Page 38 of The Baroness of Sin
“Hush,” he shook his head, “You will have plenty of time to tell me when you are feeling better. For now, rest. I promise I will be right here if you need anything at all.”
Martha was reluctant; she had fought so hard to get this far. Could she really wait to tell him what she absolutely needed to tell him?
The look on his face as he guarded over her soothed her. He knew.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“James, dearest, I am in need of assistance.” Martha called out in faux desperation.
“Shall I fetch Letty?” James asked uncertainly.
“No, it is but a small thing. The top button of my night shirt appears to have come undone. I am unable to set it right with one hand. Please, it will take you but a moment?” she pleaded with just enough earnestness that James felt obliged.
Martha’s recovery seemed agonizingly slow from her perspective, but in the reality of the situation, it was proceeding far more rapidly than the physicians predicted. The doctor who visited said the arm was likely heavily bruised, down to the bone, and the shoulder was dislocated rather than broken. She should still stay in bed, but that meant the chances for fever were much lower. Martha was quite frustrated by this but begrudgingly agreed, taking the good news as a sign that her patience would be rewarded.
She never had the chance to violate the doctor’s orders anyway, considering that James insisted she take all the necessary precautions and wouldn’t leave her side long enough for her to get away with it, though Letty, and many of the rest of the household staff, secretly believed that Martha was enjoying having the regal Lord fret over her.
What Martha was really enjoying was all the alone time with James in her bedroom. While many of those who worked in her manor were willing to let the decorum on the matter slide, this was a medical emergency, after all, they still thought it best that the two of them were chaperoned as often as possible. This was simply proper, and there was absolutely no room for disagreement with Letty or the rest of the staff on this matter.
It was to no avail, though. The reality of the situation was the circumstance required so much of the staff's attention that there were often long stretches of time that it was just the two of them.
“Oh no, James,” Martha would say whenever the last of the maids or footmen would leave the room, “we have been left all alone; how inappropriate.”
She loved the vexed look on his face. He, too, clearly wanted to touch her, to use this alone time in her bed to its fullest, but his concern for her injuries made him too hesitant.
Still, laying in her bed in only her nightclothes gave her too many opportunities to tempt him. Even if she had something else to occupy her time, the temptation to tease would likely prove too great. Unfortunately for James, Martha had nothing else to occupy her time. It wouldn’t be long after they were left alone that she would slip a bare ankle or calf just where he could see or allow her nightclothes to slip below her shoulder. James was so flustered he had almost become cross with her. Her boredom was making her bold and driving him wild.
“James, dear,” she said coyly to him.
“Yes, My Lady,” he said gruffly, averting his gaze, face already turning red with a combination of anger, excitement, and embarrassment.
“Come here, right this instant, before you make me have to get up and walk to you. The doctor doesn’t like me walking, but I can’t sit by and die of loneliness,” she insisted.
He came eagerly and with only a small measure of hesitation, standing next to the bed and looking down at her. She reached up with her good arm, and he went to grasp her hand, but she grasped the front of his shirt instead and guided him lower.
They kissed, the first kiss they had shared since they had returned to one another. It was heated and earnest as they pulled towards one another to deepen the kiss. They wanted to be closer, to touch each other and hold each other and never let go. It was the first kiss they shared in mutually acknowledged love. And a kiss of love is never a kiss to be forgotten or to fade.
“I love you, Martha,” he told her when they pulled apart. He wanted to be the first one to say it, since he had learned how she really felt. “I was a fool not to notice it, either coming from me or to me. And I don’t know how long I have loved you, but I know it's an unquestionable truth. The sun rises every day, snow falls in the cold, and I love you.”
“James, perhaps I was a bigger fool for having to leave to realize it, only to get myself bedridden in the process…” Martha’s words were cut off by another heated kiss from James.
“You knew love when you felt it, despite all you’ve been through,” he told her as he looked into her eyes. He spoke in earnest. “You were uncertain, it’s true, but I was the one who hid from love as long as I could. You were scared of a frightening thing, but I hid from that which was beautiful. No more,” he promised her and kissed her again, hands gently cupping her face as he held her close.
She reached for him, tried to pull him into the bed with her, but he resisted. “Is My Lord getting shy again, now that we will officially court? I know what I want James; declarations of love don’t change that.”
“I have no apprehensions about expressing my desire for you, My Lady. I know what my love means, and you have made it clear that my desires are something you want to be expressed to you,” he cleared his throat. “My hesitation comes from your injuries. You are still healing, and I will not express myself in a way that could cause you discomfort.”
It was Martha’s turn to hesitate. She wasn’t worried about him hurting her; she wanted to feel him close no matter what, and her rapidly healing injury was something she was reluctant to let hold her back. What made her hesitate was that he would hesitate. She didn’t want to have him hold back, truth be told. She wanted to feel him, his love, his desire, and his power. She wanted that since she first met him. To try and get that from him now would be fun, true, but perhaps just a tad less fun than she wanted.
Then she had a wicked idea.
“I understand my darling. After all, you are a big strong gentleman, and I know you wouldn’t want to accidentally hurt me,” she assured him.
He nodded both reluctantly and sympathetically. “I want to be with you too, Martha, but it is best we wait all the same.”
“Well, yes, we should wait before doing things together,” she nodded while shifting closer to him, “but that doesn’t mean I need to wait before doing something for you.”
He quirked his brow, “Martha? I don’t understand.”
