Spicy Bites--Machines by Victoria Brown

Author:Victoria Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-6452177-3-5
Publisher: Romance Writers of Australia, Inc.
Published: 2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

7

Tick Tock

FIONA M MARSDEN

A

nnie could hear nothing beyond the room, see little within. The bedchamber was in the old wing, far away from the busy parts of the house, the doors and windows heavily swathed with rich emerald velvet. The gas jet on the wall sconce was turned low as always, the cold light barely permeating beneath the canopy of the oak four-poster bed.

The new part of the house was full of Nile crocodiles and Egyptian sphinxes. Even those were long out of style, fifty years into the reign of Queen Victoria.

Annie preferred this ancient bed with its stacks of feather mattresses filling the frame which went almost as high as her waist. She was deliciously warm, burrowed under the equally prolific quilts. It hardly mattered that the fire in the grate had turned to dull coals. The current master of the house was late. Long past his usual time and she’d nodded off briefly while waiting.

The door opened with a soft click, letting in a whisper of light from the hall. A shadowed presence brought its own illumination. The glow of the candle gleamed on the brass holder and caught the gold of a sturdy old-fashioned pocket watch in a gloved hand. Annie’s heart picked up the tick tock rhythm and she shifted in the bed, the better to see him.

His eyes were a brilliant silver, burned to liquid heat by the bright flame as he raised the candle and blew softly. It flickered and went out, extinguishing eyes, face and a glimpse of pale skin framed by long dark locks.

She blinked against the Stygian gloom, allowing her eyes to adjust.

Another flare of light came from the fireplace, with the rattle of coal being tipped onto the embers and stirred up with a poker. Her job, but she wouldn’t complain. She could see him clearly now, the firelight reflecting off mirrors and glinting among the metal of candlesticks and adding strength to the puny gas flames.

“Are you awake?”

“No.”

His chuckle warmed her. He was not inclined to levity. It was her aim to force him to smile at least once in a day. Sometimes she succeeded. More often she was rewarded with a stare and raised brows. She sat up, all the better to beat down the feathers and to see what was keeping him away. He stood very still, looking into the fire.

A shiver had her snuggling into the bedding, but it wasn’t from the chill air. The fire was already sending heat into the room. “Aren’t you coming to bed?”

He turned, shrugging off his coat. “I was following up on a theory. I wanted to get it written down.”

His crisp vowels were a stark contrast to her words. She spoke well enough now, whipped into obedience by Cook when she’d first arrived. Later, she was motivated by her friendship with a son of the house, but it took an effort to get those plummy tones and most of the time she couldn’t be bothered. He never noticed. Or at least he never commented.

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