“Point taken,” her father mused. “Mr. Curtis and Robbie have been speaking to the authorities about these Cyclopes who waylaid you. Do you think they will be able to learn anything?”
Daniel’s smile faded. “I don’t know. The city is teeming with such miscreants, but also for a price, there is a wealth of informers, willing to squeal on their brethren in crime. While I am offering to pay that price, it might take a while before we learn anything.”
Her father nodded. “I suppose until then, there is little we can do but avoid the docks and watch your back. I do hope you will do so.” He gave Daniel a deliberate look. “If you will excuse me, I have some work to complete in my office, and I will leave you to your dessert to break the fast.”
Julia, who had followed Jonathan’s exodus to assist him with cleaning his face, waited for her father to leave the room before she ventured forward, wary when Daniel circled the table to draw her chair out for her. After he returned to his seat, she spoke. “Speaking of bribery, dessert to break the fast is unprecedented. What did you promise Cook?” She leaned forward to help herself to some coddled eggs, toast, and a slice of ham.
Daniel took umbrage. “No bribery. However, I might have taken advantage of Cook and Petie’s battle for supremacy.” A teasing light entered his eyes. “Once Petie declared oats porridge best for my recovery, Cook was delighted to thwart her. I might have mentioned that the Prince Regent himself broke the fast with them. And as he is now King of England, clearly no harm was done.”
“So Cook determines if it is good enough for royalty, it is good enough for Keaton House.” She laughed.
“Exactly. So here I am, breaking the fast with treacle tarts and my very own Venus.”
“If you have not noticed, I am fully clothed, while Botticelli’s Venus is not,” she pointed out, compelled to bring that pertinent detail to his attention.
“Sadly true, but I have no doubt that if you emerged naked from a shell with your hair blowing untamed in the wind, you would be absolutely stunning. I would be begging for brush and canvas. In fact, next to you coated in sugar and icing, it is my new fondest dream.”
Julia paused in lifting her napkin to wipe her mouth, Daniel’s perusal stripping her as naked as Botticelli’s Venus. His words stole her voice, but she quickly recovered and shot him a quelling look. “Please, stop. Someone might overhear you.”
“You are not a morning person? Prefer being seduced at early evening? Dusk more your preference?” At her blank look, he simply laughed, picked up a treacle tart, and leaned across the table to speak more intimately. “The dessert reminds me of you—tart, but sweet.” He flashed her a devilish grin, lifted the slice to his mouth, and bit into it.
There was something about a handsome man with a smudge of treacle on his mouth. It was boyishly endearing. When his tongue darted out, she stilled. She couldn’t tear her gaze away as he slowly and deliberately licked his lips clean. At the sinfully erotic display, desire shot through her. Her body tilted forward, like a leaning mast, and she yearned to lick the sticky remnants from those sensuous lips, to run her tongue over them and taste the sweet flavor of the golden treacle filling. And Daniel.
Appalled, she straightened.
Her breathing quickened, her heart skipped erratically, for his eyes were heavy-lidded and fixed on her mouth. Suddenly aware hers gaped open like a gutted fish, she snapped it closed and dropped her eyes to her plate, her mortification complete.
This would not do. Daniel was like a strong current, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her to places she was not ready to go. He was strong, forceful, and incredibly hard to resist.
The clanking of the front knocker rescued her. She jumped as the noise shattered the awareness that pulsed between them, brimming with unfilled desire and unspoken yearnings.
She was grateful for the distraction when Burke escorted Robbie and Brett into the dining room.
After the initial greetings were made, Robbie settled into the chair beside Daniel and leaned forward. “Is that treacle tart?”
“It is and you are welcome to a few as long you leave a portion for the rest of us,” Daniel said, warily eyeing Robbie’s mammoth frame.
Robbie huffed out a breath and helped himself to a plate and a generous serving.
Brett shuddered. “How can you eat that so early in the morning?”
“With little difficulty. Watch closely,” Robbie said, and half the tart disappeared into his mouth.
Brett shook his head. “I fear an early demise for you both.”
Julia inhaled sharply and noticed Daniel’s foot connecting with Brett’s shin beneath the table.