“Good heavens! What is it—” She stopped abruptly and stared at him in shock for a moment before her brow furrowed with concern. “Do you need the doctor?”
“Uh…” Lucien replied, distracted. Alex’s hair was down.Allof it. He couldn’t stop staring at the mass of dark waves that hung over her shoulders and down her chest.
She was also dressed for bed in a silk wrapper thrown over a white nightgown. Lucien’s gaze wandered lower, where the tips of her toes peeked out from the hem of the gown.
This was a mistake.
“I should go,” he choked out and turned to leave while pressing a hand against his trousers. One glimpse of her and he was already half hard.
Ahorriblemistake.
“Wait,” she called out, her voice unusually weak. “Please, Lucien.”
That brought him to a stop. He was useless when she begged for him.
This isn’t sexual, you idiot.
Indeed, as Lucien turned around to face her, Alex only looked… guilty.
He cleared his throat and lifted his chin. “Yes, what is it?” He aimed for a cool formality and hoped she didn’t glance below his waist. Alex joined him in the hall, then shyly bit her lip.
Goddammit.
Lucien shifted in place. Why did this woman have such an effect on him? “What is it?” he prompted.
Alex’s eyes widened a little at his sharp tone. “Could we speak for a moment?”
“Fine. Speak, then.”
She glanced around. “In my room?”
Lucien knew he should say no. There was no one upstairs. No reason they needed more privacy. And yet…
His chest tightened. “Certainly.” The word came out like a growl.
Lucien extended his arm toward her bedroom and followed Alex inside. He had expected her room to be like her office, stark and empty, but this was nearly the opposite. The high walls were covered in a beautiful dark floral wallpaper, the details of which he couldn’t make out in the firelight, while a thick paisley rug covered most of the floor. Shelves filled with books and other bric-a-brac lined an entire wall, while a gilt dressing table took up space by a bed dressed in a deep red coverlet. It was rich and regal and also quitecozy. As Alex moved by the hearth, his gaze caught on her lovely profile lit by the flickering fire. He watched her for a long moment, then let out a sigh of defeat as he shut the door behind him.
Dr. Mosley had been mistaken. He really was a complete and utter fool.
The door shut softly behind Lucien but Alex still couldn’t make herself turn around. Couldn’t make herself face him and see up close the evidence of her own hubris. She had spent the last few days burying herself in work, only leaving her room in the dead of night when she was certain Lucien was asleep and she could check on him without having to explain herself.
But perhaps that was a mistake. She had grown so used to seeing him unconscious that it had been quite a shock to find him at her door and very much awake.
“Alex,” he said, his deep voice suddenly cutting through her thoughts. “Look at me.”
She swallowed a whimper and forced herself to turn around, her hands clasped tightly at her waist. He was closer than expected and as the firelight from the hearth played over his face, Alex stared at him greedily, eagerly. The bruising around his jaw was much improved, now a faint yellow instead of that horrible purple and blue. He took a few steps toward her and though he still walked with a limp, it was far less noticeable than it had been just two days earlier when she caught sight of him with Freddie in the back garden.
“You’re moving better,” she noted.
Lucien frowned in confusion. “How do you know that? I haven’t seen you at all.”
Blast.
Alex opened her mouth, but she couldn’t make herself say the words. Make herself admit just how pathetic she had become.
But Lucien still seemed to understand. He moved closer and closer, his eyes fixed firmly upon her face, until he could tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. It took every bit of her strength not to press into his touch like a cat.
“Why do you insist on hiding away, Alexandra?”
