Chapter Six
Minny let out a long, slow, and careful breath as her eyes flickered across the page.
Had she included everything? She could not recall any additional information Alan had requested, and she had tried to fit as much into the cramped handwriting as possible. True, there were a few smudges, but her brother was accustomed to deciphering her truly atrocious spelling.
It was a marvel the two of them could both read and write, she thought wistfully as she carefully folded the paper once, twice, a third time. If it hadn’t been for their mother’s insistence, this whole operation would have been impossible.
As it were…
Minny carefully cut a length of brown string with her knife and tied it securely around the letter. A richer person would have perhaps sealed it with wax, but she couldn’t spend the few pennies she had on such a luxury.
The kitchen was empty, the early morning light just starting to drift through the windows as Minny opened the back door.
She glanced around. No one was about; that was one of the few benefits of this time of year.
In the summer, she had to rise obscenely early to hide the notes in time, before the farmers and other villagers were up and about.
Carefully, she wedged the letter behind the trough.
Then, and only then, did she slowly allow her shoulders to loosen.
There. Done, for another week. It had been a worry the last few days trying to think how she would achieve such a thing with Henry—with Mr. Everleigh so frequently in the forge.
But it was done. When her brother slipped by at night, he would find precisely what he was expecting.
“Good morning, Minny.”
A few days ago, Minny might have jumped. Her heart might have quickened from the surprise; she might have whirled around hastily to see who had spoken.
But she didn’t now.
At least, her heartbeat had quickened, but not from the surprise. No, from the delight.
Minny tried to force it away as she nodded politely. “Mr. Everleigh.”
It had been a mistake to permit the nickname her family had given her. She knew her cheeks flushed at the sound of her name on his lips. If only he wasn’t so expert with those lips.
He was grinning. Minny tried to smile back as she simultaneously tried not to think about the kiss they had shared a few days ago.
A kiss! It was a marvel she was able to consider it so dispassionately as she turned away from the handsome man who had trespassed so inconveniently on her dreams last night.
When a woman received her first kiss, and from such a handsome man, in the privacy of her own forge, she was sure no one else would consider it just “a kiss.”
Minny swallowed to ensure her voice was strong before she said, “And how are you this morning, Mr. Everleigh?”
Henry grinned as he leaned in the doorway of her kitchen. He knew better than to step inside it without an invitation.
There were some parts of her life, Minny thought darkly, she really must try to keep for herself. Her kitchen. The upstairs over the forge. Her heart.
Her brother…
“Oh, I slept very well, thank you, Minny,” said Henry happily, evidently not noticing her frantic breathing. “In fact, I stepped out early with the sunrise and thought I would have a little wander around the village. And some very interesting things I saw, too.”
Minny’s heart skipped a beat as dread poured into her chest.
Surely…surely, she had not been so lax as to miss Henry Everleigh when she had stepped out to the trough?
Surely she had not betrayed—
“Really?” she said as calmly as she could manage.
It was such a shame his grin was so delightful. “Really.”
She had to stay calm, that was all, Minny told herself. She had not just betrayed her brother. She had not—
“So, may I have my first lesson?”
Minny turned to see a hopeful expression on the tall man’s face, and her lips quirked into a smile. It was rather delicious to have someone like Henry Everleigh in the palm of her hand. He wanted something she had—not her kisses, she told herself furiously. Her skills.
She wasn’t sure which was better.
“I don’t know,” Minny said, smile broadening. Oh, it was so delightful to tease this man. It was a habit they had fallen into so swiftly. With anyone else it would have been scandalous. With him, of course, it was just a bit of fun. There was nothing serious in it.
She didn’t dream wistfully of another one of those scalding kisses…
Henry groaned. “Minny Banfield, if you make me chop wood for another day—”
“You are at least getting slightly better,” she pointed out, heart singing. “And you know how to draw water from a well now without pulling your shoulder.”
He raised a finger. “That was something you should have told me the very first day.”
Minny laughed, and he laughed with her, and she knew it was ridiculous to see something that wasn’t there. Couldn’t be there.
He’s only here because you need the money, she tried to tell herself, most unsuccessfully. A guinea! He could stay all month for a guinea.
All month, all spring, into the autumn…
“So, have I proved myself worthy?” teased Henry, tilting his head. “Will you teach me?”
Minny hesitated, biting her lip. Only then did she realize Henry’s eyes had drifted to her lips and were now strangely unfocused.
Her stomach turned. She was not here to seduce a man! She would not have her reputation, such as it was, ruined just because a man turned up at her forge, asked to be taught blacksmithing, and kissed like the devil.
“Fine,” she said quickly, turning and stepping out of the kitchen and into the forge.
Anything to get away from that quizzical expression…it was almost as though he knew precisely what effect he was having on her.
And that would certainly not do.
“Fine?” came the astonished reply behind her. Henry followed her into the forge, the furnace not yet lit.
“Yes, fine.”
“Y-You mean you’ll teach me?”
If she were not mistaken, there was incredulity in the man’s voice. “Well, why not?”
It was what she had asked herself mere moments ago, and Minny had been most disgruntled to discover she had no good answer.
After all, he had chopped wood, fetched water, mended that window. Minny had been astonished to find herself ordering him to take messages about the village—the nerve!—and even more astonished when he had obeyed.
That had required an awkward conversation with Farmer Jones, who had politely inquired when she had acquired a servant. On her own. In the forge.
That had been an error.
But there was only so much polishing a man could do, Minny thought with a repressed grin, before she had to admit he had done all the dull chores she hated, and without much complaining.
Even if he drew water all wrong.
“Goodness,” Henry said with a dry laugh. “I did not think you would teach me.”
Minny shot him a look. “I said I would, did I not?”
“You did, you did indeed,” he said hastily.
It was difficult not to smile at his immediate change of direction. Well, it was pleasant to have a man about the place who would acquiesce to her opinion.
And he wasn’t bad to look at, either.
“Minny?”
“What?” Minny said hastily, her gaze sharpening to find Henry looking at her most perplexed. Goodness, she had entirely lost all concentration there!
“You were going to teach me something,” he said. “Until you were somehow otherwise occupied.”
Minny glared. Well, it was his own fault, wasn’t it? When Henry Everleigh had first appeared at her forge, he had been wearing a shirt, waistcoat, jacket, and overcoat. Most appropriately dressed.
For the outdoors in spring, that was. In a forge, one swiftly learned what not to wear to ensure one did not collapse from the heat. Minny could not recall the last time she had worn a petticoat, and as for stays and a corset!
No, her leather apron was the protection she needed.
But that did mean the handsome man had grown accustomed to walking around in nothing but breeches, a shirt with sleeves rolled up, and a waistcoat.
A tightly fitted waistcoat that showed off the breadth and strength of his chest. Rolled up sleeves that revealed strong arms dusted in dark hair and a slight red mark still by his right wrist.
Minny swallowed. She was not going to permit herself to be completely distracted in her own forge!
“Right,” she said mainly to herself. “Right, lesson one…”
Well, the whole thing was a farce, wasn’t it? He couldn’t really wish to be a blacksmith. He was too old to learn the profession and had to return to his family, as he said. Her stomach lurched. Perhaps a wife.
But that was not her concern. Minny may not understand why he was here, but she could give him an understanding of the basics.
He had paid her, after all.
Minny’s gaze sharpened, and she placed her hands on the anvil. “Right. First of all we’ll need to…”
Her voice trailed away. She had caught Henry staring as though…well, as though he was attracted to her.
There was no other way to describe it. A shot of heat, of excitement, of something akin to joy burned through Minny as she looked at him. Looked at him looking at her.
The fire hadn’t been lit in the furnace, so there was no other explanation for why heat was rising steadily up her body. No other reason, except…
“Tools,” Minny said hastily, turning from the temptation and placing her hands on the cool tools racked on the wall.
Not for the first time, the cool metal calmed her frantic heart, helping to slow her breathing as she took back control.
She was not going to make a fool of herself…at least, not any more of a fool than she already had been. Minny tried not to think of how she had immediately acquiesced to the kiss Henry had most unaccountably placed on her lips. The way that her hand had reached up to his lapel, bringing him closer…
“Yes, I have noticed you have a great number of different tools,” came Henry’s voice.
Minny nodded. That was it; all she had to do was talk about the tools. That was all.