Who Wants to Marry a Duke - Sabrina Jeffries Page 0,39
contained a small piece of white phosphorus, which must be stored in water at all times. Because once the phosphorus dries out, it will ignite spontaneously as air hits it.”
He tried to tug her back. “So let it ignite. The floor is stone, anyway.”
“Can’t leave it alone, sorry.” Wrenching herself free of him, she hurried over to where she’d earlier placed a pail of sand, a watering can, a jar of bicarbonate of soda, and a sturdy broom for just this sort of purpose. “The smoke from white phosphorus is toxic.”
Indeed, she could already hear the hissing of it igniting. She rushed over to throw sand on the sparkling fire and then water on the sand. As a thin plume of white smoke rose from it, she held her breath and carefully pushed the lot of it into the hearth with the broom.
“That should take care of the smoke, which will go up the chimney,” she told him. “Fortunately for us, phosphorus doesn’t react to carbon and it was a small piece, so it’s probably all burned. But just in case, we should leave for a bit.”
“You’ve got it under control now,” he bit out. “Can’t we—”
“No,” she said firmly. “Trust me, you won’t like what that smoke does to you if you breathe it in.”
“I suppose it’s just as well.” He seemed to draw into himself. “It’s probably nearly dinnertime, anyway. And nearly sunset, too.”
He had a point. Much as she wished she could stay longer and work, she didn’t fancy trying to make her way back to the house in the dark alone. At least not until she got the lay of the land.
She paused at the other end of the room to right her clothing. “From now on, I can’t have you in the laboratory, Thorn.” She would never get anything done if he continued to come with her. “It’s too dangerous.”
“It was merely an accident,” he said. “Next time I’ll be more cautious.”
“It doesn’t matter. I simply can’t have you here.”
“Why?” he drawled. “Afraid I’ll see something I shouldn’t?”
“Oh, for pity’s sake, you’ll force me to say it, won’t you? You distract me, all right? You can’t help yourself. You enjoy flirting and dallying with women, and I happen to be handy.” Olivia finished buttoning up her redingote before forcing herself to look him in the eye. “But these experiments are too important for me. I refuse to make a hash of it simply because you are . . . being yourself.”
“You didn’t enjoy what we did?”
His eyes had gone cold, and she knew she had once again been too blunt in her speech. But she couldn’t figure out how she should have said it. “Of course I enjoyed it.” More than she could possibly have expected. “That’s not the point.”
“It’s the only point,” the dratted fellow said. “Unless you’re looking for that impossible dream—love and happiness in marriage.”
Thinking of what she’d seen between Grey and Beatrice today, she murmured, “What if I think it is possible? Your brother and sister-in-law seem to be happily in love.”
“They’re lucky.” He sounded bitter. “But the odds are against it. Most of the time, love is an illusion.”
“All the more reason not to indulge in . . . activities that can only lead nowhere.”
“They don’t have to lead anywhere. They just . . . need to be enjoyable. As long as we’re discreet when we meet in the laboratory—”
“A lack of discretion isn’t the problem!” Huffing out a breath, she fought for calm. “From what I understand, you rarely worry about discretion or you wouldn’t have gained your reputation. But I’m not one of your mistresses or a soiled dove, no matter what you may think. If I let you stand about in my laboratory, keeping me from my work, then I’m precisely the fool you tried to make me out to be to your brother.”
He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I wasn’t . . . I didn’t say . . .”
“I will never get as good an opportunity as this to test my method on human remains. Grey is giving me a chance to make history. I cannot repay him by squandering that chance to have stolen moments with you.”
As delicious as those moments might be.
She shook off that dangerous thought. He was the glittering brightness of phosphorus, and she was the mundane, everyday air. Together they created toxic smoke. And she simply couldn’t allow that.
He was eyeing her with new interest. “Is that the real reason