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With her plan already taking shape in her head, she untied the apron and cap around her head and hurried to the kitchens. After all, it was not every day that a lady ate with her husband.

CHAPTER 9

William returned to the safety of his study after leaving Eveline in the library. He had been right to shelter himself behind these doors since they got married. Their interaction had elicited the strangest reactions from him. He frowne, remembering how badly he had wanted to kiss her when she had fallen into his arms with that wide-eyed look.

Then, he remembered how tempting her lips looked when they were set in that stubborn pout.

He sat and he frowned again as his body reacted to the memory.

It wasn’t as though he were an untried lad, so it made no sense for him to be so attracted to an innocent.

“I wonder why a newlywed gentleman would have such a dark look on his face,” Theo said from the door to the study, startling him out of his thoughts. “Is your new wife not taking proper care of you?”

William scoffed at the teasing look on his friend’s face, frowning when the man sauntered across his carpets and sat in the chair opposite his desk without invitation.

Not that he needed it.

Theo did whatever he wanted without concern for propriety. It was a marvel that William remained friends with the pig-headed man, but he couldn’t deny that he benefited from their friendship. Theo’s cheerful personality had broken through the storm clouds of his grief more often than he would ever admit to him.

Even as he prepared to mask his displeasure at seeing him, the damned man placed his feet on William’s desk without a care for the carefully arranged documents on it.

“I would thank you to take your feet off my desk, Emerton,” William complained, swiping his ledgers off his path of destruction.

“What else can I do to improve your mood if not distract you?” Theo asked smugly.

“My mood has not improved,” William said, pulling a pile of correspondence from under his feet. “If anything, you have interrupted an important train of thought.”

And he had.

William had intended to analyze the interaction between him and his wife and formulate a plan for how he would endure dinner with her. She would no doubt expect conversation, and he didn’t think any of his interests would be good enough for polite conversation.

He couldn’t trust himself to be around her, especially not after he had held his breath every time he heard her move around her chambers. His imagination had run wild, trying to picture her state of dress or undress. It was even worse when he heard the splash of water, which alerted him that she was bathing. The thought of her wet and naked had left him tossing and turning in bed with raging need.

He had headed to the library to find a poetry book for recreation and had been shocked to see her balanced so precariously on the ladder, covered in dust and dressed like a servant. He had a vision of her falling over, and he was grateful he had arrived in time to stop her foolishness.

Her falling into his arms had not been in his plans, and he had been unprepared for the feel of her pressed against his body or the beautiful flush that coated her cheeks.

His wife was beautiful. He wasn’t too stubborn to deny that fact. Even covered in dust and wrapped in old linen like a maid, she shone brightly.

“I can see that,” Theo teased. “Is your new wife giving you trouble yet?”

William rolled his eyes. “Is that the reason for your visit?” he asked. “To inquire about the state of my marriage? You need a new hobby, Emerton.”

“I only came to see how my good friend is faring, since he hasn’t deigned to invite us to his home since he wed,” Theo said with a pout. “Your deflecting only proves that I am correct in my assumptions.”

“On the contrary,” William answered with a smug half-smile. “She has been performing her duties excellently.”

Theo’s eyebrows rose in surprise, before a naughty smile spread across his face. He moved his feet off the table and leaned closer.

“Is that so?” he asked. “How excellently, might I ask?”

William could only guess at the lewd thoughts filling his friend’s head.

“Why are you here, Emerton?” he asked, sighing.

“You’re no fun.” Theo pouted, falling back into his chair. “I was bored in my estate and decided to visit you.”

“Is that all?” William probed, unconvinced.