Belmary House Book One by Cassidy Cayman Page A

close as a brother, but he felt Serena understood him better.
    At the house, Mrs. Dunbar had a shawl ready to wrap around Serena’s thin frame, and began plying her with treats and tea, scuffling about in such a comfortable way that Kostya felt certain she’d give in.
    When the sky finally let loose with its downpour, and she agreed there was no choice but to stay, he calmly agreed, feeling warmth and relief to not be alone again.

Chapter 10

    Tilly woke up to a sharp rap at the door. It took her a second to process where she was and what was going on, but Ashford’s surly face brooding down at her quickly brought her up to speed. All the horrible things she’d overheard the night before came rushing back, along with her hurt and anger.
    “Geez, you scared me,” she said, trying to assess her hair situation and surreptitiously wipe the sleep from her eyes.
    Why did he have to be the one to wake her up? She’d wanted to greet him with icy self-assuredness after his behavior in the library, not look like a long-haired guinea pig that had been sent through a clothes dryer.
    “Are you still abed?”
    She stared at him coldly. “I was under the impression you leisure class folks didn’t care when their ladies got out of bed.”
    “We need to depart for Scotland posthaste. Unless you’ve decided to stay here for the next three months?”
    His voice was neutral, bordering on cold, and she pressed back the little twinge of hurt at thinking he wanted her to stay. She knew he would take her because he felt responsible for her, but he wouldn’t insist if she raised a fuss. She continued to stare at him, knowing her puffy morning face didn’t have nearly the amount of disdain she wanted to get across to him.
    He cleared his throat and awkwardly placed a silver serving tray on the bed beside her. She gathered her blankets closer as he removed the cover with a flourish to reveal a lavish breakfast.
    She took a thoughtful bite of eggs. It would probably be better for her sanity to stay far away from this jerk, but she’d most likely be cooped up in the house for the next three months, probably never allowed to explore nineteenth century London. And even though she was still boiling mad at Ashford, she strangely didn’t want to be apart from him. Which was ridiculous, since he had done nothing but treat her badly, and clearly hoped she’d argue to stay. But the chance to see the country in this time was too much to pass up. Still, he was such a jerk.
    “Is this a bribe? Or an apology breakfast?” she asked, giving him the chance to redeem himself, praying he’d take it.
    “If I said it was, would that make you eat it faster?”
    She pushed the tray aside with a huff and threw off the blankets, standing up in her shift and planting her hands on her hips, determined to wring a real apology out of him. His eyes grew wide and he hastily looked away. She glanced down. The shift was a tiny bit see-through but she couldn’t back down now, damn it.
    “Oh, now you’ve got integrity? Now you care about my virtue? Where was that when you dragged my name through the mud and made me wear that tacky dress?”
    He quickly stifled a bark of laughter. “Is it your good name or your sense of style that’s more insulted?”
    She stood in front of him, wanting more than anything to grab the old velvet dressing gown Nora had given her, but not wanting him to know she was uncomfortable. Because of him. Again. She wished more than anything she had taken the chance to punch him the night before.
    He kept his eyes resolutely turned away from her as he took the robe from its hanging place and swept it around her shoulders. She noticed he took a quick perusal as he pulled it tightly closed under her chin and her cheeks heated up at his smirk.
    He took her shoulders and guided her back to the bed. “Miss Jacobs, please.” He looked like he’d just eaten a worm. “This isn’t how I wanted this to go. May I speak for a moment?”
    She sat