“You find this funny?” Antoine angled his head toward me.
Flopping down in my chair a few seats away from him, I shrugged. “I just think you give Piper too much credit.”
“Miss Billings,” he corrected me.
Waving him off, I leaned forward and cupped my hands in front of me. “It’s less likely that she actually thinks that and more likely that she’s a klutz. She almost killed herself in the library a few minutes ago getting a book.”
Antoine’s brow shot up to his hair line and then turned his gaze to Allister. “Is this true?”
Allister sat next to me, his shoulders stiff. He didn’t put the books on the table but sat them on the floor next to him. “I caught her.”
“Hmm.” Antoine watched us for a moment before moving his gaze to Darren. “Which do you think it is? An unfortunate mishap or a calculated move?”
Darren let out a rude sound. “If you spent more than five minutes in a room with Miss Billings, you’ll know she doesn’t have a calculating bone in her body. No, if anything, she broke it simply to spite me than to stay here longer. I actually have the feeling she’d rather get a different job but is unable to for some reason.”
The butler’s assessment made me frown. That couldn’t be right. She was a gorgeous woman with plenty of going for her. There’s no way she has to be a maid. I guess if she didn’t have any other skills to fall back on, that would be a problem, but if I were her, I’d have found me a rich husband and never work a day in my life.
Women these days.
“Any other comments?” Antoine asked Darren and then glanced back my way.
I grinned and shifted in my seat. “Yeah, she’s giving me a perpetual case of blue balls. Can we do something about that?”
Antoine’s lip curled up in disgust. “Yes, be an adult and go take care of it yourself.”
“What? You’re not offering up your servant for the job?” I let my eyes linger on Darren who had an unreadable expression on his face.
It wasn’t a secret the two of them dallied with each other from time to time. I didn’t know if they actually cared for one another or it if was simply because their blood bond required it. Either way, it gave me great pleasure to poke at the otherwise serious pair.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” Antoine calmly stated, tapping his finger on the top of the table. “Now, Darren, what’s for dinner?”
The butler’s shoulders sagged. The movement was so slight if you hadn’t been looking for it, you wouldn’t have noticed. I was watching and I did notice. I repressed a grin.
Another point for me.