Page 73 of A Naughty Proposal for His Winter Countess
Moving to the guest rooms, Daniel shrugged, “I'll consider it.”
“Which is a yes, in your language,” Ben said. “Just make sure you don't foul me at the tables.”
* * *
Grateful to have escaped the cloying cigar smoke and bawdy talk some of the men indulged in, Daniel entered his guest room with relief. Perhaps it had been a foolish choice to accompany Ben back to Carrington Manor for a gentleman's night. Not once he had seen Harriet.
Instead of undressing fully, Daniel shed his jacket and waistcoat, before opening a bottle of wine and moving to the window.
Carrington did have a lovely Manor, and while Daniel admired it, he knew he'd be lost in a home like this. While swirling his wine, Daniel's eyes skimmed over the window of the opposite wing. He decided that he would try to find some time to speak with Harriet the next day.
As he looked, his eyes landed on a familiar form standing behind a window; Harriet looked tired, or possibly distressed with how she was hugging herself around her middle. His eyes dropped to the trellis that led to the balcony of her room and a daredevil plan hatched in his mind.
Slipping from his room, he swung over his balustrade and nimbly dropped to the snow-dusted ground. Hugging the shadows, Daniel skirted the small inner courtyard to the trellis and grabbed on it.
The vines were tough and brittle but strong enough to carry him to the balcony. Grabbing on the wet stone, Daniel heaved himself up and landed with a thud. He crouched in case someone was looking.
Knocking on the door, he waited, then knocked again. When Harriet didn't come, he tried the door and found it locked. Knocking again, Daniel was going to leave if she didn't answer.
When she finally did, slowly inching it open, her lips parted in shock. “Daniel? What are you…” she looked around before dragging him inside and shoving the door closed, “doing here?”
“Mimicking Romeo Capulet,” he answered. “Forgive me for frightening you.”
Harriet shook her head, then slid into the circle of his arms. Resting her the side of her head on his chest, she whispered, “I'm glad you're here.”
Her hair was tumbling over her back, and Daniel loved stroking the silky strands. “What's wrong, Sweetheart?”
Instead of replying, Harriet tugged him to her bed, “Lay down with me?”
Her tone told him what her hunched body from the window already had. Quietly moving from the threshold, Daniel paused to remove his boots while Harriet moved to the lamp there on the bedside lamp and turned the wick knob. The room soon fell under a lovely golden glow.
Laying down on his side, Daniel reached out and Harriet joined him. Wrapping an arm around her waist, Daniel pulled her close.
“What's wrong? Please tell me,” he asked, fearing that she had received a threatening note. But his fears were misplaced.
In a shaky voice, Harriet told him about how she had suspected a growing problem between her sister Martha and her husband Antony, but how she had found out why four nights ago.
“He hates her for being barren, Daniel,” Harriet mourned while clutching at him. “How cruel is that?”
Stroking the curve of her back, Daniel tried to give her all the comfort he could.
“I'm afraid for her, Daniel. I fear for her life. He flung a vase into the wall with so much force that I feared he had killed her, but yet, she refuses to leave. She told me that he would be sorry for his unconscionable action and he did apologize the next day to us, but I cannot unsee it, Daniel,” a single tear dropped across her cheek, and Daniel wiped it away.
“You feel uncomfortable here, don’t you?” he said, rhetorically while smoothing his thumb over her cheekbone. “What can I do to help?”
“I don’t know,” Harriet replied. “Aside from taking her away from it all. I don’t know what to do.”
“If anything gets out of hand, please come to me,” Daniel offered.
“If something does,” she said quietly.
Placing a kiss on the top of her nose, he made to pull away, but when Harriet subtly tilted her face, he couldn't deny himself and laid a light tender kiss on her lips.
It wasn't enough to satisfy.
Gently, Daniel lifted to his elbow, took the pillow behind his head and placed it around her back, he then shifted her to lie at an angle best for them to kiss. Sliding a hand down her side, he grasped the back of her knee and lifted it over his hip. After sliding his leg between hers, Daniel held her back.
“You're so lovely in lamplight,” he murmured before laying a deep, tantalizing kiss on her lips.
