Page 84 of Taming Ivy
"I'll leave you to finish your bath.” With both palms up, he faced her, eyes dark. "And true to my word, I kept my hands to myself.”
Ivy nodded, surprised by the tiny frisson of disappointment streaking through her.
"I shall have the fire going, and perhaps you would like to try a cup of hot chocolate. I have the cocoa brought in from Spain. It is quite decadent. We’ll ring for Lizzie to come help you dress. Unless you prefer my assistance again.”
Ivy knew…if he helped dress her, she’d be unable to resist him. Lips tight, she shook her head. “Lizzy will be fine.”
He gave her an unfathomable look before exiting, and Ivy finished bathing in silence. Stepping from the tub and winding a towel about her hair, she frowned at her own complacency. She was making her own seduction incredibly easy. He merely washed her hair and she quivered at his touch.
After slipping her nightgown back on, Ivy returned to the bedchamber. A chair and a small table were pulled close to the fire. The pot of hot chocolate and a clean cup, along with her brush and comb rested upon the table. He had placed a soft blanket in the chair and her slippers waited beside it.
"Ah, there you are,” Sebastian said cheerfully, pulling the drapes back. Early morning light filtered into the room, mingling with the glow of the firelight. He knelt down to slide the slippers onto her feet, a smile twitching his lips.
“What is so amusing?” Ivy drew the blanket across her lap.
"With your hair wrapped so, you remind me of an empress I saw once. Only you are much more beautiful. And, daring to touch you won't leave me in danger of losing my head or having my hands lopped off.”
She laughed despite herself. "Are you sure about that?"
His eyebrow lifted in mock challenge. "I suppose the risk is worth it.”
Gathering up a few personal items, he disappeared into the bathing room while Ivy pondered his words. A curious feeling of anticipation shimmered through her.
Kisses, hot chocolate, Sebastian washing her hair. Such a peculiar first morning as husband and wife.
CHAPTER 28
Breakfast was served in the impossibly large and elegant dining room at an equally impossibly large table that could easily seat a hundred guests. Sebastian then gave Ivy a tour of her new home.
There were two sitting rooms on the main floor, each decorated in complementary shades; silver and blue in the east wing; blush rose and cream in the west. A life-size portrait of Sebastian's mother, gracefully beautiful with dark hair and soft gray eyes presided over the fireplace in the rose parlor. In the blue parlor, a portrait of the old earl hung. It was easy to see Sebastian in his father’s countenance, if one looked past the blue eyes and salt and pepper hair. It reflected in the autocratic and yet kindly gleam of his father’s eyes, the regal lift of his chin. And certainly in their features, although Ivy believed her husband to be the more handsome of the two.
A separate corridor veered into a wing containing Sebastian’s study, the library, and a music room. The study was fascinating- a well-organized, masculine space, with files and personal papers neatly stacked in shallow wood bins on the large desk. An enormous globe of Earth, held aloft on an ornate iron axis, stood before a large window. Dominating the wall above the fireplace was a painting of Beaumont from the fifteenth century, depicting the manor before a main portion of the house burned to the ground. Accented by deep green forests and open fields dotted with fluffy sheep, the manor in the painting was quite cozy when compared to its present magnificence.
And the library! Ivy sighed with pleasure, for it was grand and delicious with the prevailing scent of book leather and old paper and lavender. Mahogany bookcases stretched from floor to vaulted ceiling on three walls, and several rolling ladders made it easy to reach the volumes along the top shelves. An ornate fruitwood bar stocked with spirits occupied one corner, and the combined lighting of several sconces and numerous exquisite crystal chandeliers overhead lit the dark wood interior with an amber glow.
"It is so lovely.” Ivy ran a finger along the spines of a row of books on the shelf by her head.
Diffused morning light streamed through a wall of windows overlooking a magnificent four-square rose garden. In the late afternoon, the space would be stunning as sunlight filled it. Ivy made a mental promise to visit. With a crackling fire in the hearth and a pot of hot tea at her elbow, the multiple cranberry hued divans scattered about, it would prove a perfect spot for curling up with a good book. It would be heaven itself.
"I spent a great deal of time in here growing up.” Sebastian followed her, watching intently as she traced the book titles on the spines. "I was never able to read all of them, but I tried.”
Ivy smiled at him over her shoulder. "I would have believed you to be running wild over the countryside instead.”
"I certainly did that. However, my mother required I read at least one book every summer, and I did wish to make her happy.”
"Did you have a favorite author?"
"Shakespeare when my mother was about.” He gave her a wicked wink. “Chaucer when she was not.”
Imagining her husband as boy, hiding his choice of books from his mother, Ivy fought the tug of tenderness to ask briskly, "Where to next? The music room, I think you said?"
He indicated she should walk ahead of him, but as she skirted past, he caught her by the elbow, spinning her around and back up against the bookcase. Sebastian moved with the quickness of a deadly jungle cat.
Ivy’s breath caught in her chest and Sebastian smiled at her surprise. "The music room can wait. I'm afraid I cannot.”
Taking her hands, he raised them high, pinning them against the spines of the books behind her. The edges of the different shelves hit at her shoulders, hips and the back of her knees.
"It’s been damned difficult keeping my hands off you. I’ve reached my limits. For the morning, at least.” His eyes were hot and dark. Lustful.
