Chapter 7
SEVEN
VIVIENNE
I led Kor down the long hallway that connected the kitchen to the rest of the East Wing. I wasn’t quite sure which room I was going to put him in—I only knew I wanted him close to me.
Only because it was so spooky at night in the big Manor, now that I was alone though, I hastened to reassure myself. There was no other reason to have him close—none at all.
We passed by many guest bedrooms, but I didn’t put Kor into any of them. He noticed the number though and commented on it.
“Oh yes,” I told him. “Wolverton Manor is able to sleep fifty guests, though we never had nearly that many people stay with us.” I sighed.
“I always thought it was ironic that my late husband built himself such a huge house that could hold so many guests when all he ever wanted was to stay home away from people.”
“So Uncle Carter was kind of a hermit, was he?” Kor asked, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded.
“I guess you could say that. We never had dinners at our dining table which could seat a hundred or parties in the massive ballroom in the center of the house. Mostly it was just him and me and the servants rattling around in here like a few balls in a pinball machine.”
“That sounds very lonely—especially if you and Uncle Carter didn’t, er, get along,” he offered.
“We didn’t,” I said bluntly. “My late husband was…not a very affectionate person. And to be honest, I don’t think he liked me very much. And that dislike only grew after I failed to give him an heir.”
I didn’t know why I was being so open with him about my life and my past—it really wasn’t appropriate to dump my trauma on his broad, young shoulders. But he seemed interested and was not put off at all. That was nice—and really unusual. At least for me.
Kor shook his head.
“I’m sorry to speak ill of the dead, but he sounds like a real bastard.”
I bit my lip. I really shouldn’t speak ill of my late husband either, but Kor was right in every way.
While I was thinking what to say, I found that we had come to a stop—right in front of my own bedchamber!
I blushed fiercely when I saw what I had done. It was as though I was offering to let him share my bed, which was wrong in so many ways I couldn’t even count them.
“Er…is this where I’m staying?” Kor asked, nodding at my bedroom door.
“Um, no. This…this is my room,” I said. Then, fumbling for a reason I had brought him here, I turned to the door next to mine. “This will be your room while you stay with me,” I said, and pushed open the door.
It was Carter’s old room, of course, empty ever since his passing.
“Wow,” Kor breathed as the door to the bedchamber swung open.
It was a massive room with a vast arching window on one wall that let in the light of the half-full moon.
A huge, heavy bed carved from native mahogany dominated the center of the room and there was a fireplace flanked by two large wingback chairs that matched it.
The whole thing was decorated in deep greens and grays and browns—extremely masculine, without even a hint of a woman’s touch, which was exactly how Carter had liked it.
“Is this really one of your guestrooms?” Kor asked, looking around with wide eyes.
“Well…no,” I had to admit, because I didn’t like lying to him.
“This was your uncle’s room. I, uh, thought it ought to be yours, considering you’re the head of the family now,” I added lamely.
“All the sheets and the comforter set, and the mattress and pillows are new,” I added quickly.
“I had the whole thing cleaned from top to bottom to get rid of every trace of him after he passed.”
“Er…I hope you don’t mind me asking but did…did he die in here?” Kor asked, turning to me.
“What? Oh no—definitely not!” I said, but didn’t elaborate.
It was actually a heart attack that finally took him—right at the end of the vast dining room table we never used for guests.
Carter had insisted on sitting there for every meal, even though the huge empty area echoed so loudly I could barely understand him.
Not that he ever spoke to me much as we ate.
I was always an afterthought and an annoyance to my late husband.
“All right, thank you.” Kor nodded. “I’m glad to know he’s not going to be haunting me for sleeping in his bed. Er…are you sure you don’t mind me staying in here?”
I shook my head.
“It ought to be your room.” The more I said it, the more certain I sounded.
I didn’t mention the connecting room between Carter’s old bedroom and my own—the one that wouldn’t close all the way because early in our marriage when I’d tried to keep him out so he wouldn’t breed me, he had broken the lock.
“Please make yourself at home,” I said now to Kor. I stepped into the bedchamber and started pointing things out. “There’s an ensuite bathroom through there and a dresser for your clothes…or, er, I guess you don’t have any clothes, do you?” I said.
He grinned and shrugged.
“Just what’s on my back.”
I bit my lip.
“I’d offer you some of Carter’s but I got rid of them all after he died. And besides, he was about a head and a half shorter than you are.”
Actually, I had gotten rid of all of my late husband’s personal items after his death down to the razors he used to shave with and the toothbrush he brushed his teeth with.
I had wanted to purge the house entirely of his presence—and I thought I had done a fairly good job.
I had donated everything I could and sent the rest to the dump.
Which is exactly where you should have buried him, whispered a spiteful little voice in my head.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kor said, breaking my train of thought. “I can order some more online. Er, do you get deliveries way out here?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“We have to pick everything up at the post office. You can still get one day delivery on a lot of items though—you’ll just have to make a trip to town to get it.”
“Guess I’m going to town tomorrow then,” he said easily. “For tonight, I’ll just sleep in my boxers.”
I tried not to picture him in nothing but his underwear but since he was still bare-chested, it was a short trip in my imagination to take off his trousers. I bet he had long, tan, muscular legs with just a dusting of hair on them.
“That’s fine,” I made myself say, looking away. “I have some things that are ready for pickup too. We can go together…if you want,” I added. Because he might not want to be stuck with me on a trip to town when we were already spending so much time together.
“I’d love that.” Kor’s smile was warm and genuine. “Maybe you can show me around. And I should get to meet people if I’m going to be their new Pack Master.”
I bit my lip again. I wanted to warn him about the town—about how people weren’t exactly going to welcome him with open arms, even if he was rightfully the Pack Leader.
The people of my late husband’s pack—and by extension, the town—were extremely insular and wary of outsiders.
Also, most of them were probably betting on Harris Murdoch to win the Alpha Challenge.
I hoped and prayed they were wrong, but Murdoch was a hardened male in his prime and I still didn’t know how strong Kor was or how strong his wolf was.
Often, the wolf inside determines the strength of the man who is bound to it.
Carter’s wolf had been insanely big and strong, despite his short stature.
I had never seen Kor shift, of course, so I didn’t know what kind of wolf he had or how strong it was—or how likely it was to be able to beat Harris Murdoch’s wolf, which was a big, dirty, smelly mutt of a beast that could nonetheless take any other wolf in the Pack.
Reluctantly, I kept my mouth closed. There would be time to warn Kor later and he would find out a lot for himself, when we went into town tomorrow.
“Well, I should really be getting to bed myself,” I said, manufacturing a yawn. “There are fresh towels in the bathroom, and I think I asked the staff to stock it with new toiletries too, if you need them.”
“Thank you.” He nodded. “I’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
“Good. Then sleep well.” I smiled at him.
“I’ll be right in the next room if you need anything.
” Then I realized what that sounded like and went hot with a blush.
“I mean, not that you’d need anything in the middle of the night.
I, er…good night,” I said quickly and left, before I could shove my foot in my mouth again.
What must he think of me? I hoped he didn’t think I was coming on to him or asking him to “visit” me in the middle of the night for carnal reasons.
I just wasn’t used to talking to people hardly at all.
Carter never wanted to chat and the maids we hired were wary of getting too friendly with the Mistress of the House.
Since most of them also came from the Pack, they didn’t want to get too close and catch my barrenness.
So I’d had almost no friends and not much conversation for the past twenty years. It was no wonder I was so bad at it.
Well, there was nothing I could do about it now. Hopefully, Kor hadn’t taken my words the wrong way.
I went into my room and began getting ready for bed, but I couldn’t help thinking that just on the other side of the connecting door, Kor was doing the same.