Chapter 20
For the eventide meal at the lodge, the cook laid out food in various dishes on the sideboard across from the long table. The prominent aroma of the meat and leek soup made Phoebe’s mouth water, reminding her she hadn’t eaten all day.
As Phoebe stood by the table, her hands resting on the back of a chair, she glanced at Slade across the table.
He had just popped opened a bottle of wine with a polished motion of his hands.
He hadn’t said a word to her, hadn’t even looked at her since he’d made an appearance.
She couldn’t blame him, after the way she’d reacted in her bedchamber earlier.
Phoebe was unable to pull her eyes away from Slade, taking in his square, clean-shaven jaw. He was dressed for dinner in thigh-hugging gray breeches and a crisp white Cambria shirt, his neck missing a cravat.
The play of shadows on the angular lines of his face, cast by the flickering light of the candelabra, emphasized his breathtakingly handsome features.
Lucia shifted from dish to dish, a few feet away at the sideboard.
“I am very much looking forward to keeping company with you at the lodge, Phoebe. I think it will be great fun for the two of us. A chance to get to know each other even better, as it were.” Lucia’s tone was conversational as she topped off her plate of food with an apple tart.
Phoebe hadn’t touched the fruit in seven years. Ross’s apple scented pomatum had made her cast up her accounts that night on the moors. But then again, it had been the least of the reasons for her losing her stomach content. She shook the recollection away when Lucia eyed her, expectantly.
“I very much look forward to spending time with you as well,” Phoebe said.
Lucia’s expression brightened as she set her plate of food down on the table across from Peter who, without hesitation, got up to help her with a chair.
Phoebe sensed Slade’s approach from behind.
She swung around to see his handsome face lined with worry and regret. Her eyes dipped the length of him, taking in his tall riding boots. They were polished to a gleaming shine, another one of his military habits.
“I sincerely apologize for my behavior earlier,” he whispered. “It pains me to think I caused you distress. Forgive me?”
Phoebe shook her head, her heart squeezing at his thoughtful words. “No, no, it is I who must apologize for my overreaction. I was simply exhausted and not myself.”
His eyes were warm and searching as they considered her before speaking. “Well, then, perhaps we may endeavor to forget the entire episode?”
“We should,” Phoebe said.
“Wine?” he asked. His voice smooth and hard at the same time.
A type of unrestrained energy vibrated from him. She’d never sensed it before. It wasn’t threatening, nor was it frightening—on the contrary, it invigorated the length of her. There was something raw and undoubtedly male about him, putting her senses on alert.
“Yes, please,” she said.
He proceeded to fill the goblet next to her on the table. As he poured, the full-bodied aroma of the burgundy liquid mingled with Slade’s particular scent of cloves and soap. She found herself taking a deep inhale.
“Something about you looks different this evening,” he said, his eyes still on the wine.
Had he been looking at her? Instead of hyperventilating, as she would have expected when attention was focused on her appearance, her skin tightened. Phoebe kept the pitch of her voice lower than usual.
“Necessity demanded I borrow one of Lucia’s gowns. But my hopes of not drawing attention to my attire is apparently dashed to bits,” Phoebe said.
“A man would have to be missing a pulse not to notice you in this gown.” His voice was low and gruff.
Her cheeks grew hot at his words. But was it a compliment or sarcasm?
“Are you finding everything to your liking?” he asked, looking up at her after filling the goblet.
“Yes,” she said, then thought of her earlier ablutions and how much she wanted to take a full bath. “But I would dearly love a portable tub.”
Somehow mentioning something as necessary and mundane as a bath took on an intimate quality as she blinked at him. His green gaze took on the color of emeralds in the candlelight.