Nothing But Time (8 page)

“It doesn’t seem that you’ve had much practice at that.”  His face and voice were serious
as they had been that afternoon
but
Kate
somehow got the impression he was laughing at her.

“I haven’t.”

“You’re American,” he said in surprise.  “Your voice was so low before I didn’t notice.”

“I am.” 
Kate
stared up into the earl’s face.  It never occurred to her that she should cast her gaze away from
him,
as any good servant would do.  She was already
well aware
that she wasn’t the best at
true
subservience and had really never been put in a situation where it was
expected of her. 
In her line of work, employers valued a certain independent
,
go-get-it attitude. 
Instead,
she studied him much as he studied her
,
taking in the details that her distant assessment had missed
before
. 

His eyes were brigh
t, crystalline blue under thick
,
light brown brows. 
There were creases like parentheses framing his mouth.  More winged out from the corners of his eyes making her think that she was perhaps wrong about his ability to show humor.  Or
it might be that
he merely squinted a lot. 
Overall
though,
he was even more handsome up close, so close she could see the day’s growth of whiskers r
oughening his cheek
, sweeping across his jaw and chin before arching up to touch the bottom of his full lower lip.  Kate
was tempted to
chaf
e
her palm
against those whiskers, to follow the path up to that tempting lip
.

Unlike the austere appearance he’d presented that morning with every button done up and his tie neat and tidy, the earl look pleasantly relaxed now, his tie gone, his coat and waistcoat hanging open.
She’d caught sight of the
hollow of his throat ever
so briefly before those magnetic blue eyes had caught and snared hers.

“You don’t look away,” he said softly
,
still staring down at her.  His nearness required
Kate
to tilt her head back to look at him making her realize that she came only to his chin.  She felt strangely sheltered standing in his shadow, petite and fragile, yet safe.  She wondered if it was his physical strength or
the
aura of power that made her feel that way as he leaned in propping himself with one hand on the shelves next to her head.  “Why not?”

Forgetting who he was, the role she was meant to play, Kate couldn’t help but ask,
“Why should I?”

Brandon Ryder, just recently E
arl
of
Harrowby, stared down at the maid in surprise
.  He hadn’t
expected such an answer, but what could
one expect from an American? 
Everyone knew they were a brash bunch
,
lacking in basic m
ann
e
rs.  The girl didn’t even know how to execute a proper curtsey! 
However
, he supposed, a
woman
who looked like this one might get away with any number of faux pas if she smiled upon a man as she did him.

She was a beauty to be sure.  Her face
was
a perfect oval dominated by large green eyes that stared up at him with astonishing
directness through
thick
,
black lashes that swooped like wings down and up with every blink.  Her dark brows arched delicately over those amazing eyes and her equally dark hair contrasted with cheeks of smooth creamy ivory now touched with a becoming blush.  They curved gently down to a strong jaw and chin that held a hint of stubbornness.
H
er straight little nose tilted up just a bit at the end over rosy lips that were full and dared a man to kiss them.

With her head tilted back,
Harrowby
could make out the long slim column of her throat accented in the light of the
lamp
.  Lifting a hand, he lightly encircled her neck tracing a delicate line down the side with a fingertip and he felt her quiver of response.  Felt his own leap from aw
areness to desire in an instant as he held her gaze with his own though he was aware of her tongue darting out to moisten those tempting lips.

“Why should you?” he repeated her question in a low voice already husky with desire and
Kate
couldn’t help the shudder that his seductive English accent sent through her.  He was mesm
erizing to say the least.  H
is voice
,
if it were possible,
was
more
entrancing
than his face.  “You are my servant, are you not?  It is your place to be subservient to me, to bow to me.”

“Subservience isn’t really my thing,” she told him breathlessly
,
caught in the web of seduction that suddenly surrounded them.
  She’d never known what it was like to want a man at first sight, but she wanted this one.  Undeniably.

“Your
‘thing’
?” he repeated.  “What would your thing be then?”

“Let’s just say that servitude is new to me,”
Kate
told him
,
reaching out one hand to slide inside his jacket and rest on his side
.  She was unsure w
ho
was more surprised
, him or her
. 
She could feel the heat of his skin through his shirt
, t
he flex of the long muscles down his side. 
Unable to help herself, she brushed her palm up his chest savoring the m
uscular outline of his pecs.

Patently
t
aking her
exploit
s as an invitation for more action on his part, the earl’s hand traced a path back upwards to cup her jaw, his thumb arching out to stroke her bottom lip. 
Kate
couldn’t seem to
remember herself at all, where she was…who he was
. 
She only knew that he was entirely too hypnotic and Harrowby had her in a trance that wiped away her normal good sense. 
Tilting her head back, her eyes fluttered closed inviting his kiss and she wasn’t disappointed when a moment later he dipped his head taking her lips
tenderly with his.

His mouth brushed her
s
lightly urging her lips apart before settling more firmly, his tongue leisurely dipping just a bit to caress the sensitive flesh of her lips and running along her teeth. 
Kate could feel the eroti
c rub of his whiskered chin cha
fing hers, sending a thrill of ardor though her. 
Giving as good as she got,
Kate
kissed him back
skimm
ing her tongue teasingly along his and pulling at his gorgeous mouth.  It was completely unlike her to be so bold though she was by no means an innocent.  She tended toward long relationships with a long dating history preceding anything greater than a goodnight kiss.  She had always been a good girl, but she didn’t feel so good in that moment.  Really
,
she felt very bad. 

And extremely
naughty.

W
hat red-blooded American girl wouldn’t take such an opportunity?  She couldn’t think of one of her
girl
frien
ds who wouldn’t have seized
the opportunity for a romantic moment
in a dark library with
Chris Hemsworth
if they’d had the chance and this man was no different.  He was the type of guy who made women forget their morals and throw themselves
recklessly at
, made them long for just one kiss.  Always wondering if it would be as good as they imagined only to find out it was even better.

That was Harrowby.  Better than imagined.  Her blood roared in her ears with desire and want as his hands dropped to push her robe aside and cup her breasts through her cotton nightgown.  “Mmmm,”
she heard his voice h
uskily in her ear.  “Servitude might be beneath you, but I would wager you could service a man very well.”

It would be fair to say that a full minute passed before his words cut through the haze that had engulfed
Kate
.  A
nd a
nother thirty seconds before she pushed away with a frown.  “I’m sorry.  What did you just say?”

Harrowby reached for her
,
murmuring in
his
sexy
English tones
,
“Come, girl, service your master.”

Kate
’s jaw sagged as she stared at him in disbelief. 
Surely,
he hadn’t actually said that?  She held up both hands between them, stopping him from coming any further.  “
Service you?  Are you kidding me? 
Okay, I get that this is the
nineteenth
century but it’s certainly not the
fourteenth
.  I think that whole practice of demanding something like that we
nt out the door in the
Middle Ages
,
master
.
”
 

She injected a hefty amount of
sarcasm in her voice and
Harrowby
drew back with a frown.
  “What are yo
u so upset about?  It was your
teasing that started this with all your talk of servitude and subservience.  I recognize an invitation when I hear one.”

“That wasn’t an invitation!” she protested.  “I was completely serious!  I’ve never been in a position like this before
,
serving another person…and I do mean serving, not servicing!  That’s what I meant!
All
I meant.  I’ve never been a maid before.  I wasn’t flirting with you.”

Harrowby
raised a
patronizing
brow.

“All right, maybe I was flirting with you a little but I certainly wasn’t offering to service you!”
Kate
denied.
“And you’re certainly not my master!”
No, she might be attracted to the earl, totally aroused by him and maybe considering sharing in a mutually satisfying affair with him, but that phraseology of ‘servicing’ him was just too archaic
.  It was
like the lords of old demanding their rights
with
the women of their personal kingdoms.  “Geez!  What kind of guy are you anyway
,
expecting your employ
ees to sleep with you?  They have
a word for this where I come from, you know.  It’s called sexual harassment.”

It wasn’t hard to see that she had offended him as he drew himself up and step
ped
away.  “I have never
forced myself on any woman especially one in my employ.”

“I’m sure you’ve never forced anyone, but to expect…”

“Nor have I ever taken a woman in my employ to my bed even if she were willing and offered herself,” he interrupted before she had a chance to finish.  He crossed his arms over his broad chest and
Kate
could easily see that he was angered by her implications.  “Honorable men do not take advantage of women under their protection or in the
ir
employ despite your references to the practice of
droit du seigneur.
”

“Really?”
Kate
asked doubtfully crossing her arms as well.  “What was that then?  I’m your employee and I’m fairly sure that you intended to take me to bed just moments ago.”

“We never would have made it to a bed,” he volleyed back but
then
shook his head.  “
In truth,
I don’t know what I was thi
nking, but
be assured that this is not my normal practice.  You must admit to throwing yourself at my head most enthusiastically.”

“I was not!”
Kate
denied.  “You just took me by surprise is all when you came so close.  I’m not used to having men” –
like you
, her mind
clarifi
ed – “invading my personal space.”

“Personal space?” he questioned
, his tone clearly puzzled
.

Kate
circled her arms around her in demonstration.  “My space. 
My personal space and,
given what just happened, it might be best if you just stay out of it.”

Both of the earl’s brows shot up in surprise.  “Are you telling me what to do?”

“I’m merely suggesting that it would be to our mutual benefit to stay away from each other if you don’t want to step on your own
self-
proclaimed principles,” she told him.  “You’re the boss and I am but a lowly maid and a new one at that.  I can’t afford to lose this job.”

Never had
Harrowby
encountered anyone who talked to him
as
this woman did.  She spoke with brash directness.  She was officious and disrespectful.  She hadn’t addressed him properly even once!  She had lured him into making advances upon her person without thought for his honor and position.  That had never happened.  It was the one rule his father had pounded into him since he was sixteen years old and had been caught with a
milkmaid
in the barn.  A gentleman d
id
not use or abuse those in his care and he never had
,
despite many invitati
ons over the course of his life.  Y
et this woman would have had him taking her right there on the library desk if his own words hadn’t upset her.  He felt shame for his actions, yet frustration as wel
l
for despite it all, he wanted her still.

“Leave now then,” he commanded with a wave of his hand stepping back to give her ample space.  The stubborn woman just stood there a
nd stared at him.  “Bloody well
go!”

Finally,
she left.  She didn’t even bother to rush, just sauntered by with her head held high.