“D-delighted, eh?” The confident wretch laughed at her.
His duty done, Cyclops settled at the foot of the bed, tail occasionally giving a good thump.
“Aye! Delighted,” Thea fairly snarled, plucking the fan from where the handle persisted in poking her posterior. She moved the latch and spread the spokes. Flicking her wrist, she attempted a flirty move. It came off agitated.
A blunt fingertip drew the fan away from her face. “Thea?”
Mayhap one in revealing nightwear was meant to entice, not avoid.
And that was another thing—she finally dons the night rail he gave her on the very night he wants only to talk?
“Oh, very well.” She snapped it shut and met his gaze. “If you must know, I’m humiliated. How could I drift off when you finally turn up verbose? It’s very poorly done of me!”
He pried the fan from her tense grip and brought her hand to his mouth where he bestowed several gentle kisses upon her knuckles. Only once the tension drained from her arm did he stop. “No more of that now. I d-did not mind. So you shall not either.”
“But I—”
He bent his head and slipped her index finger into his mouth. And suckled it.
She felt the pull all the way down to her toes. His tongue swirled around the digit as the heat in his eyes became unbearable.
“All right!” Thea conceded with ill grace as her arm melted to cinders. “I’m allowed to fall asleep on you without ever feeling remorse. Now do please leave off before I turn to ash!”
Wearing a self-satisfied smile, he pulled her finger free, then carefully, thoroughly, dried it on his tight-fitting pantaloons.
“Wicked, are you,” she breathed as she felt the hard muscles of his thigh flexing beneath her finger. “And even more wicked,” she accused after he finished his task and pressed her fingers to his groin before relocating her hand to the mattress—inches away from his leg.
He only smiled, making no mention of his aroused state. Mayhap talking wasn’t all he intended.
“Have you anything to ask me, b-b-before I proceed?”
“Proceed?”
“With what I came to tell you.”
That sounded ominous. It also put to bed thoughts of things other than talking. “There’s more?”
“Quite.”
“Ummm,” Thea stalled. The tingling from her arm had affected her tongue. “How long have you been in my room? Watching me sleep? Or should I say waiting for me to wake?”
He grinned, a boyish, carefree curve of lips that brought the laughter into his eyes, that dimple to his cheek. “Counted eleven whistles from that illustrious cuckoo clock d-down the hall.”
She smiled back. “You’ve restored my faith in clocks.”
“Me?”
“You and that particular design. No mean feat, I assure you. I’d quite come to hate the wretched things. But now I only find them inspiring.”
“As well I know.” Daniel inclined his head, what else he wanted—needed—to say burning a hole in his gut. “Anything else?”
If so, she’d better ask now because once he started with the rest, he doubted he could stop. His throat was as sore as a goose’s golden-egg-laying arse. Knew he’d pay for it tomorrow, but he wouldn’t be able to stop until the rest was out.
“Thea?” She looked so much more alert now, still sleep-flushed and inviting but more aware than she’d been the last time they’d spoken.
He shouldn’t have been surprised, really. She’d been viciously attacked that morning and wide awake most of last night, vigorously making love. With her doing creative things and taking command of all the conversation; with him simply lying back and loving every second. By all accounts, he should be dead on his feet too, ready to climb under those covers with her and doze until daybreak but he was too worked up to relax.
“Is Grimmett still breathing?” Even as she asked, he saw her rub the finger he’d just bathed.
“Was the last time I saw him.” Crawling away like the coward he is. “More’s the pity.”
In the hours he’d been there, rehearsing what was to come, Daniel reasoned against telling her the likely fate of her royally named rodents. That, thanks to Mrs. Freshley’s appetite, in all probability he’d brought them over to his household as well. Parts of them, at least.
“After you left, I considered what you said.” She left off staring at her finger to fix a worried gaze on him. “How can we be sure he won’t assault others?”
“He won’t.”
“But you don’t know that,” Thea persisted.
“Oh, but I d-d-do.” And because she kept looking at him, so trustingly yet quizzically, he explained what he’d intended to keep to himself. “Roskins’ cousin is going to keep an eye on Grimmett.”
“Why would he do that?” She sounded baffled.
“B-be-because he’s a good man.”
“And…?”
Daniel heaved a big sigh. Mouse tails aside, mayhap ’twas best not to keep any more secrets from Thea. “I offered to fund ap-p-prenticeships for his three boys and t-two girls. He works the docks—or did until his arm got crushed.”
She grasped the ramifications immediately. “And now he’s having trouble providing for his family?”
Daniel nodded. “B-but he’s an intimidating hulk who can still use the left one to p-pound away if Grimmett crosses the line.”
The admiration in her expressive eyes nearly brought Daniel to the blush. By the devil!
“Your brush,” he blurted without any finesse, “was splintered ab-b-bominably.”
Admiration faltered to dismay. “I know.” She curved her arm through his and leaned into him until she rested along his side, head on his shoulder. “But it was sacrificed for a good cause. Mama would be pleased it cracked smashing such a sap-filled, rotten skull.”
Despite the smile her words wrought, Daniel felt her loss. He pressed a soothing kiss to the top of her beautifully mussed hair. “I know I cannot simply buy you another to replace so special a keepsake from your mother. Jem and I think the halves can be glued together sufficiently for you to d-display it or tuck it away for safekeeping. They’re clamped now and d-drying—”
She raised her head and stared at
