Laurie Brown (17 page)

He chuckled.“Actually I find your imperfections...”

“That’s one way to say filthy dirty, mussed...”

“Genuine and unpretentious.”

“Yes, well, I’d rather be that
and
clean
and
smell good all at the same time.”

“You are such a...” He didn’t finish his sentence but leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose instead.

He hesitated for a moment with his lips inches above hers. Just for a second, a tenth of a second, but to her amazement, that’s
all it took for Josie’s blood to go from chilled to boiling.Without conscious decision she lifted her chin so her lips met
his.

Thirteen

T
HOSE FEW INCHES BETWEEN THEIR LIPS SIG
-nified a huge gulf of time, if not space, yet Josie crossed it without hesitation. Dev waited on the other side.The resulting
kiss burned away all her concerns in a flash of igniting passion. She raised her arms to his shoulders as he wrapped his around
her waist. He deepened the kiss and she opened her mouth, welcoming his tongue, tasting, exploring, demanding more.

She slipped her hand to the back of his neck and buried her fingers in his hair. He tightened his embrace and she leaned into
him, molding her body against his. She wanted to rip off his clothes, her clothes. She wanted to feel his molten hot skin
against hers.

His erection pulsed high against her stomach, and she raised herself up on her toes to settle it between her hips. Not close
enough, she pulled on his shoulders to lift herself higher. He reached down and cupped her derriere, lifting her to her tiptoes
and pulling her against him with a groan. The doorknob rattled and his senses returned. He felt like a boxer splashed with
cold water after an unexpected knockout punch. Fortunately he retained enough wits to set Josie aside and take a step away
from her. For a moment they stared at each other with equally stunned expressions.

When Carson entered the room, they stood a respectable distance apart even if Dev had chosen to stand behind a chair and Josie
held on to the back of another for balance. The bandy valet turned around and pulled Dora into the room behind him. The poor
maid looked much the worse for her run-in with the coachman. Her nose was swollen, and both eyes had begun to develop major
shiners.

“Oh, Dora,” Josie said. She rushed forward and put her arm around the other woman’s shoulder. “You were so brave to try to
help me. I’m afraid you got the worst end of it.”

“I’b all bight, biss,” the maid answered, her speech hindered by swollen lips. “I’b just glab you’re all bight.” She clutched
the bundle of clothes to her breast, and her gaze darted around the room as if she feared a bogeyman would jump out at any
moment.

“You’re safe now,” Josie assured her.“Lord Waite took care of those villains for us.” She ignored Dev’s snort of disagreement.

“Hab you seen id?” Dora whispered.

“What?” Josie whispered back, expecting the maid to say a ghost haunted these rooms.

“Da jower. Sabie seen ib last spring and she said ib was monsberous. Big brass arms waibing do grab you.”

“Huh?”

“Da jower.” The maid stomped her foot when Josie shook her head to signal she still didn’t under-stand.“ Lorb Waib’s jower.”

“I think she means my shower,” Dev interjected. “I had it installed last spring...”

“You have a shower?” Josie asked, spinning around to face him.“Why didn’t you say so?”

“When I built my modern house in town I became aware of the latest advances in construction, and since I quite enjoyed both
the convenience and the luxury, I decided to have the same...”

“Where is it? Can I use it? I’ve been dying for a hot shower.” She looked around the room as if he’d hidden it like an Easter
egg.

Carson rushed to a door in the far corner and blocked the passage with his body, his arms outstretched.

“Aha.” Josie strode across the room and stood before him. “Out of my way,” she commanded in her most imperious voice.

He shook his head and gripped the jambs on either side of the door.

She pasted a sweet smile on her face. “If you don’t move,” she said in a sugary tone, “I’ll wrestle you to the floor and climb
over you.”

The valet blanched, but he stood firm, bravely protecting his master’s inner sanctum.

Josie didn’t really want to hurt the valet, but she so wanted a shower. She turned a pleading look toward Dev.

“It’s all right, Carson,” Dev said with a chuckle. “Miss Drummond is welcome to use any...amenities of this house she desires.”

The valet sidled aside with alacrity and collapsed onto the nearest chair.

Josie had noted the twinkle in Dev’s eye, but she couldn’t wait to give him a witty reply. The man had a shower. She eagerly
opened the door only to have it reveal a hall running parallel to the main one outside the suite and three more closed doors.

“First one on the left,” Dev prompted, and she nodded to show she’d spotted the door about halfway down the hall.

“Come along, Dora,” Josie said.

“Bud biss...”

“If you refuse to attend me, I shall be forced to ask Carson to help with my stays.”

The valet, who had since regained his feet, sank back into the chair, this time with his hand over his heart. He closed his
eyes and moaned.

“Would you like me to show you how it works?”

Dev called after her as she marched down the hall.

“No, thank you,” Josie answered.“I’ll figure it out.”

Although when she entered the bathing chamber, she wasn’t so sure. In addition to a claw-foot tub large enough for two, the
room held a dressing table, a barber chair, and several items she couldn’t identify. That almost included the shower, which
was half hidden behind a screen, and didn’t resemble any shower she’d ever seen.

She examined the contraption. Four long copper pipes sprang out on each side of a central post and curved around, encircling
two-thirds of the area above a circular stone platform approximately five feet in diameter. The arms, as the maid had called
them, were pierced with holes along the inner surface, and Josie deduced the water would spray out in an all-over body wash.
Overhead a more familiar looking showerhead promised clean hair, but she couldn’t find any faucets or other mechanism to turn
the thing on.

“Perhaps, we’d better ask Lord Waite...”

“Did I hear my name,” he asked. He leaned against the doorjamb, another brandy in his hand.

“May I be of service?”

Dora rushed over to block his way and simultaneously tried to shut the door.

“We need his help,” Josie admitted.

Dev gave a superior smirk and sauntered into the room. “There is a tank on the roof that holds water pumped from a nearby
spring.The pipes run through this fireplace, where the water is heated. Thankfully Carson thought to stoke the flames; getting
the temperature just right is a bit tricky.”

“All I really need to know is how to turn it on.”

Dev stepped to the fireplace and slid open a panel above the mantel. He turned a handle, and after a few gurgles and spurts
water beautifully cascaded out of each opening in the awkward contraption.

Josie watched it for a minute, entranced by the fountainlike quality. But her desire to jump in soon overrode, and she pushed
Dev toward the door. “Thank you, thank you.Time for you to go.”

“Must I?” he teased.

Dora sucked in an indignant breath.

“I suppose I must,” he said with a dramatic sigh.

Josie giggled. She was going to have a real shower, and at that moment nothing else mattered. She began to disrobe almost
before Dora closed the door behind Dev and turned the key with a flourish.

With Dora’s help, Josie adjusted the screen for privacy. Despite the maid’s insistence that a lady didn’t remove her chemise
to bathe, she stripped off the wet garment as soon as she was safely ensconced within the water jets and out of the maid’s
censuring glare. Dora, assuming Josie would want to wash in a basin, had brought a sliver of soap. Hah. No miserly bit of
tepid water in a bowl today.

Josie enjoyed washing away the grime of the road, lathering the lavender-scented soap even into her hair. She hummed as she
got clean, even vocalizing a few bars of “Singing in the Rain,” which seemed appropriate even though she couldn’t remember
all the words. Hot water spraying from all sides soothed her aching muscles from her shoulders down to her abused toes. She
lacked only decent shampoo and a razor for her legs in order to feel normal again.

She stepped out of the water and wrapped herself in a towel, a bit on the thin side as far as fluffy went, but as large as
a bedsheet.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the shower, but the maid had seated herself in the corner and dozed with her head against
the wall. Josie dried herself and tiptoed over to put on the clean chemise and as much clothing as she could by herself. She
sat at the dressing table and hesitated a moment before picking up Dev’s comb to untangle her curls. Such an act seemed so...intimate,
even more so than using his bathing chamber.

“Ob, biss, I hab your cobb id by bokgeb,”Dora said.

After a moment’s thought, Josie understood the maid meant she had a comb in her pocket, and smiled her thanks. The rest of
her toilet was completed efficiently.

Carson waited in the reception room and acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place. He handed Dora Josie’s shawl,
neatly folded, with one glove on the top. “His lordship has left to call on Lady Honoria,” the valet announced with a slight
bow.“He said you would know what it concerned.”

Josie hoped Dev was able to schedule a séance for that evening.

“His lordship also said you could wait for him here. However, the hallway is clear if you wish to return to your suite immediately.”

Josie was sure that last bit was Carson’s own idea, but she happened to agree with him. No good would come of her hanging
around in Dev’s rooms.

“Hey, where’s her obber glub?”

Josie knew full well where her other
glub
was, and she didn’t want Dora to make a big deal out of it. “I’m sure it will turn up later,” she said, turning the maid by
the shoulders toward the door.“Thank his lordship for his hospitality,” she said over her shoulder to Carson as she pushed
Dora out the door in front of her.

They returned to her suite without incident. Dora tried to explain several things to Josie, but her speech was getting worse
and Josie understood very little of what she said.

Josie had no idea how to help the poor girl. “I think you’d better go downstairs and let Mrs. Osman put something cool on
your mouth,” she said, insisting when the maid demurred. “Yes, I understand, you’ll be back to dress me for the ball, but
that’s really not necessary. Someone else can...okay, okay, I won’t ask for anyone else. Now go and let the housekeeper help
you.”

After Dora finally consented to seek treatment, and a quick peek into the other bedroom to ensure that she’d understood correctly
and Mrs. Binns was indeed absent, Josie went to her own room intending to take a short nap.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Josie was startled, not only by the ghost’s presence but also by his wan and disheveled appearance and the virulence of his
tone. “Excuse me,” she said, placing one fist on her hip and shaking one finger of her free hand in his direction.“Where the
hell were
you
when I was kidnapped by Hargrave this morning?”

Deverell ran his hand through his hair as he paced back and forth in front of the windows. “Don’t point. It’s rude.”

“I’ll give you rude.How about when you didn’t...”

“Before you get wound up with your righteous indignation, allow me the chance to explain.”

Josie crossed her arms, but she remained silent.

“Because you intended to meet with Dev, against my advice I might add, I didn’t accompany you since I knew I would only be
bounced out of the way. When I realized you were in danger, I could not materialize a strong enough presence to be of any
assistance. Once you’d left the grounds of the estate, I could not follow.”

“Because you can’t leave,” Josie said softly, remembering that he’d said something to that effect when they’d first met. Gads,
so much had happened since then, it seemed ages ago.

“I hated feeling so useless. All I could do was watch over Dora and keep her semiconscious until Dev could find her and learn
what had transpired. Then I had to trust him to rescue you.”

“He did. Well, sort of.”

“And how was I to know? I waited here for hours with that drunken maid snoring her brains out. Even after Carson woke her
and fetched her with fresh clothes for you, I couldn’t be sure. I couldn’t see for myself that you were unharmed.”

“Because I was with him.”

“For hours,” the ghost said, and stuck out his bottom lip.“Hours,” he reiterated.“And why does your hair look damp?”

“Does it?” She ran her fingers through her curls to fluff them up. Her short hair usually air-dried quickly. She tucked several
loose strands behind her ears to stall for time but realized she would have to answer him or he’d magnify the matter into
an issue. “No big deal,” she mumbled, shrugging one shoulder. “I took a shower.”

“With him?”

“No!” Her imagination immediately conjured up some interesting possibilities for two people using the unusually constructed
shower. Handholds. Footrests.

“There is currently only one shower in the entire castle.”

“
His
shower does not mean
he
was in it.”

Deverell pinched his chin and furrowed his brow.“Something is wrong with this picture.”

“What do you mean? Wrong?”

“I can’t see me, him, standing idly by while a beautiful woman clad only her chemise...”

“Naked.” She immediately regretted correcting him.

“Pardon?

“Nothing.”

“You said something.What?”

“Um, I said I was naked.”

“Oh, thank you for that added worry. What I want to know is, why didn’t he try to seduce you?

I don’t understand.”

She decided not to share any more of what had happened with him. If he found out from altered memories after they returned
to the future, so be it. She would deal with it then. “Maybe I’m not his type.”

He flashed her a look of disbelief.

Time to change the subject. “I do have a bit of good news,’ she said.“Because Dev was busy rescuing me, he wasn’t able to
keep his appointment with Lady Wingate.”

Deverell made a face.

“And that means Lord Wingate didn’t find them together, and so he can’t demand satisfaction, and there won’t be a duel. It
was Wingate who shot you, wasn’t it? Well, now he won’t. Isn’t that good news?”