couldn’t feign guilelessness as well as she could indifference. But even in that she’d fallen short, as her response to Lucas had shown. She’d fallen faster than a house of cards.
Charlotte, allowing her response to pass, stepped into the room and glanced around. “I take it all is well? I heard no shouting. No crystal breaking. As a matter of point, I heard very little at all. Did you actually speak?” Her sister addressed the comment to Lucas, who regarded her as if nothing were amiss, a half smile curving his mouth.
“Cartwright must be rubbing off on you. I never knew you to be quite so droll.”
Charlotte laughed. “My husband is not droll, he is dry, and there is a wagon full of sawdust difference between the two. But, I shall take that as a compliment as for several years you thought me humorless.”
“You were humorless back then. But now, back in jolly ole England, you’re merely a scepter and a jingle hat shy of a jester.”
Charlotte smiled the contented smile of a woman who could not ask for more. To say Alex adored her would be like saying the ocean was deep or the Himalayan Mountains were high. With two beautiful children, and back in England after five years of separation from her family, her twin was happier than she’d ever seen her.
With a glance back at her over her shoulder, Charlotte lifted a finely arched brow. “Are you warm, Katie? You look flushed. And what on earth has happened to your hair? It looks—” her gaze shifted to Lucas “—disturbed.”
Catherine decided she’d throttle her sister later—in private. As it was, her not-so-subtle innuendoes had run their course.
“I wish you’d come out and say what you must and spare us all this beating about the place the way you are.” Her sister hadn’t the right to make light about something of this nature. Why only last year, Catherine had caught Charlotte and Alex in a far more compromising situation. Mussed hair and pink cheeks had been the least of their worries. At least Lucas hadn’t loosened or removed any of her clothes. That much could not be said for her dear sister and brother-in-law, who had never seen a bed, a chair, a welcoming rug they didn’t like or couldn’t utilize.
“Very well then, am I to take from the condition of your—” Charlotte perused her from mussed hair to her kid leather booted feet “—person that you are conducive to Lucas’s intentions?”
Catherine’s chinned jerked and she shot a look at Lucas. “You spoke to my sister about this first?” Did he think he’d needed to seek her twin’s permission? Good Lord, it wasn’t as if she were some innocent debutante, and her sister the man of the house. They were born minutes apart and she , not Charlotte, was the elder.
Lucas rose easily to his feet, his trousers showing no signs of the erection that had disturbed it before. “Would you have seen me had I contacted you directly? Well I couldn’t take the chance that you would refuse to see me, so I requested Charlotte’s help and she would not have assisted me unless she knew my intentions were completely honorable.” He passed her sister to stand at Catherine’s side, and with him came his masculine scent and heat. Her senses renewed a sexual hum.
“You aren’t upset about that are you, Katie?” her sister asked, her expression concerned and slightly perplexed.
Catherine knew she was being silly, but Lucas and Charlotte’s friendship far exceeded hers with him. They shared an easy rapport she rather envied. To feel so at ease with Lucas that she’d think nothing of teasing and smiling with him. Catherine had often wondered what that would be like. And her thoughts hadn’t been limited to that sort of innocuous interaction. She wondered what it would be like to do other things, carnal, decadent things to him she’d read about with the same self-assuredness.
“No, of course not. This whole thing has taken me by surprise, is all,” she murmured in a hurried
Charlotte, allowing her response to pass, stepped into the room and glanced around. “I take it all is well? I heard no shouting. No crystal breaking. As a matter of point, I heard very little at all. Did you actually speak?” Her sister addressed the comment to Lucas, who regarded her as if nothing were amiss, a half smile curving his mouth.
“Cartwright must be rubbing off on you. I never knew you to be quite so droll.”
Charlotte laughed. “My husband is not droll, he is dry, and there is a wagon full of sawdust difference between the two. But, I shall take that as a compliment as for several years you thought me humorless.”
“You were humorless back then. But now, back in jolly ole England, you’re merely a scepter and a jingle hat shy of a jester.”
Charlotte smiled the contented smile of a woman who could not ask for more. To say Alex adored her would be like saying the ocean was deep or the Himalayan Mountains were high. With two beautiful children, and back in England after five years of separation from her family, her twin was happier than she’d ever seen her.
With a glance back at her over her shoulder, Charlotte lifted a finely arched brow. “Are you warm, Katie? You look flushed. And what on earth has happened to your hair? It looks—” her gaze shifted to Lucas “—disturbed.”
Catherine decided she’d throttle her sister later—in private. As it was, her not-so-subtle innuendoes had run their course.
“I wish you’d come out and say what you must and spare us all this beating about the place the way you are.” Her sister hadn’t the right to make light about something of this nature. Why only last year, Catherine had caught Charlotte and Alex in a far more compromising situation. Mussed hair and pink cheeks had been the least of their worries. At least Lucas hadn’t loosened or removed any of her clothes. That much could not be said for her dear sister and brother-in-law, who had never seen a bed, a chair, a welcoming rug they didn’t like or couldn’t utilize.
“Very well then, am I to take from the condition of your—” Charlotte perused her from mussed hair to her kid leather booted feet “—person that you are conducive to Lucas’s intentions?”
Catherine’s chinned jerked and she shot a look at Lucas. “You spoke to my sister about this first?” Did he think he’d needed to seek her twin’s permission? Good Lord, it wasn’t as if she were some innocent debutante, and her sister the man of the house. They were born minutes apart and she , not Charlotte, was the elder.
Lucas rose easily to his feet, his trousers showing no signs of the erection that had disturbed it before. “Would you have seen me had I contacted you directly? Well I couldn’t take the chance that you would refuse to see me, so I requested Charlotte’s help and she would not have assisted me unless she knew my intentions were completely honorable.” He passed her sister to stand at Catherine’s side, and with him came his masculine scent and heat. Her senses renewed a sexual hum.
“You aren’t upset about that are you, Katie?” her sister asked, her expression concerned and slightly perplexed.
Catherine knew she was being silly, but Lucas and Charlotte’s friendship far exceeded hers with him. They shared an easy rapport she rather envied. To feel so at ease with Lucas that she’d think nothing of teasing and smiling with him. Catherine had often wondered what that would be like. And her thoughts hadn’t been limited to that sort of innocuous interaction. She wondered what it would be like to do other things, carnal, decadent things to him she’d read about with the same self-assuredness.
“No, of course not. This whole thing has taken me by surprise, is all,” she murmured in a hurried
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