him. Wrapping her arms around him, she held on tight and allowed herself to get lost in the sensations Noah pulled out of her.

“Must I make the—Oh good heavens!” Mildred walked in to see Amelia and Noah embracing on the floor in front of the stove, lost in their kiss. As soon as Mildred exclaimed, Amelia pushed Noah away.

What was she doing? Kissing Noah had gotten her stuck at Mildred’s in the first place.

“Noah, my dear boy, what on earth are you doing down on the floor like that?” Mildred hurried to him and helped him up, completely ignoring Amelia. “Just look at you. You’ve ruined your Sunday best.”

“I was showing Amelia how to start a fire.”

“Indeed.” Mildred curled her lips into a knowing smile as she patted Noah’s face. “You are such a good boy.”

Noah grinned and shot Amelia a sideways glance. “That I am.”

“No matter,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Since you ruined your perfectly good suit helping the girl, we’ll simply add it to this month’s fees for her stay.” She glanced down at the floor, at the pile of tea leaves mixed with cat hair. “Throw them out. You’ll need to pay the mercantile a visit and pick up some fresh tea leaves—at your expense, of course.”

Amelia jumped to her feet, flabbergasted. “I beg your pardon?”

Mildred blinked at her as if she’d found offense in something quite normal. It was not normal for Amelia to have to pay for Noah’s suit. At the rate Mildred continued to add to Amelia’s debt, she’d never be able to repay her.

“Surely you don’t expect Noah to pay to help you learn a craft you should already know. It was out of the kindness of his heart that he helped you in the first place. It would be crass to not pay to at least have the suit cleaned. And those tea leaves didn’t fall on the floor on their own, did they?”