Page 104 of Bride By Mistake
“Swine,” Luke muttered. “And she’s just as bad, going along with him.”
“Don’t blame her. She loves him.”
Luke snorted.
Bella said, “She’s just a nineteen-year-old girl who’s never had very much, and she’s hanging desperately on to what she has. Knowing her situation is desperately insecure.”
“So you’re going to just give up the pearls without a fight?”
That was exactly it, Bella thought. Without a fight. Love was making a coward out of her. She wouldn’t risk Luke’s life for anything.
She shrugged as if she didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve lived without them for eight years…” The pearls weren’t worth a man’s life. Any man’s. Even Ramón’s.
“It’s not like you to give up so easily.”
The pearls were her past. Luke was her future. And besides, she had better things than pearls to fight for.
She was not going to bed with ashirt.
She took off her shoes and began to unroll her stockings.
His eyes, dark and unfathomable, rested on her. “I’m going for a stroll before I turn in. Would you like a maid to assist you?”
“No, thank you.” She’d dressed and undressed herself for the last eight years, and if her husband was going to be pigheaded and stubborn and refuse to be there to assist her now, she would manage alone.
“It occurred to me today that I’ve been remiss in acquiring a maidservant for you. I’d be happy to engage a girl from Valle Verde for you to take to England.” His voice lost a little of the stiffness. “She would be someone from home you could talk to in England.”
It was a kind thought. Bella considered it briefly. “No, thank you. Such a girl would be lonely in a land where she had no family and didn’t speak the language.”
“Will you not be lonely?” he asked, as if it had only just occurred to him she was leaving everything she knew to go with him.
“I’ve always been lonely. I shall manage.” She gave him a direct look. “Are you coming to bed?”
He avoided her gaze. “Not yet. I’m in need of a stroll.”
Astroll was supposed to be a short walk. He’d been gone for ages. The candle she’d lit for him had sputtered out.
Bella sat in bed, waiting, her bedclothes huddled to her ears. She had almost nodded off when she heard the door creak open. At last.
He closed the door quietly behind him. The room was in shadows, lit only by the glow of the dying fire. He removed his coat and sat to pull off his boots. She heard first one hit the floor, then the other. He’d be starting on the buttons of his waistcoat now.
“You can light a candle if you like,” she said softly. “I’m not asleep.”
He paused. “No need. The fire throws enough light to manage.” He removed his waistcoat and hung it on the back of a chair. He was a tidy man.
“I thought you’d be asleep by now.” Next he unfastened his breeches, shoved them down, and stepped out of them. He shook them out and laid them across the back of the chair. There was no self-consciousness in him; not about his naked lower half, at least.
“I waited up for you.” Now for the shirt. Would he remove it or not? Bella held her breath.
He pulled it over his head.Bella said a rapid prayer.
Then he shook out his nightshirt, put it on, and climbed into bed beside her.
Bella had to press her lips together hard to prevent her disappointment spilling out. She was determined not to nag him about it. Trust could not be forced.
He faced her in bed, his lips parted as if to say something, then he frowned, distracted. “That’s my shirt. Why are you wearing my shirt in bed?”
“Work it out.”
