Free Dangerous 01 - Dangerous Works by Caroline Warfield Page B

powder covers it.”
    She put her hand to her face without breaking eye contact, puzzlement in her expressive eyes.
    He began to laugh. “Now you’ve done it. Your cheeks are covered.” She looked down at her hands and smiled.
    “Flour. I didn’t know flour was so difficult to manage.”
    “What is Lady Georgiana Hayden doing with flour in my kitchen?”
    “Tarts. Raspberry. I couldn’t risk losing the best French chef in Cambridgeshire by ordering him to your little kitchen. I came myself.”
    He could only laugh.
    “Do you think I’m not capable?” She stretched her shoulders upward in outrage.
    “Oh, I believe you’re capable of a great many things.” Pain returned and fogged his sight. He shut his eyes in resignation. “Now remove yourself and your little army from my house.”
    A sharp command sounded, and he felt himself lifted to the stairs. A voice at his side broke through his discomfort.
    “Told you I weren’t taking help from the Marquess.”
    Andrew Mallet never looked so vulnerable or so pale. He had never looked lovelier to her. When he laughed at her, the sound of it resonated inside her; the sensation created a flicker of warmth.
    When he looked at her, she melted inside and the warmth began to spread throughout her body. His eyes said more than most men’s words, at least they did to her. He was tired. He hated being carried. He didn’t want to see her, and he particularly hated having her see him as an invalid.
    Georgiana took a moment to realize their conversation exhausted the last of his energy. She vented her frustration with herself on the servants, barking orders to get Mr. Mallet above stairs to his rest.
    Before she could move, his long-fingered hand gripped hers and brought her to a sudden, silent stop. She couldn’t have spoken to save her life. His melodic baritone voice, whispered through cracked lips, broke into her hypnotic state. “Go home, Georgiana. Leave me.”
    Deflated, she stood back and watched her servants lift and carry him, grim-faced, step by step. Harley spoke to him, something impudent no doubt, but Andrew made no reply.

Chapter 9
    Mallet woke in the grip of erotic dreams. A lush, ripe body entwined with his. A sensual voice begged him not to stop while his own voice murmured over and over, “Mine! You are mine!” The woman smelled of raspberry and lilacs.
    He wanted this dream lover. He wanted her honorably; he wanted her completely; he wanted her any way he could get her. He came fully awake with a jolt of shock. Fool. Georgiana had never been his by any means, and he knew she never would be.
    He squeezed his eyes shut, but he didn’t see the face of a pretty young woman. A more mature face, illuminated by intelligence and masterfully resolute, haunted his nights.
    The same face haunted his days as well. Lord, but she would make a good general. He half expected to find her at his bedside.
    “Vexatious woman would try to feed me broth and chaff my hands.”
    “You should be so blessed.” Harley’s voice, hoarse with sleep, responded. “Do y’need a bit of water? Perhaps some of the powders?”
    “None of Peabody’s powders. I haven’t needed them in a week. Let me recover from the journey home. I’ll take some water though.”
    “It don’t matter to me none unless you plan to stay up and keep an honest man from his bed.”
    He took the water, watched Harley situate himself on a makeshift pallet near the fire in the outer room, and closed his own eyes. Sleep escaped him. Long after Harley, honest man or not, found his sleep, Mallet lay awake consumed by thoughts of raspberry tarts.
    Fool . He wanted her still. Fool . The word echoed in his head deep into the night while he listened to his servant snore and the fire crackle.
    Lady Georgiana called at noon the next day. She had Chef Henri’s beef broth in her hands and tired, anxious lines around her eyes.
    “Very good, Mr. Harley. Eunice Williams and I shall be but a moment in the