Chapter 3
"Yes?" Violet called over her hammering heart and through the thick wooden door, attempting to stave off Mirabelle’s entry.
She wasn’t ready to face her friend. Not simply because she was hiding a man in her bed, which was incredibly scandalous, but also because said man said incredibly scandalous things to her that had never been said before.
The ground beneath her had shifted ever so slightly when he voiced the charming compliment for the first time.
But when he had mentioned the hair, the sun, her eyes, her lips…
she thought she might shatter. Obviously he hadn’t been referencing the landlord.
And since she had blonde hair and red lips…
well…perhaps she had made a leap in assumption, but it was a rather logical one. She thought.
But her thoughts were indelibly muddled with his solid body surrounding her. His breath against her back. His legs bracketing her own. It was all too much to take in at once. Instead, she focused on the question coming back at her.
"May I come in? I’d like to show you something." The timing couldn’t have been worse. But there was no use fighting what was already happening.
Not quite making eye contact, Violet turned her head over her shoulder at Alex nestled behind her under the blankets.
Never had their bodies been so pressed together.
Well, there was that one night that came close, but even shivering in the cold, he hadn’t warmed her with his arms, which she half-resented him for to this day.
"Do you think you’re hidden well enough? "
He grunted awkwardly in reply, adding in a hissed whisper, "There are enough pillows here to hide a dragon. I think I’m good." Though his voice was cavalier, the grip he had on her hips was anything but.
Still, her voice wavered when acquiescing to Mirabelle’s request. "C-come in.
" Oh, the utter mortification that hovered over her was enough to make her dissolve into fog. Should Mirabelle walk in on her with Alex in her bed, she would never be able to face the woman again. Why had she thought that hiding Alex in her bed was a better plan than simply explaining the letter? The letter that she didn’t want Mirabelle to know she was writing.
Bah. It was complicated. Alas, here she was.
This is what she thought would work and she was darn well going to make it work.
If it was the last thing she did. Coincidental, that.
As it might well be the last thing she would do as a spinster.
Such thoughts brought no good, so Violet battled them back until they stepped out of her mind.
The door swooshed open. Without looking up, Mirabelle spoke with a necklace dangling from her fingers.
"Do you think the jeweller can repair—oh, you’re in bed.
Are you all right?" She stepped forward and Violet put up a hand to stop her.
Not so abruptly as to raise any suspicions from Mirabelle, but just enough to startle her into a standstill.
"Just resting." She faked a yawn, but her curiosity was peaked about the necklace. "Is it broken?"
"One of the links in the chain. I’m sure it’s an easy fix. Would you like to accompany me to Mr. Duke’s later this afternoon. Perhaps after," she motioned to the bed, "your rest."
"Yes. I would very much enjoy that." At the same moment peace came at the thought of having someone to spend the afternoon with, she felt Alex’s hand relax at her sides.
"I’ll come get you in an hour. After…your rest."
Violet watched her exit the room and gently close the door. When Alex didn’t make a move, she whispered, "She’s gone."
But the body behind her was limp. He had actually fallen asleep.
With her. In her bed. The man who fought sleep like the devil.
The man with more restless nights than breakfasts.
That man. Was sleeping soundly behind her.
And it made her heart soar. She wanted to roll around and squeeze him.
Observe him in this elusively vulnerable state.
But the second she shifted, his hands bunched the fabric at her hips.
Similarly to how he’d caged her in at the desk.
And she felt like pudding. And then he pulled her further back onto him where he nuzzled into her neck and murmured, "Too much light.
" As if to explain his behaviour even in slumber.
But she wasn’t going to argue with him. She wasn’t going to do anything other than enjoy this moment with him.
Because the second he woke up, she knew she’d never have another chance.