Page 85 of The Danger of Desire
“Ah, but I’m used to that.” Without meeting her gaze, he gestured to a chest of drawers. “You’ll find your nightclothes in there, I believe.”
She choked down the howling of her heart and concentrated on searching the chest for her nightdress and wrapper.
As she donned them, he pulled his shirt on, then gathered up the rest of his clothes and headed for the door of the adjoining bedchamber.
All her pride fled. “Warren!” she called as he reached it. “Won’t you stay with me a while longer?”
A hint of regret crossed his face before he shuttered it. “I don’t think that’s wise. You need sleep, and I... have business matters to attend to. It’s not as late as it probably seems to you.”
“Oh. Of course.” It was probably only about eight or so. “I didn’t think of that.”
With a nod, he opened the door, and a ball of white fur flashed into the room and headed right for her.
“Flossie!” she cried, picking up the cat, who instantly began to purr.
“I forgot. They put her in my bedchamber. I meant to surprise you with her.”
“And you did.”
She nuzzled her darling pet, fighting not to let him see her tears. Not only had he kept his promise, but he’d had Flossie brought here for her arrival, which meant he cared a little, didn’t it?
Or perhaps it just meant he was every bit the gentleman he kept insisting he was. Either way, it was lovely. “I’m so glad you’re here, dearest,” she murmured to Flossie. “I missed you so much!”
“You see?” he said softly. “You don’t need me. You have her.”
She glanced up just in time to see what looked like yearning on his face. But it flashed past so quickly that she must have mistaken it.
Clutching Flossie to her breast, she stared at her husband. “You’ll come back later, right?” Lord, she sounded pathetic.
But she couldn’t help it. It was one thing for him to leave her bed once she had fallen off to sleep, but to have him share such an incredibly erotic experience with her and do such a kind thing for her, then go off as if he was done with her...
He flinched, apparently realizing how she was taking his abandoning her on their wedding night. Then he turned away. “We’ll see,” he said, in that awful, noncommittal voice of his. He gestured to the bed. “Get some rest. I’ll see you at breakfast, if not before.”
Atbreakfast. Surely he couldn’t mean that. Yet he went through into his bedchamber and closed the door as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Despair seized her. She would never have guessed he would be so formal in his relations with her. Did he truly meanneverto stay with her at night? To depart as soon as he’d bedded her?
The thought of that was rather lowering, especially after their bedding had been so exciting.
“I don’t understand him,” she told Flossie as she headed for the washbasin. “One moment, I think he’s enamored of me, and the next I fear he’s only tolerating this marriage.”
Flossie licked her face. At least the puss understood Delia’s worries.
Sadly, neither of them could do a thing about it. So after Delia performed her ablutions, she went to bed. What other choice did she have?
As she pulled back the coverlet and lay down, his earlier words drifted into her mind.This was my mother’s room before she embraced the Methodist faith and began sleeping in a smaller, more sober one.
His mother had converted. And he had obviously rebelled against his mother’s beliefs, or he wouldn’t be spending his evenings in the stews.
What had happened between him and his mother to make him go so entirely in the opposite direction?
Normally a question like that would have kept her awake, but she was so very tired, especially after her enthusiastic lovemaking with Warren. So only moments after she slid between the covers, she fell asleep with Flossie in her arms.
When next she woke, she was briefly disoriented, not sure where she was. A ticking clock entered her consciousness and she sought it out by the light of the fire still burning in the hearth.
Three a.m.
That made sense, considering how early she’d retired. Leaving the bed, she headed for Warren’s bedchamber, but a knock at the door got no response. The handle was unlocked, and when she opened the door she was surprised to find the bedchamber empty.
