Chapter Eleven #2
“No, not at…” Samuel’s words died as he was faced with his own hypocrisy. Who was he to judge Jane when he had behaved the same way with others? All the heat of his argument died away, like the wind suddenly abandoning a sail, and he sighed. “You’re right.”
“And what about the—I… I beg your pardon?” Jane stuttered, seemingly caught off guard.
“You’re right. I don’t behave any differently.
It’s just, there are what? Four? Five hundred important people in the hierarchy of this country?
But there are millions more of us who also live here, work here, and are educated here.
And so often we are ignored by this group of people who somehow possess the majority of the money, though none of them earned any of it.
Coming from this side, it’s always been a little, well, nauseating to have to stroke these egos.
Usually, I’m better at it, but last night…
” He shook his head, anxious about his next confession.
“Last night I let my own feelings interfere with business. I’m sorry about that.
I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge you, particularly when you are working in service to this company. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
He meant it too. But Jane only stared at him, her mouth slightly open.
“You… What?” she asked breathily, seeming unable to comprehend.
“You’re correct to call me out on my hypocrisy. It’s not the sort of person I aspire to be.” Jane blinked several times before she found a chair and sat down. He took several steps across the room to reach her. “Are you all right, Miss Atherton?”
“I am. It’s just… I didn’t expect that.”
“My shortsightedness? Again, I—”
“No, it’s not that.”
“No?” She shook her head. “Then, what is it?”
She looked up at him with her piercing gray eyes, and he felt the familiar fight rise in his chest. Her beauty, which had first caught his attention, only seemed magnified in the early morning light.
God, she was stunning and he felt blessed to be able to witness her at that moment.
She was dressed in a plain blue gown with violet piping, and her hair was pinned back, but there was a sincerity about her face that hooked right into his heart.
It was obvious to him at that moment that he had feelings for her, but his attraction was deeper than he had originally suspected.
She was clever and calculating, but not in a cruel way.
She simply seemed to understand the world, the real world and what it meant to play a part in gaining better standing.
And she was on his team. Everything she was doing was in service to Milton Enterprises, and by extension, to Samuel himself.
It was humbling to realize that.
Samuel’s hands loosely gripped the chair’s arms as he bent down on his haunches in front of her.
At this angle, Jane was peering down at him, and it reminded him of last night.
The feel of her stocking-covered foot the night before had been burned into his memory, and he had to stifle a thrill that went through him as he looked at her now.
“Jane?”
“No one has ever apologized to me before. I mean, besides Cora, but not… Not someone in a position like yours.”
“A position like mine?”
“Yes. You’re an important man, Mr. Milton. You don’t need to apologize to anyone.”
He let out a humorless breath.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Miss Atherton.
It’s exactly because of my position that I have to be more diligent and introspective.
I’m in charge of it all, aren’t I? And if there’s something or someone lacking, the blame can always be laid at my own feet.
” He paused. “I was being unfair to you before. I’m sorry. ”
Jane stared at him for a moment, seemingly perplexed by his words.
He was curious as to why, when all of a sudden, Jane raised her hand.
Her fingertips brushed the edge of his chin and Samuel felt his heartbeat in his throat.
Even though he was attracted to Jane, he knew he could never touch her.
She was outside of his own class. It was doubly wrong because she was also in his employ, and therefore his responsibility.
But there was something commanding about her.
A stroke of authority ran through her, and he remained perfectly still as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his stubbled cheek.
He inhaled sharply at the gesture, but she lingered, her soft, warm mouth brushing against his cheek. The intoxicating smell of jasmine that he had noticed the first time on the train clung to her, as if she were the flower itself.
All too soon, she pulled away.
“I…”
But something cracked in Samuel’s brain.
He raised his own hand and touched her cheek.
Her eyes widened, almost as if she were scared, so he paused.
Swallowing hard, he felt like his mind was swimming in a simmering pot of oil.
He wanted to touch her, taste her, kiss her, and hold her, but the flash of hesitation in her gray eyes caused him to wait.
Moments passed in stilted silence, and he was sure that she would soon pull away. Good. He didn’t think he could take another moment of this. But then she slowly turned her head, and her mouth swept across his and he was at her mercy.
Shifting to a kneeling position, Samuel’s arms wrapped around her waist tightly as he pulled her against him.
Her hands moved down his neck and back as she kissed him deeply.
She tasted like mint tea and honey, a combination he would forever consider erotic now, as his tongue swept into her mouth.
This was insanity, completely out of character and dangerous in at least a dozen ways, but he could not help it.
They were two magnets, unable to break apart until the sound of footfall from the hallway broke through the hazy sexual tension.
It physically pained him to pull away from her, but he had no choice. Stepping up from his kneeling position, he turned completely away from her and made it several feet away when there was a knock at his open office door.
“Good morning, Mr. Milton. Shall I have a breakfast tray sent up or will you be joining the family for break—oh,” Mrs. Malcom said as she entered, picking up an empty tea tray delivered sometime around midnight. But the sight of Jane seemed to rob the housekeeper of her words.
Samuel needed to think of something quickly. Even though Jane was technically in his employ, being alone with an attractive, unattached young woman in his office would not stay a secret. He learned early on that the only way to take charge of a situation was to control the narrative.
And even then, sometimes it was out of his hands.
“Mrs. Malcom, thank goodness,” he said quickly, coming toward her. “I’m afraid we have a situation.”
“Oh?”
“Miss Atherton just informed me, of, well,” he bent forward and whispered into her ear.
“Rats?” she shouted, offended. “In this house?”
Samuel shrugged.
“I’m sorry, but it’s true. Miss Atherton was just explaining that she was on her way to the kitchens this morning, when she saw three rats run straight across the foyer floor.”
Mrs. Malcom turned pale and she glanced between him and Jane who stood up out of her chair.
“That’s impossible. Mice, maybe, but not rats.”
Samuel shrugged.
“She said they were the size of pigeons.”
“Dear God,” Mrs. Malcom said, turning on her heel. “I’ll inform the cooks and the other staff. This will not be tolerated. And with guests in residence! Oh!”
The old woman hurried from the room. Samuel turned to see Jane with her brow furrowed as she stared at him.
“You…” she said before shaking her head. “I mean, poor Mrs. Malcom is going to drive herself mad looking for something that doesn’t exist.”
“Well, better to keep her busy than to keep her talking. We certainly don’t need any gossip.”
Jane dropped her head, seemingly ashamed.
“I’m sorry for—”
“No. Please,” he said with a smirk as she glanced up at him. “You have such care for Mr. Liddell’s ego, I wonder if you might spare a thought for mine.”
For a moment, Jane only stared at him. But then, she smiled and Samuel’s heart nearly seized. Smoothing out her skirts, she came forward and curtsied.
“Thank you, Mr. Milton, for being, well. For being like no other man I’ve ever met.”
The zing he felt at her words threaded through him like lightning. And though she left in no particular hurry, Samuel had an all-consuming desire to follow her about for the rest of the day and learn everything he could about her.
But work and the coming day would not wait for him, and he begrudgingly turned back and returned to his desk, even though the scent of jasmine would plague him throughout the rest of the morning.