Page 58 of How the Earl Entices

“I’m not.” Selecting a purple bottle, she removed the stopper and wafted it beneath her nose, then drizzled several drops into the water. Her eyes gleamed mischievously in the soft glow of the lamp burning on the wall sconce. “But if you grow bored of being an earl, you’ve got a second career ahead of you as a footman.”

“I can only imagine the kind of reference you’d write for me,” he drawled sardonically at her teasing.

She laughed, the lilting sound nearly as warm and sweet as the jasmine-scented steam rising from the tub. His chest clenched in visceral response. Being with her like this as she prepared for the evening felt relaxed and familiar. It felt…right.

He hadn’t had that feeling in his life for far too long.

She paused, glancing around the small space behind the large Japanese-painted screen. “Why are there his and her bedrooms up here?” A small furrow creased her brow. “Shaving accoutrements in your room, a bathing area in mine…What kind of artist needs a space like this in his studio?”

“One with a scandalous reputation.” Not technically a lie, although describing the artist’s reputation asscandalouswas the understatement of the year. “Vincenzo’s famous for paintings that can be rather shocking. Including nudes. Most likely his models change up here.”

She arched a brow. “Or perhaps this is where Ellsworth meets his mistresses.”

Cheeky chit. “That, too.”

“Where do you meet your mistresses, Spalding?” she challenged with a glint in her eyes. “Do you keep his and her bedrooms above a carriage house, as well?”

Not a chance in the world he’d answerthat.“Who can afford mistresses? I’m only a footman in training.”

She laughed again. When the delicious sound faded, she said sincerely, “Thank you for helping to heat and haul the water.” She smiled in gratitude as her hand reached up to unbutton the front of her bodice. “A hot bath is going to be heavenly.”

“You’re welcome.” Instead of leaving, he propped a hip against the wall, as if settling in to shamelessly watch her bathe.

Her hand stilled on the third button. “Don’t you have your own clothes to ready?”

“My clothes are boring.” He trailed a deliberate gaze over her. He did it only to goad her into another match of verbal sparring, taking a perverse pleasure in the chess-like matches of conversation they regularly fell into. But he also genuinely appreciated the view. “Yours are much more interesting.”

She swept her gaze pointedly over him and crooked a brow in chastisement that he wore very little, having stripped down to his breeches to help haul up the water. “Yours seem to be nonexistent.”

He winked at her. “We footmen in training don’t make enough to afford proper attire.”

Her eyes narrowed in rebuke, which only made him grin. “You’ll never finish dressing for the masquerade at this rate.”

He shrugged a dismissing shoulder. “I’m your selfless servant, here to help you however you need.” He gestured toward the room. “Light your lamps, fetch your water…” He opportunistically drawled, “Wash your back.”

Her lips pressed into a tight line. “I’m quite fine on my own, thank you.”

“Pity,” he sighed, yet made no move to leave.

Reaching the end of her patience, she snapped, “You cannot stay and watch me bathe!”

“Why not?” He glanced over his shoulder at the bed and the gold satin ball grown laid out for her. Ellsworth had gotten it from one of his paramours and sent it over, along with all the accessories necessary for her to be tonight’s shiniest jewel. “After all, I’ll have to help you dress when you’re finished.”

“Only with the final hooks that I cannot reach on my own.”

“Pity. Ah, but thereisa corset to be tied.”

“No, there’s not. That dress’s bodice is based on the old-fashioned Italian dresses. It’s reinforced and doesn’t need a corset to hold me in place.” Her cheeks pinked alluringly at that explanation. When he didn’t reply to that, she eyed him suspiciously. “Aren’t you going to say that’s a pity, too?”

“To you wearing one less layer of clothing?” he asked in a seductive purr, raking his gaze over her. “Heavens no.”

Her faint blush turned positively scarlet. Her reaction had him pondering all the other delicious things he could do to her to deepen that blush, to turn her soft breath into pants, and to part her lips beneath his so that he could take possession of that enticing mouth. He’d only been teasing her, but now—

Pityindeed.

“Stop that,” she admonished, although her protest could just as easily have been a soft plea to continue, for all the lack of force behind it. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Can’t help it.” He took another languid look over her, from head to toe. This one, he noted with selfish pleasure, made her tremble. “You’d blame a man for wanting to watch a beautiful woman bathe?”