Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
* * *
It was dark by the time he and I stopped for the day. He said he could request that supper be brought to our room. But, I did not wish for the house to think…to think I was doing exactly what I had been doing for hours. Also, I wished not to keep little Emeline waiting on us for dinner. However, when we arrived at the dining table, which was far too long, there were only two chairs at one end. The whole room was also a tad dark, as the candles were not bright, and the décor very…old.
“What is it?” he questioned when he saw I did not move to my seat despite the footman who already stood ready to pull out the chair.
“Do you often eat in here?” I asked him.
He paused, thinking. “No, now that I think of it. I mostly have my meals in the study. Verity eats in the drawing room or, when she can, in the garden. Why?”
“I was merely wondering.” I smiled, moving to take my seat, but he caught my wrist and spun me back into his arms. “Evander.”
“I know you and how you wonder. It shall plague your mind, and then you shall not focus here but on your thoughts. So out with it,” he demanded, still holding me despite the fact we were no longer alone.
I leaned in so only he could hear me, but it was so quiet I was sure they heard despite my efforts. “I have not yet been here a full day, so I do not wish to criticize anything.”
Maybe it was because I’d always been at the skirt of my mother or because of all of the lessons but, immediately, without much effort, I could see there were things not in order.
“It is your home now, too. If there is anything amiss, merely order it changed to your liking. I care not,” he whispered.
“I do not want the servants to believe me too high in the instep,” I replied quietly, also not wishing to have this conversation before the servants.
I was the newcomer. I could not just act as though everything required my touch. There needed to be balance. His eyebrow rose and he chuckled.
“We shall have supper on the terrace,” Evander instructed them and took my hand to lead me.
“I was fine with the dinner table.”
“You were not. And the footmen would have remained there, and you would have been more uncomfortable,” he said.
“I would be unnerved almost anywhere, as I have yet to grow accustomed to it,” I reminded him.
“You shall not be on the terrace,” he assured me, then brought my body to his. “And most definitely not in our bed.”
I pushed his face away, and he laughed. “Can we please simply eat without you…”
“Without me what?”
“Seeking to seduce me.”
“Not at all.”
“Evander.”
“Aphrodite,” he said my name in the same tone.
He opened the door to the terrace, and my breath caught as I looked out into the warm evening. Before us sat a small round table that overlooked the man-made lake. The trees rustled on either side of us, and hanging in the sky like a painting was the moon.
“It is beautiful,” I said, walking around the table and to the patio edge. “I could have dinner like this every night.”
“The spring rains and heavy winter might change your mind on that. But if you would like, any moment, night or day, as clear as this, we can be out here.”
“We will need another chair for Emeline,” I replied. “Where is she now?”
“When you were dressing, Mrs. Watson informed me Emeline had eaten earlier and gone to bed. You do not need to exert yourself—”
“As you keep telling me, but I am not,” I replied. “When I was younger—actually, that is a lie. Just weeks ago, I desired nothing more than a good book, sweets, hot milk, and a beautiful view. I craved to be left to my own devices and able to soar wherever I wanted to go. I felt very much like a bird in a cage, brought out whenever someone demanded I perform or be on exhibit.”
“I know. That is exactly why I wish you to be permitted here to worry of nothing,” he replied.
“That is the thing, Evander. I am not worried. And magically, I no longer feel as though I am trapped in that cage. It was quite frustrating that only marriage could give me such freedom. But now that I am married, I feel as though the door has been opened and I have been set free, and instead of flying far away, I have chosen to nest.”
“I do not understand.”
I took his hand. “I want this place to be a haven for both—for the three of us, I should say, as I seek to be part of her life, too. One day she may even call me Mama.”