Mr. Fairbanks moved closer, took her proffered hand, and shook it firmly. She liked that he did so. Many gentlemen thought it gallant to kiss a lady’s hand in greeting, even if she proffered a handshake. Mina liked that he respected her choice. “I am here for our interview, Mr. Fairbanks,” she said crisply, breaking their clasp.
“Is it ten already?”
She could smell a sweet feminine perfume on his clothes; and, wrinkling her nose, she hopped up the final step, not wanting to be this close to him.
“I am fifteen minutes early—” A startled gasp left her when the heel beneath her boot cracked, and she pitched forward.
Mr. Fairbanks caught Mina around the waist and swung her down to rest her feet on the bottom of the stairs before she could gather her wits. Terribly conscious of his hands on her person and the closeness of his body to hers, she glanced up, an apology already spilling from her.
“I am quite mortified, I—” Mina stilled, feeling suddenly out of equanimity.
There was a look in his eyes she had never quite associated with a gentleman looking at her. In truth, she was unfamiliar with him, but somehow it made her feel warm and also uncertain. She stiffened her spine. “You might release me now, Mr. Fairbanks.”
He appeared almost surprised to find that he still held her about the waist. Mr. Fairbanks dropped his hands and stepped away from her. She was happy for the respectable space, but she still thought it prudent to retreat even further. Mina winced when the cracked heel caused her to wobble, putting pressure on her ankle as it twisted. The boots had only returned from the cobbler last week; she had not expected one to give way this soon. She was certain this display would lose her the position before she had even sat for the interview. Desperation wormed its way in her heart, and she met his eyes with a lifted chin.
“I assure you, Mr. Fairbanks, this mishap is in no way a reflection on my ability to be a proper etiquette tutor to your siblings.”
“Think nothing of it,” he murmured, an indefinable expression in his eyes as he stared at her. “Will you allow me to lift you inside?”
Mina stared at him as if he had grown two heads. “Lift me? Into your arms? Surely you jest!”
He watched her with cool speculation. “You’ve twisted your ankle, Miss Fernsby.”
“The discomfort is mild. I am able to hobble,” she said frostily.
His eyes gleamed with amusement and an expression she could not identify. Colin Fairbanks was so physically beautiful in a way that should be considered dangerous to any lady’s willpower. Suddenly, Mina knew that her previous plan to accept his offer and stay under this man’s roof as a tutor must not come to fruition. She suspected for the second time in her four and twenty years she had encountered a true rake—one who was dashing, terribly handsome, and unquestionably dissolute.
The painful consequences from crossing the path with another rake years ago still lived with her, and it was just her misfortune to encounter another in the form of a potential employer. An employment that she needed. Taking a deep breath Mina silently vowed she would be extraordinarily cautious in their interactions and never allow this gentleman to get too close.