second time.”
He smiled as the small creature disappeared into the darkened foliage. The door’s hinges creaked as he pulled it shut.
She sat in the same position, feet tucked beneath her and hands plastered over her eyes.
“Is it safe?”
“It is. He will trouble you no longer, miss.”
Avery watched as the tension slowly ebbed from her fingertips, her hands, then her arms and shoulders. Her feet slid to the floor, and her whole body melted like warmed candle wax. The corner of her mouth turned down, her cheeks were pale, and her demeanor was that of one utterly defeated.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking down at the floor. “Snakes I can handle. Mice are fine. I know it’s stupid, I know, but those damn spiders scare the crap out of me.” She looked up at him, her blue eyes shiny with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry.”
His arms ached but not from the beating he’d taken.
He didn’t know why. Never before had he felt the urge to do something, to ease her discomfort, to shelter her by…holding her in his arms? No. The thought was insupportable. She had come here for the duke, and he could not stand in her way.
Abruptly turning away, Avery cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back. “It is of no consequence.” Keeping his gaze trained on a stack of bowls, he fought to regain his composure. What had this woman done to him?
“I hate to even ask you this.” Her voice was thin and GeekGirlsDontDateDukes.indd 59
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small. “Would you mind checking the scullery? To see if he had any, er, friends in there.”
Without comment, Avery turned and walked into the scullery.
Pots and dishes were piled everywhere, mostly clean but for a pile of largish pots to one side of the washbasin. He stooped to pick up a half-scrubbed pot from the stones of the floor. This must have been the crash he’d heard when entering the kitchen. He set the pot upright by the basin and examined the corners of the room.
“There is no sign of any eight-legged compatriots, madam. I should think you are safe.”
“Are you sure?” Her pale face peered around the corner of the doorjamb.
“Quite certain.”
She entered the room slowly, eyes darting this way and that, as if she didn’t quite trust his report. He said not a word as she moved with arms crossed tightly over her middle to stand in the center of the room.
“Thank you.” She didn’t look up at him as she spoke.
“Again, I’m really sorry about that. I just can’t handle spiders. I’m not normally such a wimp, so please don’t think I can’t do this, okay?”
“What do you mean?”
She gestured to the mound of dishes. “I know you and Cook are risking a lot by getting me this job. I can handle it, I promise. I don’t want you to think because I wigged out over a huge, monstrously awful spider that I can’t hack this job.” She nodded and straightened her spine. “I’m kind of a bad ass, when I need to be.”
He smothered the smile her odd words brought to his GeekGirlsDontDateDukes.indd 60
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face. “I have no doubt that you are.” He turned to leave
the room.
“Hey, where are you going?”
His feet stilled, and he looked back at her. She stood tall, but uncertainty still shadowed her eyes.
“I missed the evening meal. I had intended to find food.”
“Oh,” she said. “Okay.” She turned back to her washbasin, and he moved to leave the room but stopped when she spoke again. Her voice was soft, uncertain.
“You could eat in here if you wanted. I’ve got to finish these pots before I go to bed, and it wouldn’t be so lonely if you were in here. You don’t have to talk to me or anything, if you don’t want to. Just be here, if you wanted to, that is.” She looked over her shoulder at him, and her wide, anxious eyes softened something in his chest.
“As you wish,” he said, and turned to leave the room.
i
Leah stared down into the dishwater, wishing it were physically possible to kick herself in the ass. What a completely stupid way to react to an itty-bitty spider!
Well, he had been pretty sizeable, she argued with herself.
And for Avery to have seen her like that, completely overcome with panic over something so trivial? He must think she was a total wuss. But she wasn’t. She muscled the largest pot over to the basin, just to remind herself she was tough. She grabbed the brush and started scrubbing, punctuating each mental point with another stroke of the coarse bristles. She was a strong, independent woman. She’d built sets for the community theatre, all by herself. She’d made her own iPhone app. She’d beat GeekGirlsDontDateDukes.indd 61
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