The Unexpected Wife - Jess Michaels Page 0,41
world,” Celeste continued. “In any world.” She was quiet a moment, then smiled at him apologetically. “I swear you will regret taking me out today when I am in such a maudlin mood.”
“I certainly don’t,” he said, and meant it. Truth be told, he’d missed seeing her during their time apart. Missed that soft floral scent of her hair and skin, missed the way her hands fluttered when she was excited, missed the sound of her laugh.
That was incredibly dangerous and also totally undeniable. This woman had begun to bewitch him and he didn’t want free of her spell.
He slowed the rig and moved it to the side of the path, then turned toward her. “You must be exhausted because the future is filled with such question. You want to see things resolved?”
She nodded. “Perhaps I could better see the path then, yes.”
He smiled. She was so very clever—of course she liked to set herself a path to follow. Of course she would be troubled by how rocky and twisted the one before her seemed. “Then why don’t we go to my home instead of a museum or a park today?” he suggested.
Her eyes went a little wider and her pupils dilated, and for a moment every muscle in his body contracted with wild, unfiltered desire. She had no idea what that look did to him. No idea what her presence in general did.
“Go to your home…alone?” she whispered.
He nodded slowly, hoping to mask some of his eagerness for just that. “Yes. I could use your help with some elements of the case. Your eyes and observations might help me move along a little faster.”
She bent her head. “Oh, yes, of course. Your case. Yes, I’d be very happy to join you there and assist in any way I can.”
He nickered at the horses to jog on and for a little while they rode in silence. Then he grinned at her. “Also, I think it wouldn’t help your situation if I kissed you in the open rig in the middle of the road. But alone in my study, I can do so with far less worry.”
Her mouth dropped open, and he reveled in her surprise at that forward suggestion. “Unless you don’t want that.”
She barked out a little laugh that she smothered with her hand. When she lowered her fingers, he could see the corners of her mouth twitching like she was trying to suppress a smile.
“I think, Mr. Gregory, that I would very much like that. Is there no way to make the horses go faster?”
He threw his head back to laugh before he flicked the reins and they rushed even more quickly toward his home, toward his case…toward whatever would happen when they were alone and he could do all the wicked things that had been haunting him since the first moment he met her.
Chapter 12
Celeste was focused mainly on controlling her breath as Owen pulled the phaeton onto a small circular drive before a brightly painted blue house in the little neighborhood they had observed a few days before. She clasped her hands as she stared up at the narrow home snuggling along the row of others.
“What do you think?” he asked as he climbed down and came around to assist her.
“I was hoping it would be the blue one,” she breathed. “I love how happy the color is.”
“I was drawn to the color too,” he admitted. “Let us hope you don’t find the inside a disappointment.”
She took his hand, climbed down from the rig and shook her head up at him. “Owen, you saw my awful little home in Twiddleport. I don’t think anything could be disappointing after that.”
“Thank you, Jenkins,” he called to the young man who had swept up into the rig to take it away. He offered Celeste an arm and guided her to his door, where a smiling lady with graying hair had stepped outside.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Gregory. Welcome home.”
“Mrs. Cookson,” he said with an equally wide smile. The one that made his dimple pop. They followed her into the foyer. “Good afternoon. This is Mrs. Montgomery, a client.”
“Ah, well, welcome, welcome,” the woman said. “I assume you’ll be going to the study. Should I have tea sent in?”
“That would be wonderful, but wait a few moments.”
Mrs. Cookson nodded and smiled at Celeste again before she slipped off to start those preparations.
“She seems very kind,” Celeste said.
“She is. She and her husband, my butler, are the best of us. And discreet, which