Waking Up With a Rake Read Online Free PDF

of freckles on your cheeks,” he said. “Plus, there’s a smudge of dirt on your right sleeve near the elbow. Potting soil?”
    “Yes.” She set down her teacup and rubbed vigorously at the offending smudge. So he had looked at more of her than her face, though she hadn’t caught him at it.
    “An excellent gardener then,” he said, leaning back and cocking his head at her quizzically. “But I sense your interest runs even deeper than most.”
    Did this man have a way to tap into her private thoughts? “Again, you are correct. I love green growing things, but I also study them. I’m fascinated by the way they flourish and by the multitudinous variety of them.”
    “What are your favorite types?”
    “Orchids,” she said quickly.
    “Aren’t they parasitic? You don’t strike me as the type who’d champion an organism that survives by taking from others.”
    “While it’s true some orchids thrive anchored to the bark of trees, most merely cling to their host without taking nourishment from it. Rather like a sparrow alighting on a twig, actually,” she said. “There are a few species that are parasitic, but they grow below ground. And I’ve read that they smell like something rotten. Not at all the type I’d choose to cultivate.”
    His mouth twitched, and the smile she’d found so engaging no longer reached his eyes. “Very wise of you not to cultivate types who prey on others.”
    Olivia had heard that conversations at court were often laced with double meaning, but she couldn’t imagine what cryptic message he might be trying to send with this one.
    “Nevertheless, I find raising orchids most agreeable,” she said, taking up her cup and saucer again. It was a very small shield, but she sheltered behind the fine Limoges. Until she figured this man out, it seemed safer.
    “I’d imagine so, all that pollinating and germinating and whatnot. And I find it most agreeable that a young lady such as yourself isn’t put off by such close acquaintance with reproduction.” A hint of sin returned to his smile. “Is it true that orchids take their name from the Greek word for a certain part of male anatomy?”
    Olivia choked on her surprise.
    And her tea.
    Lord Rhys was on his feet in a trice, thumping her back and lifting her arms over her head. She sputtered for a good half-minute, then finally caught her breath. Olivia pulled her hands away from him and bent to retrieve the cup and saucer that had landed in a damp puddle on her mother’s Aubusson carpet.
    “Thank you, my lord.” Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. “I’m quite recovered.”
    “I can see I’ve shocked you,” he said as he returned to the settee. “Forgive me. I naturally assumed your familiarity with plants and their procreation would cause you to take a liberal view of what constitutes acceptable topics to be discussed between friends.”
    “That presupposes that we are friends.”
    “Do you think we’re not?” he said, leaning back and hooking an ankle over his knee, clearly at ease. He spread his arms across the back of the settee, filling the space and the room so completely Olivia had difficulty drawing breath. And not just from choking on the tea. “I’d hate for that to be true. I can’t tell you the last time I enjoyed a conversation with a young lady quite so much. Do you find me irksome?”
    Despite his inappropriate comments, she couldn’t find him so. She almost wished she did. In addition to the fluttering in her chest, the hair on the back of her neck prickled. If she’d been a wild creature, she didn’t know whether she’d be drawn to him like a moth to flame or run like a hind that catches wind of hunting dogs.
    “No, my lord,” she said. “I doubt any lady of your acquaintance finds you irksome.”
    “I’m gratified to hear it. In that case, would you do me a favor?”
    “If I can.”
    “Oh, you can. The question is whether or not you will.”
    She shifted on her seat, wishing she could rise,