Page 45 of The Lyon Whisperer
Then Amelia spoke in her velvet-soft voice. “May I ask you something rather personal, Chase?”
No.“Go on.”
“You said your mother left when you were twelve? Have you heard from her since? Do you have any idea where she is?”
Of all the questions she might ask, he never would have guessed she’d broach his long-gone mother. He set his cutlery across his nearly empty plate and took a long slug of wine before answering.
“I assume she went back to Paris. I believe that’s what she informed my father the day she left.”
Amelia angled her body to face him, leaning her torso into the cushions and resting her cheek on the back of her hand. “You’ve not heard from or even spoken with her since?”
“Why are you asking about my mother?”
She ran her tongue absently over her lower lip. “I want to know who it is I married.”
He shook his head in consternation then shifted to face her.
“I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about my family,” she offered.
“Are you?” He traced the curve of her cheek with his knuckle, gratified when she closed her eyes briefly. “Perhaps you should lead by example.”
She sent him a slow smile. “Very well. I was raised by my father, and a slew of nannies, most of whom I managed to run off.”
He huffed out a laugh. He never knew what the woman might say.
“I suppose I wanted my father’s attention, and defying the nannies who then called him in to the nursery seemed the easiest way to get it.” Her eyes twinkled as she remembered. “I brought a frog into the school room and put it in one nanny’s desk drawer. I put jelly on another’s seat. I hid from another all day. Only when I realized my naughtiness didn’t cause him to stop replacing them, did I go a little easier on them. Besides, Ididenjoy learning.”
“What was your favorite subject?” He liked hearing her talk. The tenor of her voice, the cadence of her words. He also wanted to avoid her posing further questions about his past. He picked up her free hand and toyed with her fingers. Her skin was silky smooth and cool to the touch.
“I…” She swallowed. “What did you ask?” Her voice was low and breathless.
His loins tightened. God, he wanted to kiss her. He reminded himself he needed her to come to him. “I asked what you liked to learn.”
“Everything. Language. Music. Science. Maths. Your turn. Tell me something personal.”
He flipped her hand and ran a fingertip over the tender side of her wrist.
She shivered in response.
“My father was a difficult man. He was quite strict and not at all warm—except with my mother. Toward her he was like a volcano always ready to erupt. To be fair, it wasn’t all his fault. She teased and taunted him at times. Other times she lay in her chambers and wept. I think there was something wrong with her. She was quite beautiful and could be warm and loving toward me and my father. But I learned early on never to count on that. One minute she was laughing, the next ranting, the next sobbing.
“After she left, it was almost a relief. Almost. It also hurt. My father blamed me for what happened. I suppose I did as well.”
She sat upright, her expression one of shock, and tugged her wrist from his grasp. “What? How could it be your fault? You were just a boy.”
“Because, according to my father, she changed after she had me.”
He hadn’t meant to say so much. He never talked about his childhood, his parents. Not with anyone. He supposed no one had ever actually asked.
Still, even had he anticipated her questions, he would have sworn he wouldn’t breathe a word of a past he’d put firmly behind him. Yet she’d coaxed it out of him with the ease of a practiced mesmerist.
She stared at him. Intense emotion burned in her unblinking violet eyes. Not pity. Something else he could not discern.
“What are you thinking, Amelia?” He jammed hand through his hair as frustration gripped him. “I can’t read you. I can never read you and it’s driving me—”
“I would like you to kiss me. Now. Please, Chase.”
Her velvet demand reached across the space between them, grabbed him by the throat, and seared his insides with a firestorm of need. He cupped her face with hands that shook, and lowered his head, bringing his mouth to hover over hers. “Say it again.”
