Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
“Oh, do please come in,” Cedric invited, a confident smile on his face.
His eyes found the clock on his mantle, and he chortled. He’d only left Deborah two hours ago, and already she was coming to him with a change of heart. He had expected a little more fight from her, but her willingness to come find him did nothing to dampen his desire for her.
He lounged back in his settee as the door opened, spreading his thighs wide as his hands came to rest along its back. Then his smile slipped- if only a little- as he saw that it was not Deborah who had come to his chambers.
“Oh.” He said, silently telling himself that it was not disappointment he was feeling, but surprise.
“Good evening, Your Grace,” Mrs. House, his housekeeper, greeted politely as she curtsied.
“Good evening, Mrs. House,” he replied politely, then got up. He went to the small table and two chairs by his fireplace and pulled one of them out for her.
“Have you come to discuss Adeline?” He asked.
Mrs. House nodded.
“Sit, please,” he encouraged.
The mother hen, his housekeeper, gave him a curious look as she slowly walked toward him.
“You were expecting someone else,” she mused, “Your new bride, perhaps? Congratulations, by the way.”
“Miss Adeline has told her dolls that she is quite beautiful,” she added as she took her seat.
“Miss Adeline is correct,” Cedric agreed pleasantly, going to the chair opposite her, “However, we are not here to discuss my new wife, are we?”
Mrs. House’s smirk widened, as if she knew he was avoiding the subject.
“No, Your Grace,” she agreed, then bowed her head respectfully.
“Tell me, Mrs. House,” Cedric bid, folding his hands together, “How is Adeline?”
Several members of his staff took turns watching over his niece, albeit without her knowledge.
Her ill temper kept them at arm's length, but Cedric had devised a way to keep an eye on her at all times.
It felt wrong, at times, not offering the girl the privacy she so obviously craved, but it was necessary.
“This afternoon and evening she was quite tired,” Mrs. House answered, getting right down to it.
“Should I be worried?” Cedric asked quickly.
Mrs. House gave him a compassionate look, but shook her head.
“We kept an eye on her as always, and I truly believe she was just exhausted from the excitement of the day. With a good night’s sleep, she should be her usual self by tomorrow morning.
However, one of us will be there if she an…
issue,” she replied. “Have your new wife urge her to drink plenty of tea and water tomorrow, though. I fear hydration may play a part in her condition.”
Cedric blew out a breath of relief through his slightly parted lips.
“I will get word to my wife. You will keep an eye on her tonight, though? To be sure?” He asked.
“As always,” Mrs. House replied.
When she said nothing else, Cedric cleared his throat. As always, he felt a bit guilty for the circumstances he had insisted Mrs. House and some of the other staff take on.
“How awful is it?” He asked. “Be honest, please. Is there anything I can do to make you or the others more comfortable in the room? You must feel terribly boxed in after a time.”
When Cedric had first brought Adeline to his home after the funeral, he tried to pair her with a member of his staff at all times.
However, Adeline seemed to despise any sort of company and had attempted many times to chase them away, just as she chased away any of the governesses or nannies Cedric had tried to bring in during the last year.
So Cedric had gotten creative. He’d used the room next to Adeline’s and had constructed a secret viewing box for whoever was on shift to keep an eye on their mischievous ward without her ever having to know.
It was disguised as a painting; one they could swing open and enter Adeline’s room through in case of an emergency.
It was, Cedric knew, a large sacrifice on Mrs. House's and other staff members’ part.
Adeline hardly ever wanted to leave her quarters, so they could not leave either, often for hours until they were relieved of duty by the next watcher.
Adeline’s issues had also been known to occur at night, so it also meant that whoever was on night watch got very little sleep.
His house was, in all ways, devoted to Adeline’s life, even if she did not know or appreciate it.
“It is not so bad as you think it is,” Mrs. House replied, her tone earnest. “The room vast and decorated in a very lovely manner. There are plenty of windows and fresh air. It is not as if we are stuffed into a closet to watch over Adeline. And please remember, Your Grace, we are just as willing participants in this arrangement as you are. Every one of us volunteered for this.”
Her words did little to appease Cedric’s guilt, and he rubbed his thumb anxiously back and forth over his bottom lip.
Not long ago, it was Deborah’s lips that were caressing the sensitive flesh, and he so wished he could go back to her room and seduce her into another kiss.
After all, the first had given him such pleasure that he’d nearly lost his mind. If that maid had not walked in…
Cedric pinched his bottom lip hard, using the pain to pull himself back to the present.
“Adeline spent the entire carriage ride back here talking to my new wife,” Cedric shared as his lip throbbed, “Perhaps their relationship may heal some of Adeline’s behavioral issues, and you could stop hiding the work you do for her.”
Mrs. House offered a kind smile.
“That would be lovely,” she agreed, and Cedric looked up just in time to see sadness fill her bright blue eyes.
“What is it?” He demanded.
“She was just. Well, I do not know for sure, of course, but she was surely such a very different child before her mother died,” Mrs. House explained, shaking her head.
“She just seems to be in so much pain and just does not know what to do with it. We want to be there for her, but she just will not allow it.”
Cedric nodded, knowing all too well what it was like to be a person Adeline did not want to be around.
Their only difference was that upon her first tantrum, which led to an issue, Cedric had stopped trying to be there for her.
The child wanted her solitude- or at least, that was what she wanted before she met Deborah.
Mrs. House tilted her head as she looked at Cedric, her brow raised.
Cedric stared evenly back at her, waiting for her to say her piece.
Instead, she silently rose from her chair and walked over to him.
He made no protest as she ran her fingers through his dark hair, then over his well-trimmed beard.
When he was younger, with no mother to tend to him and his father with no care to have a barber to take care of his trimming, Mrs. House had taken on the responsibility herself.
“You look quite tired yourself, my boy,” she said softly.
“Hm,” Cedric hummed, meeting her eyes. “Long day for all of us, I suppose.”
Mrs. House smirked.
“I truly never thought you would take a wife,” she mused, and Cedric let out an exhausted laugh.
“That seems to be everyone’s thought,” he replied.
“It has been a while since you have had any…visitors. I suppose this means that door is permanently closed now?” She asked, giving his cheek a gentle pat before stepping away
Cedric smirked back, knowing precisely what sort of ‘visitors’ she referred to, even if he had never let them spend the night.
“It does indeed,” he had agreed.
Though he would never admit to Mrs. House or anyone else, it had been a year since his last tryst. Ever since Adeline became his ward.
As Adeline’s condition and her behavior worsened, so did situations in Calder.
If it was not an agricultural issue, it was an economic one.
If it was not economic trouble, it was the weather.
Problems only seemed to keep arising for him, and he had not had the urge or want to seduce women as he used to, at least, not until a few hours ago.
“Are you going to tell your new bride about the room tomorrow?” Mrs. House asked as she reached the door.
Cedric shook his head.
“Not yet. In truth, I do not even know how to explain Adeline’s condition,” he replied.
“You will have to eventually,” Mrs. House pointed out, “Especially when Adeline has her next episode. What will she think if one of us just comes popping out of that painting to save your niece?”
Cedric shrugged as he leaned his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand.
“That you are a particularly helpful ghost?” He offered, only half-jesting.
Mrs. House did him the honor of letting out a soft laugh at his poor joke.
“Find a way to tell her, Your Grace,” She gently urged, “Perhaps with your wife’s help, Adeline would allow me back in her life. We would not have to hide anymore, and perhaps we could all move on from this strange situation we’ve been festering in this past year.”
Cedric only nodded, not wanting to think further on the subject any more, for the night.
“Have a pleasant evening, Mrs. House. Alert me at once if anything happens to Adeline,” he said in farewell.
“Of course, Your Grace,” Mrs. House answered, sweeping into a curtsey.
Alone again, Cedric let out a deep sigh as he rubbed his hand over his face. He knew Mrs. House was right. However, it had been over a month since her last episode- the longest yet Adeline had gone without one. Perhaps their need to worry was over.
Perhaps in the future, all he would need to worry about would be chasing more little bugs out of Deborah’s gowns. He smiled at the thought, recalling the way she was dancing about her room and reaching both arms behind her back, trying so very hard to get the thing undone herself.
His smile turned mischievous, and slowly faded into a look of deep contemplation as he thought of what happened next.
He had meant to tease her, to teach her how easily he could tempt her away from her condition of their marriage.
Instead, he’d ended up teasing himself just as much.
Her hair had smelled of sun-ripened peaches; in fact, the scent still filled his nose.
And the feel of her buttery-soft skin beneath his palms and lips had been maddening.
It was as if she’d bathed in milk. Then her kiss. It was sweet and soft, like honey.
Peaches. Honey. And Milk.
With her fiery auburn hair and fair skin, Cedric realized that she tasted and felt exactly as she looked.