Page 92 of The Quiet Wife
“Frances?Frances?”He stuck his head out of the door and looked up and down the corridor, then pulled her unceremoniously into the room.
“Good Lord, whatever is it? Is it the girls?”
She shook her head. This wasn’t the reception she expected. He was supposed to swoon at the sight of her or be moved to take her into his arms. She lifted her chin and waited.
He opened his mouth and then shut it as it appeared to dawn on him that her hair was loose about her, and his gaze travelled from the top of her head, following the fall of it over her shoulders. He cleared his throat and brought his gaze back to hers. This time, his eyes looked darker. Carnal, almost.
Frances wanted to be seductive. Really, she did. She wanted to speak to him in alluring tones and have him… well, sweep her into his arms. To her horror, her eyes filled with tears. She was utterly overwhelmed and had no idea what to do.
“Oh, love, whatever is it?” he asked, and hearing that endearment almost finished her. He reached for her hand.
“I came to seduce you,” she said, trying to sound resolute, but her voice wobbled.
His eyes opened wide, and he blinked. A couple of times. “You did?” his tone was cautious, and there was still no evidence he might want to sweep her into his arms which made her feel like she had made a terrible mistake.
She nodded, and her chin quirked. “And I’ve just realised I have no idea how.” A tear spilled over. “I’m hopeless at this. Just like everything else.” Another tear spilled followed by another which made her feel even less alluring.
Jemie squeezed her hand and held it to his naked chest over his heart. “Frances… darling, you slay me every time you look at me. Every time you speak to me. I thought you knew that. I would love nothing more than to be seduced by you. But you are upset. I can’t simply ignore that.”
She swiped a hand over her wet cheeks. “I am a little.”
He lifted her fingers and kissed them, eyes screwed tight shut for a moment, then he opened them, swallowed and then, with aching slowness, he took hold of her face in one hand and ran his thumb over her cheek.
“What happened?”
“Does anythinghaveto have happened to make me come to seduce you?”
“I suspect so.”
Her eyes filled with tears again and she slumped in defeat because there was no getting anything past him. His thumb continued its gentle movement.
“I walked in on Frederick and Rosa Caldicott,” she told him.
“What were they doing?”
“What do you think they were doing?” She raised her eyebrows.
His eyes widened. “Ah… Oh!”
“Well, let’s put it this way. Tonight is the first time I have ever seen my husband completely naked.”
She saw the shock register.
“He always wears a nightshirt,” she mumbled, looking down.
“So, you walked in on Fred having his way with the Caldicott woman? In your own home?”
Frances nodded, still studying the floor. “I thought she was my friend,” she whispered, the heat rising in her cheeks. “I thought she liked me.”
“Dear God,” he murmured and pulled her into his arms. She rested her head against him and closed her eyes on a sigh as she leaned against his naked torso, inhaling the unalloyed scent of him, and putting her hands on the warm skin of his naked back. She felt the muscles move under her fingers as he wrapped his arms around her, and her mind drifted back to the thought of seduction.
“You know that I want to make love to you more than anything else in the world, don’t you?”
“If you say so.” Her heart thumped harder.
“I do say so.”
“I sense a ‘but’?”
