Eloise looked at him, seeing the predator rising to the surface, and felt a strange surge of calm. She reached out, her fingers grazing his hand, and turned to the trembling maid.
"Thank you, Mary," Eloise said softly, her voice steady despite the throb in her jaw. "You've done enough. You can go now."
Mary didn't need to be told twice. She curtsied so low she nearly tripped and vanished into the shadows of the hallway like a ghost fleeing the dawn.
Once they were alone, Eloise didn't let the silence fester. She reached down and pulled Luciano from his kneeling position, guiding him to sit on the velvet sofa beside her. He moved like a puppet with tensed wires, his body vibrating with a restrained, kinetic energy. She reached for the small, elegant box she had placed on the coffee table earlier—the one filled with the best of her day's labor.
