Page 13 of Aurelia

“Thank you,” Sir Gideon said, his smile far too friendly for Roland’s liking.

Roland cleared his throat, shattering their moment of intimacy. “Thank you again, Talbot.”

Talbot gave Roland a wry smirk before saying to the woman, “It was truly a pleasure, Miss Burton. I do hope you will visit Talbot House whenever you are at liberty to do so.”

“I certainly shall.”

Talbot turned to Roland. “You needn’t bestir yourself, Crewe,” he said, the words ironic given that Roland had made no effort to stand and had no intention to do so. “I know the way out.”

Good. Use it.

Roland waited until the door closed before he turned to Miss Burton. “Alone at last.”

Chapter 3

It took Aurelia less than a minute to understand why Sir Gideon and the Andersons had given her such odd looks as they had attempted to describe the Laird of Crewe. The earl was, quite frankly, a force of nature.

Sir Gideon was an extremely handsome man, but he had paled into insignificance while sitting in the same room with the scarred earl. Lord Crewe seemed to draw all the light in the room toward him, his presence somehow more… substantial.

It wasn’t just his imposing person that made one notice him—although he was physically impressive—but also the aura of utter confidence, or arrogance, maybe, of a man accustomed to dominion over all he surveyed.

He was very tall—certainly over six feet—and appeared even taller given his lean build. Before being mauled by a panther he would have been a very attractive, classically handsome man. Aurelia suspected that many women would find him even more compelling now, with the arresting scarring over the left side of his face and the stark black leather patch covering his eye.

His overlong hair was sun-bleached to a corn silk blond, and his remaining eye glittered like a pale blue sapphire in his darkly tanned face. The expression in that eye was intelligent and uncomfortably knowing. Aurelia had never met anyone who made her feel so unsophisticated and uncertain.

Although he wore the clothing of a country gentleman, his black clawhammer and snug breeches had the sort of stylish cut that one only found in foreign tailoring, the garments molding lovingly to his broad shoulders and powerful thighs.

The scar on his face was truly horrific and she hated to think of the pain he must have endured. The claws of the beast that had mauled him had not only sliced the flesh, but pieces must have been torn away. There were three deep, jagged gouges and a fourth that was less pronounced. The uppermost claw must have raked directly over his eye before slashing his eyebrow. Scars pulled at his lips, the side of his nose, and skimmed over his chin, coming dangerously close to the veins in his throat.

For all its savagery, there was a primitive beauty to the marking.

Only when he cleared his throat did Aurelia realize that she had been taking an extremely detailed and impertinent inventory of her new employer.

She lifted her gaze to meet his.

He smiled and something about the seemingly pleasant expression struck her as… dangerous.

Aurelia had no reason to make such a judgment, and yet she felt the truth of it in her bones. Not that he was a physical threat, of course, but she knew without saying that he would be a menace to her peace of mind.

“I’m sorry you were witness to such senseless violence on your first day in Balcrewe, Miss Burton.”

“You can hardly be held accountable for that, my lord.”

“Of course I can,” he said, more than a bit imperiously. “Balcrewe is as much my demesne as this island is.”

Well, Aurelia had been warned about his feudal characteristics. “Everyone else I encountered was very civil.”

“Including Talbot.” His expression was one of sly amusement, either at the way she’d ignored his chest-thumping comment, or he was making some point about her unorthodox arrival in the company of Sir Gideon.”

“Yes, Sir Gideon was very kind.”

His lips pulled up on the unscarred side, exposing a few teeth, one a prominent canine. “And yet sassenachs are always saying we Scots are surly and inhospitable.”

“I find sweeping generalizations both banal and unreliable. As such, I strive to avoid them.”

Rather than look annoyed at her not-so-subtle chiding, an expression that could best be described as unholy glee flickered across his face. “Do you indeed? My, my. What a sensible young woman you are.”

Aurelia’s face became uncomfortably hot at what she was certain was mockery.