Sweet Deception Read Free Page B

hint of black hair. Her entire body warmed curiously as Derick leaned over her back to see what she was doing.
    “You’re mapping search areas,” he murmured, his voice sliding past her right ear in a hot breath.
    “Y-yes,” Emma answered, damning herself for the catch in her throat. What in the heavens was wrong with h—
    She jerked as the inside of his jacketed arm brushed the outside of her pelissed one. His right hand reached out to run a finger down the eastern border she’d recently traced herself. Emma shivered, as if it were she he stroked rather than the vellum.
    “And this unshaded portion is what you have left to search?”
    Emma gave a jerky nod. “Those two footmen just finished searching here.” She pointed to a marked area to the northeast, abashed to see her finger tremble just a bit. “Since their greatcoats were soaked, I can only assume it’s been pouring east of here for some time, which you may remember—”
    “Is prone to sudden flooding,” Derick said. He straightened, pulling away from her so quickly that gooseflesh prickled her skin at the sudden absence of his heat. “Don’t let me interrupt further, then.”
    She nodded, relieved, but whether more from the fact that he’d capitulated than that he’d moved away from her, she wasn’t certain. It didn’t signify—at least he would no longer interfere. Emma quickly divvied up the eastern boundary into manageable sections.
    “Right.” She addressed the tired servants, her middle tightening with unease. “We haven’t daylight left to search the remaining area in pairs,” she said, suppressingher discomfort the best way she knew how—with action. “We’ll all have to take our own section.”
    As each man or woman came forward, Emma assigned them a small, defined boundary until only she, Billingsly, and Derick remained in the room.
    “Billingsly.” Emma motioned the butler to follow as she exited the dining hall and made her way toward the front entrance. The old servant was too frail to be out searching in the rain, but she knew he’d want to be useful. “As the searchers return, you and Cook do what you can to get them warmed, dry and fed. God forbid we need to continue the search tomorrow,” she muttered, shoving her arms into a coat and struggling to pull it on.
    The coat lifted from her shoulders, as if by unseen hands, before the heavy wool settled around her. She whirled in surprise, her elbow coming into solid contact with a hard wall—
    “Ooof,” Derick grunted, his black brows dipping as he winced.
    —of abdomen, as it were.
    “Oh! Oh pardon me…” Emma mumbled, though truthfully she didn’t regret the accidental jab. But how had he appeared behind her? She looked down at his sturdy black boots. Certainly she should have heard a man of his size clomping down the hall after her.
    Derick rubbed at the spot where Emma’s elbow had speared him. The place she’d poked on his chest still smarted, too. She was quite strong for such a compact little thing. Bright, too, given what little he’d seen of her tactical mind at work, even if she was overreacting. If he remembered correctly, Emma always had been one to take things too seriously, and to infect those around her with her imaginings. He’d guess she was making a mountain out of the proverbial molehill.
    She was also adept at giving orders, and accustomedto being obeyed. Oh yes, little Pygmy had grown into just the kind of woman he’d thought she would.
    Emma turned her back on him—again. Derick shook his head as he watched her struggle with the heavy oak door.
    She still had more intelligence than common sense, however, since she was apparently planning to run out into a dangerous storm alone.
    He reached around her and grasped the handle, stopping the door from opening. “You neglected to give
me
an assignment.”
    Emma turned, effectively caged by his arm and the door at her back. Those large amber eyes widened as he loomed over her. Which