Page 48

Judith looked away first.

“You know nothing of my situation.”

“I know Sir Lionel loves you.”

“Yes.”

“I know your cousins regard you as their sister.”

“Yes.”

“I know that when something goes wrong, every servant in this house seeks you before the actual housekeeper.”

“They do so because she is elderly and should be pensioned off.”

“And you consider that proof you must spend your life solving everyone else’s difficulties?”

Her irritation rose, chiefly because the observation contained too much truth. “You have been here but two days, sir.”

“A great many things may be discovered in two days.”

“Especially if one spies upon people.”

His expression changed and immediately she felt guilty.

“I am not spying upon you at present.”

“Are you saying you do so only at night?”

His eyes narrowed. Judith cursed herself.

“Careful, Miss Finch.” The words were softly spoken.

She lifted her chin. “Is that a threat?”

“No.”

“What might it be, then?”

“Advice.”

“I have already received your advice. I did not request it.”

“And yet you appear determined to require more.”

Her pulse quickened.

This was precisely what she had meant to avoid; not because she feared him, but because she enjoyed this. She relished the argument, the challenge, the sense that each pushed the other just far enough to see what lay beneath. No other man spoke to her this way. They either deferred to her efficiency, joked about it, or treated her as an extension of Sir Lionel’s household.

Baines spoke to her as though she were an opponent worth studying. She hated how much that pleased her. “You are very provoking.”

“You have mentioned that before.”

Judith’s mouth betrayed her.

He saw the smile before she could suppress it. “Again,” he said.

“I did not smile.”