Here is the third chapter...I did it kinda quickly, so if there's any mistakes...sorry! P.s thank you so much for the reviews, they were wonderful!
"You?" Kori blurted, before she could stop herself
"Yse. I. Shall we?" He led the way to a door on the right side of the foyer and held it open for her
"But...don't you have more important things to do?"
"Not a one" his mouth curved into that sensous smile of his "You asked for a tour and I am providing you with one. Decline and you can walk out that door. But you won't be allowed back again" So that was it. Another one of Lord Grayson's attempts to control through intimidation. This morning however, she wasn't in the mood to be intimidated. This morning she was in the mood to do something useful and no arrogant, jaded Lord was going to make her run away.
Richard had a difficult time not laughing. His guest looked like a deer surrounded by a pack of wolves, not knowing which direction to run. Undoubtly, she'd thought to spend the morning gossiping with the trool, Mrs Whatever. The idea that she wold acctually have to confront some of the inhabitants and their living quaters must seem horrifying to her. Her expressive green eyes studied him and the doorway beyond as though weighing her chances to go in and come back alive. It would have been amusing if it wasn't so predictable.
"Very well my Lord" she said, gesturing for him to lead the way. Richard excited the foyer, swiftly covering his surprise. With her falling in step beside him, they entered the downstairs hallway. Hm. Perhaps she wasn't quite as predictable as he'd thought. That made her an exception among females. So far.
"These were for the most part administrative offices. This used to be an army bar-"
"Barracks for eorge the Second's Coldstream Guards" she finished "What do you use them for now?"
"You've done some reasearch" he said grudgingly
"Surprised?" she asked cooly. And becoming more so by the moment.
"I'll let you know" he returned his attention to the long corridor "The orphanage uses the rooms for storing old furniture for and for the odd accountant" Nodding, she made a note of some sorton the top page of the stack of papers she cradled in her left arm
"How many offices are there" she asked "And how large are they" So now the timid Miss Anders was all business. He gazed at her profile
"As for quantity, about a dozen. Size, I don't know. Lets go inside one and explore why don't we?" she swallowed, looking up from her scribbling
"I..don't think thats nesessary. I don't have anything to measure with anyway"
"Ah" And now she became the timid virgin once more "Would you care to go to the music or drawing room, them? Or perhaps the ballroom. You would find that more pleasant I'm sure" Kori stopped so suddenly that Richard had to turn around to face her. For a long moment she glared at him. Women didn't often do that to him, and he had to admire it for that reason. In a moment, though, she would no doubt begin crying, and he detested that.
"Let me make something clear" she said, her voice quivering a little, as it did when she'd accepted his invitation to waltz "I am not afraid of seeing something unpleasant. I couldn't very well do anything helpful for an establishment that didn't require any assistance. What I don't want is for this venture to ruin my reputation. Being escorted by you is a risk in itself, but at least in the hallway we have witnesses. Going into a storage room with you would be both useless and stupid on my part" he took a slow step back in her direction
"It might be stupid" he murmured "But it won't be useless. I could teach you a great many things. Isn't that why you're here? To learn?" Color flooded her cheeks. Richard studied her expression, her stance, the langusge of her slender petite body. Dispite his experience with women, he wasn't all that familiar with virgins. He'd made it a point not to be, their clinging hysterics made things too complicated. This one though, made him curious. She turned on her heel
"Good day, my lord"
"Giving up already?" he asked, forcing himself not to stalk after her. He wasn't finished with her yet, but neither would he allow her the momentary advantage an apology would give her. That wasn't how he played the game.
"I am not giving up. I'll continue the tour with Mrs. Natham. At least she wouldn't attempt to seduce me in a broom closet"
"Contiue with me. I promised you a tour, and you shall have one" Kori faced him again, the stack of papers she carried clenched so tightly that the edges curled
"A tour of the orphanage, my lord. Nothing else"
"Agreed-for today" she assesed that statement, then turned to the nearest closed door
"Storage?"
"Yes" disliking the idea that she might yet change her mind and scurry off, Richard kept his diatance as she opened the door and stepped inside. A moment after she re-emerged to scribble further notations into her book
"Are they all the same size?" Richard stirred, beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable.Good god, an innocent girl, asking innocent questions, attending to an innocent task and he was going hard.
"Relatively"
"Excellent. Shall we continue?" So she ment to take him at his word. Another surprise with even more agitating results. Part of him thought continuing the tour was useless, since he'd given his word not to seduce her. The other part, though, was practically pointing the way down the hall.
"What are you scribbling there" he asked in an attempt to distract himself, as they continued toward the far end of the hallway
"Notes"
"About storage room size?"
"I prefer not to say until I present my plan in its entirety, my lord. I believe you have enough preconceived notions about me without my providing you more"
"Saint" he said, ignoring all her other comments. She looked up at him, her cheeks still glowing from the attractive blush from which she seemed perpetually to suffer in his presence
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said you should call me Saint. Nearly everyone does"
"Why do they call you Saint?" she asked, her eyes mirroring the curiosity written on her face.
"My father died when I was eight. And instead of an eight year old boy being called a series of titles they shortened it to saint" he flashed her a careless smile "It's kind of ironic, since I'm the farthest thing away from a saint without taking hell into account" Kori cleared her thorat
"Saint, then" he gazed at her until she looked away. Apparantly she wasn't going to grant him permission in turn to use her christian name, but that wasn't likely to preventing him from doing so
"So...these are all unused rooms?" she offered into the silence
"I thought we'd covered that" he stifled a grin "Or have you run out of questions already? You might have spared me the bother of conducting your tour if y-"
"I'm clarifying" she said sharply "And I didn't ask you to conduct this tour. That was your idea, my lor-Saint" Now she was arguing with him. Richard wondered what her reaction would be it he pinned her up against the wall and kissed her. Nor would he stop there. Once he got his hands on her and pulled off that prim bonnet and tose kids gloves, he would continue the exploration of her slender naked body until he found out why she aroused him, until he plunged the virginal female from his thoughts. Perhaps that was it. With her bonnet and her gloves and that high necked conserverative gown she'd wore for the tour, the thought of her smooth warm skin beneath all that material was causing his imagination to run rampant.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Kori asked, facing him again.
"I would, but I gave my word that I would behave myself" And he hoped she appreciated that, because he didn't do that very often. Almost never, in fact.
"And so I should be grateful?"
"Not particularly. I know I'd be much more grateful if I weren't behaving. Do you wish to see that kitchens or the orphas next?"
"The kitchens, I think" Her pert nose wrinkled as though she'd thought of something unpleasant "I wish to have a basis referance before I interview that children. I am not avoiding them"
"I didn't say a word" She looked at him sideways, amusement touching her gaze
"You were about to" For a moment Richard was too mesmerised by her smile to reply. Rising this early in the day had made him mad. Nothing else made sense. And certainly nothing explained why he was beginning to enjoy conducting a tour of the damned Heart Of Hope Orphanage for a proper chit like Kori Anders.
This is probably a short chapter compared to the other ones but I didn't know where to stop. I hope you understand the part about 'Saint'. If you don't, it's like this...Saint is Richard's (Lord Grayson) nickname, everyone calles him Saint, Kori doesn't know his first name (Richard) she finds that out later, so from now on she's going to call Richard 'Saint'
Review...Please!