Chapter 22 Savi #2
“There is,” Ben was hesitant as he began. “There is a painting of my parents that I’ve always loved. It used to hang in the bedroom corridor, right at the end.”
Alex spoke for the first time since they’d entered the room. “It’s still there.”
“I’ll do that one next.” Savi felt she ought to warn him. “It’ll be my first attempt at people, so it might take me a few tries to get it right.”
Ben didn’t seem worried. “I can be patient.” He held up the painting of Possum, its uneven surface sending shadows across the canvas. “Even this is beyond anything I could have hoped for.”
She was chuffed to bits at Ben’s response, but maintained an air of dignity. “I’m so glad.”
“Savi.” Alex’s voice was low in her ear. “It’s a quarter to. We need to leave.”
She sucked in a panicked breath.
“What’s wrong?” Ben asked, alarmed.
“Nothing,” she reassured him. “I’d just lost track of time. I have a very important phone call scheduled for seven o’clock and I’ll get a bollocking if I miss it.”
They were still several corridors away when Savi heard the phone ringing, a shrill bellow echoing through Silverburn’s labyrinthine network of passageways. She quickened her pace, but her sari slowed her right back down.
Knowing who was on the other end waiting for her to pick up, Savi hiked her skirts up to mid-thigh, balling them in her fist as she jogged towards Alex’s office, twisting and turning through the corridors, hoping she wasn’t about to run into any servants.
Alex’s surprised chuckle came from behind her, but his steps easily kept pace with hers.
She would have missed his office but for the screeching of the telephone emanating from within. In her memory, it was farther down this corridor, but she was sure she’d know the castle like the back of her hand one day.
One day. It was rather large, after all.
A wall of noise greeted her as she entered the office. She winced as she launched herself into the chair behind his desk, letting out an eep of shock when it rolled beneath her. Sodding wheels.
With a breath of relief—both because she wasn’t too late to answer the call and because it meant the godawful ringing noise was going to stop—Savi picked up the telephone. “Hello?”
“Savi!” George’s excited squeal burst through the receiver.
A bright smile lit up her face. “Georgie darling. How are we doing this evening?” She caught Alex’s eye as he perched on the desk beside her.
“Good, I made the call all by myself tonight!”
“Really?” Although she supposed George would have been watching Katherine do it every day. He must have picked up the basics pretty quickly.
“Really. I gave the number to the lady before and she put me through to you. Didn’t I, Mama?” Distantly, she heard Katherine’s voice, but couldn’t work out what she was saying. “Is Alex there, Savi?”
“He is.” Savi angled her eyebrow at her husband. She’d wondered how long George would take to ask about Alex. He’d had the audacity to miss yesterday’s call—and his absence had not been missed. “Would you like to speak to him?”
“Yes, please,” he chimed, and she could easily imagine his little grin as he said it, his adult front teeth growing in farther with every day.
Savi passed the telephone over to Alex, finding that her smile was permanently affixed to her face as she watched him.
“Hello, George.” Alex sent her an effortlessly masculine wink that had half of her wanting to drag him upstairs to the bedroom.
But George had other ideas. “Why weren’t you there yesterday?” he demanded, his voice radiating from the receiver. Without waiting for an answer, he dived into the next question. “Did you get the drawing I included in Mama’s letter?”
“It’s tucked inside the painting hanging on the wall opposite my desk. It’s very good, I thought it had been done by a proper artist when I opened it.”
Savi’s expression softened as she eyed the drawing in question.
Two figures were depicted within, standing in front of the turrets and pepper-pot towers of Thorncliffe Abbey.
She knew Raj and Katherine took the children to the Abbey during the summer holidays, meaning George had been only too happy to leave London for Northumberland.
Alex had granted them use of the Lakenheath private carriage for their journey north.
Both he and Savi had seen Katherine and the children off at King’s Cross.
Little George had been bursting with excitement at the prospect of a visit up to Northumberland, easily accepting the explanation that Raj had needed to travel for work and would be away for some time.
Privately, Savi wondered how long it would be before he saw London—or Raj—again.
The scandal had spread through the city like wildfire. It had been worsened by the fact that Raj had insisted on casting such a wide social net, which was now a hive of gossip. Even the newspapers had got a hold of the story, blasting it far beyond London’s streets.
According to MacDonald, reporters had arrived at Silverburn’s gates, champing at the bit for new information.
It had only been one of the many hurdles they’d encountered. One of which had been money—or Katherine’s lack of access to it. She wasn’t authorised to withdraw money from any of Raj’s accounts, leaving her limited to what remained of her monthly allowance.
Alex had stepped in before Savi could even broach the subject.
The perfect gentleman.
Vaguely listening to Alex and George’s telephone conversation, Savi examined the drawing.
George had helpfully labelled the two figures in his drawing—Alex, whose head was oddly misshapen, and George, whose arms were almost as long as his body.
George held out an object in his hand, a small scribble within a larger circle, that Savi thought was the scorpion in amber.
“And I’m sorry for missing yesterday’s call,” Alex carried on. “I was stuck in a very boring meeting in Edinburgh and I couldn’t get back in time.”
“Oh.”
“But I did get a surprise gift for you.”
George hauled in an excited breath. “What is it?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you.” Alex grinned, catching her eye.
Savi couldn’t deny she was a little intrigued as well. He hadn’t mentioned a gift. She sent him an inquisitive glance.
Alex pointed at one of the desk drawers as George’s voice flowed from the telephone. “I can still act surprised. Will you be bringing it when you come down on the weekend?”
“Of course. We’re so excited to come and see you.”
The conversation drifted from her focus as she opened the drawer, just as curious as George. She only became more confused at the sight of a jewellery box laying on a pile of letters—the same style that usually contained something substantial, like a Pachi Kundan necklace set.
Utterly befuddled, Savi went to lift the box out with a single hand, but found it to be far heavier than she’d expected. Lifting with two hands, she set it on the desk and opened it.
A palm-sized chunk of polished amber was cradled in black velvet, its surface gleaming in the light. Something was immobilised within it.
Savi held it up to the light, revealing an inch-long beetle at the centre. Its legs were stretched out beneath it, forever frozen in its final step.
Bloody hell, this man was so sweet it hurt her teeth.
Placing it carefully back in the box, Savi climbed to her feet, her eyes shining with fierce affection as they locked with Alex’s.
Standing between his legs, she pushed the transmitter away from his mouth, hearing George’s voice coming through the receiver at a mile a minute, knee deep in a story about a nest of rabbits they’d come across on a walk.
Sliding her hand up over his mouth-watering chest, she let it come to rest on his cheek as she slanted her lips over his, pouring her feeling into the kiss. How grateful she was for him. How she never could have imagined happiness like this. How she lo—
Savi pulled away, realising that there were some things she did need to put into words.
“I love you,” she whispered, losing herself in those dark eyes of his.
They widened for a split second before his lips collided with hers again, pulling her into a deep kiss that stole the very breath from her lungs.
He pulled away suddenly, leaving her dizzy as he pulled the transmitter back in front of his mouth.
“I’m sure Savi would love to see the rabbits. You’ll have to show us on Saturday.”
Her lips quirked to the side, amused.
Alex’s eyes darkened further as he sent her the kind of savage look that only ever came out in the bedroom.
Savi’s stomach fluttered. He was gentlemanly on the surface, true—but something very different lurked beneath.