The following afternoon Lavinia put the finishing touches on her advertisement, sanded and blotted the foolscap, and sat back to savor her clever wording.
The door of the study opened just as she was about to read the lines aloud to herself to hear how it sounded. Tobias walked into the room.
Sometimes, she thought, his timing was uncanny.
She eyed him warily. "What are you doing here?"
"The warmth of your welcome never fails to lift my spirits and brighten my day, my sweet."
"I thought you said at breakfast that you planned to discuss another investment with Crackenburne today."
"Crackenburne can wait. He won't be going anywhere. I told you, the man never leaves his club." He looked down at the paper in front of her. "What is that?"
"I have finished my advertisement. My only regret is that I was unable to find a way to use the word
intrigue.
Nevertheless, I intend to send this off to the newspaper today. Would you care to hear it?"
"You are determined to ignore my advice on this matter, are you not?"
"Yes, of course I am." She cleared her throat and read the advertisement.
Persons wishing to commission an expert for the purpose of conducting inquiries of a personal and private nature may send word to the address below. Exclusive references are available upon request. The utmost discretion is assured.
"Hmm," Tobias said.
She narrowed her eyes in warning. "Do not bother to criticize. I am quite satisfied that it sounds extremely professional and I am not interested in your opinion."
"It certainly sounds professional," he agreed. "But I could not help but notice that you make no mention that you work with a partner."
"You are entirely against the notion of placing a notice in the papers. Why would you want to be mentioned in it?"
"I suppose it is a matter of pride," he admitted. "We are occasional partners, after all. But that advertisement makes it sound as though you always work alone."
"Well—"
"If you are determined to advertise, I would think that you would want to draw attention to the unique nature of the services you offer. Surely anyone wishing to employ a professional for the purposes of making private inquiries would be more inclined to do so if he thought that he would be gaining the experience of not one but two experts in the field."
He had a point, she thought. "Well, I suppose I could rewrite it to bring out that aspect."
"Excellent notion." He reached out, caught hold of the page between thumb and forefinger, and twitched it out of her grasp. "I shall be happy to assist you. Tomorrow morning at breakfast we can discuss the new wording. It may take a while, but I'm sure that, together, we shall come up with a very enticing advertisement."
"Pray, do not trouble yourself, sir." She snatched the paper back from him and gave him a cool smile. "With a minor change or two, this one will work perfectly well. I shall make the modifications this afternoon and send it around to the paper today."
"Damnation, Lavinia—"
The door opened behind him. He broke off and glared at Mrs. Chilton over his shoulder.
Lavinia turned quickly toward the door. "Yes, what is it, Mrs. Chilton? A visitor?"
"No, ma'am." Mrs. Chilton fixed Tobias with an unreadable look. "Miss Emeline's gone out with Mr. Sinclair, and now I'm off to shop for currants. Just wanted to let ye know that I'll be gone for a while."
"More currants?" Lavinia frowned. "But we cannot possibly have run out so soon. I fail to comprehend why we are going through so many currants lately."
"It's the jam." Mrs. Chilton backed out into the hall. "Takes a lot of currants to make good currant jam. Well, now, I'll be off. Expect I'll be back at three." She paused, one hand on the doorknob, and gave Tobias a sharp look. "And not a minute later."
Tobias smiled slowly. "Take your time, Mrs. Chilton. No need to hurry back."
Mrs. Chilton closed the door very firmly and went down the hall. Lavinia could have sworn she heard her chuckling.
"1 simply cannot comprehend how this small household can go through so much currant jam," Lavinia muttered.
Tobias took her into his arms. "Mrs. Chilton is experienced in the preparation of jam. You must allow her to make the decisions pertaining to the quantity of the ingredients needed."
"Well, I suppose so. Nevertheless—"
"You and I are expert in another line, are we not?" he asked very softly.
She started to argue, and then it struck her that he had just called her an
expert.
It was one of the few times he had paid tribute to her professional skills. The accolade gave her a glow of pleasure.
"Very true," she murmured.
"We are also partners." He brushed his mouth deliberately across hers. "And I think that now would be an excellent time to discuss some of the details of our business association."
"What details would those be, sir?"
His eyes held hers with all the power of a brilliantly accomplished mesmerist. "The most pressing matter at the moment is that I am in love with you, Mrs. Lake."
She thought at first that she had misunderstood him. Her second thought was that her imagination had run wild. And then a glorious sense of happiness blossomed deep inside her. He was, she thought, the only man she had ever met who could truly entrance her.
She slid her arms around his neck. "This is an extremely fortunate turn of events, Mr. March. Because I seem to have fallen in love with you too."
He smiled slowly, deepening the enchantment without saying a single word.
"It will not be easy, you know," she said a trifle anxiously. "I mean, we do tend to quarrel a lot and the business aspect complicates things and I expect there will be any number of problems in the future—"
He put his fingertips against her mouth, silencing her. And then he smiled again.
"You and I never do things the easy way," he said.
And then he kissed her.
The advertisement could wait, she thought. Some things were vastly more important.
AMANDA QUICK, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, is a
New York Times
best-selling, award-winning author of contemporary and historical romances. There are nearly thirty million copies of her books in print, including
Seduction, Surrender, Scandal, Rendezvous, Ravished, Reckless, Dangerous, Deception, Desire, Mistress, Mystique, Mischief, Affair, With This Ring, I Thee Wed,
and
Wicked Widow.
She is also the author of
Slightly Shady,
the debut novel featuring Lavinia Lake and Tobias March, and
Late for the Wedding,
available in hardcover from Bantam Books in May 2003. She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Frank.
Visit her website at
www.amandaquick.com.