The corner of my mouth hitched. I hadn’t been amused in a long while, and certainly never after visiting my father. When had any servant dared to talk to a lord with such boldness? She must have been new.
Still, as much as it amused me, she needed to realize who was in charge. She had spirit, but someone needed to rein her in. I reached out, gripping her chin. She went completely still. Marks stopped laughing. The entire room went quiet.
“What is your name?”
She met my gaze. Courageous. I could see the uncertainty there, but she didn’t waver. “Ginny, sir.”
“Lord,” I said, my tone biting. “You will call me, my lord.”
Her gaze grew hard as flint, and that urge to smile I’d been fighting earlier returned. How wonderful it would be to tame her. Hell, give me something to think about other than the insanity that had become my life.
“Ginny, my lord.”
I took her mop cap and pulled it from her head. Hair as dark as night, glossy and sleek, tried desperately to escape its pins. She sucked in a gasp of surprise but I was barely aware. Stunning. Her eyes seemed even bluer against the darkness of her hair. I’d seen women more beautiful. Hell, I’d had mistresses who would make her look plain. But there was something different about this Ginny. Something that called to me.
Lush, delicate, at first glance, but one could see the strength there. I had a feeling she wanted to slap me…hard. And if I’d met her on the streets, she probably would have. How far could I push her before she relented? And how could I turn that anger into more pleasurable enjoyments?
“Leave us,” I said. “Ginny and I are going to have a little talk.”
Landcaster cleared his throat. “Chambers, my mother will murder me, absolutely murder me, if you dally with the servants. We need the extra help for the ball.”
Christ, they were obnoxious. But I was the son of a lord, and titled men tended to associate with other titled men. It was all part of the façade, part of the plan. Fit the definition, so no one would question me. Befriend those I could use to further my ambitions before they realized they were being used. “I said leave us.”
Landcaster and Marks moved from the room. Marks looked merely amused, perhaps a bit envious, Landcaster nervous. She watched them go as if witnessing her last bit of hope disappear. The fear in her eyes was real now. Good. She’d learn not to talk back to her betters. I released her chin and strolled into the room toward the sideboard. I could tell she was thinking of bolting. She wouldn’t, if she knew what was good for her.
Two days? Three? How long before she’d be in my bed? I poured myself a drink. “I’ll pay you double what they’re paying you here.”
I didn’t expect her to say no. Yet, as the minutes stretched, my curiosity rose. I turned. She still stood near the door, her face void of expression, like a pretty little wax doll holding a pail of ash.
“Double.”
The hand that didn’t grip her bucket slowly curled, clenching at her side. Anger? Fear? I wasn’t quite sure. How very peculiar.
“I heard you, my lord.”
Her voice was a husky caress, a sheen of velvet that whispered temptingly over my skin. Hell, how had she not become someone’s mistress by now? I leaned against the sideboard and studied her. She wasn’t the porcelain-skinned blonde that England so adored. Yet, the combination of her coloring, the curves of her body…dear lord, she was intriguing. My fingernails bit into the sideboard. I would have her.
“I don’t understand why,” she whispered.
I strolled to the fireplace attempting an ease I didn’t feel. It was unsettling how much my body had come to life the moment I’d seen her, yet I couldn’t stop myself from wanting more. My hand still tingled from contact with her skin, and I swore her scent had branded me. “Are you not worth double the pay?”
She frowned, the hardness in her gaze replaced with an innocent confusion. “Yes, my lord. But I am practical. I have little to recommend me as a servant. This is, in fact, my first day. Which means, my lord, your only reason for wanting me to work for you is because you…”
I quirked a brow, daring her to say the words, and wondering just how innocent she was. Her first day as a servant.