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Stop it. She’s a lady.
He adjusted his collar and forced himself to focus on the task at hand: figuring out how to get across the remaining gardens and into that ballroom to check on Penelope.
Right now, that meant getting closer to the manor.
He gently tapped Enid’s wing to get her attention and inclined his head toward the veranda. “I don’t know the gardens,” he said, careful to pitch his voice low. Who knew how sharp an orc’s hearing was? “Can we get closer to the veranda while remaining out of sight?”
“Indeed we can.” Her grin sent a frisson of warning down his spine. “This way.”
Lady Enid was far too happy about this development.
They hadn’t been acquainted for more than an hour, and yet he’d learned to beware that twinkle in her golden eyes. Afraid that he’d just gotten himself tangled in something more tenacious than ivy, he followed her along the edge of the lawn to where ornamental shrubs lined a pathway. Candlelit lanterns already glowed along the walkway, though the sun had yet to fully disappear.
She led him through the greenery, to the side of a well-trimmed hedgerow.
“This is the exterior of the maze,” she said quietly. “It will conceal our approach from the orcs… probably.”
Probably?
Bloody hell.
But there was nothing else to be done. He had to confirm Penny was okay—and if she wasn’t, he’d square off with those damned orcs until they either let him in or allowed his sister to leave.
“Lead on,” he said to Enid.
She gifted him with another of her feral smiles and slipped from the path to the edge of the maze. Trailing her fingertips along the edge, she glanced over her shoulder. Even if they hadn’t shared a destination, that single look would have compelled him to follow.
You are here for your sister. Not a sinfully attractive harpy.
Unfortunately, his body wasn’t listening.
The smell of her, some heady mix of fresh air and wild roses, enveloped his senses as he followed her along the maze’s perimeter. Her wings were tucked neatly along her back, and did nothing to hide the enticing sway of her hips. He couldn’t keep his thoughts away from her, couldn’t stop himself from imagining what it would feel like to spin her around and shove her against that wall of green.
Would she lock her talons behind his back and moan as he drove into her?
The spike of lust was so profound he could almost hear…
He stopped in his tracks.
His eyes slowly widened.
That lusty cry was not the product of his desire-riddled brain—it was real, and it was coming from the other side of that hedge. His gaze snapped to Enid, who’d stopped a short distance ahead of him. The smirk curving her mouth said it all: this maze concealed the infamous pleasure garden.
She fluttered her lashes. “Want to go in?”
Yes.
“No,” he said, wishing he didn’t sound half-strangled.
“Liar,” she whispered. Her skirts and wings flared dramatically as she spun around to continue their approach, but she sounded more amused than vexed by his refusal.
He adjusted his cravat for possibly the hundredth time.
If he spent much longer in Lady Enid’s company, he’d reduce the stretch of fabric to a worn strip only good for polishing desks—and his mentor delighted in giving him such tasks.A reason to put harpy heiresses out of your head. And focus on the task at hand.
Deciding it was wiser to keep quiet, he followed her along the hedge until they neared the far edge of the veranda. He studied the footmen and swallowed hard. This close he could see the size of the orcs—at least seven feet tall and bulging with muscles. It was like a higher power had taken a corded lump of green clay and focused entirely on forming muscles and tusks.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered.
