The Queen of New Beginnings by Erica James

Author:Erica James
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
ISBN: 1409101843
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Published: 2011-04-01T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

There was a split second of awkwardness when they at last pulled apart and after some lowering of eyes, some disentangling of limbs of some throat clearing, Clayton took matters into his own hands. Their kissing might have been a brief and pleasant distraction—it certainly had been for him—but he could see that Alice was still upset. About what exactly, he had yet to discover, although he had his suspicions. “You sit here and have an obscenely large glug of wine while I organize a fire,” he said.

“I’ll do the curtains,” she countered.

“No you won’t. I’ll do them.” He led her to one of the sofas. “Do as you’re told and sit down and relax.”

She looked at him curiously, her head tilted. “Did you have a shot of double-strength testosterone with your breakfast this morning? This newfound manly forcefulness is very unnerving.”

“Is that what’s wrong with me? I thought there was something; I just couldn’t put my finger on it.”

She smiled and he felt a flicker of warmth spread through him. She really did have the most charming and heart-warming of smiles. Why hadn’t he noticed that before?

When he had the fire lit and the curtains drawn, effectively shutting out the outside world, he went and joined her on the sofa. He didn’t put an arm around her. He’d taken one liberty when she wasn’t feeling herself; two would be exceedingly unchivalrous.

“Stacey always accused me of being insensitive,” he said, “but you know, I don’t think that was entirely fair of her. For instance, I did happen to notice that you were ever so slightly upset over something a few moments ago. You hid it well, though. To the untrained eye it could have gone unnoticed. Do you want to tell me what it is?”

Again the smile. A little sadder than the previous one, but it still had the same effect on him: a flickering, tender warmth.

“It was what George told me about my father,” she said.

“I wondered if it was that.”

She looked at him over the top of her wine glass. “For an insensitive man, you’re pretty sensitive, aren’t you?”

They were sitting about a foot apart and he was strongly tempted to kiss her once more. On his case again, Captain Sensible roared through a megaphone at him: Liberties!

“What did George tell you?” he asked.

“She said that my father came back to look for me. According to George he tried really hard. When she told him the name of the estate agent who had sold the house, he went to them to see if they knew where I was. All they could do was pass him on to the firm of solicitors I’d used, but of course they were under strict instructions not to give out any information about my whereabouts. Apparently he gave them a letter to forward to me, but by this time I was in London and I’d moved so many times in the space of two years there was no way anything could have reached me.

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