Page 149
“Considering the pond, it’s only fair. Besides, you are enchanting, especially unclothed.”
She made a little mew of pleasure.
How could something be so sweet and so erotic at the same time?
He rested his cheek against her hair.
He felt as if he’d been asleep for years and was now waking, as if his life, having been interrupted, had resumed.
His purpose existed all around him—Lenora, the babe growing within, his stables, his home.
Even before he’d moved into the Albany, this house had ceased feeling like home. Moving into his father’s chambers had been awkward. He hadn’t believed he’d ever fit. But Lenora had believed in him.
Every action she’d taken served as proof of her love, but he wanted, needed, to hear the words.
He was about to open his mouth to ask, but the stable door’s distinctive squeak interrupted his question. His hold on Lenora tightened.
“Barker?” A voice called up the stairs.
“Millie, I think?” Lenora whispered.
“Is anyone here?” the voice called again.
Millie! Yes. Lenora had been right. Millie was the intruder. He sat up so quickly, he toppled the bedside table.
“Be calm,” Lenora continued the hushed conversation.
“Calm?!” he hissed back.
“It’s only Millie.”
Only Millie.
He buttoned his falls, grabbed for his waistcoat and blindly shoved in his arms.
He glanced askance. “Why aren’t you dressing, too? We’ll go down together.”
Her brow furrowed. “I am not sure now is the right time...”
He blanched.
“Simon,” she chided, placing a hand against his arm, “I am not fully yours, and I will marry you, though you never did get around to asking the question.”
The deuce. He’d gotten distracted again.
“But Millie doesn’t sound like herself. I suspect something is very wrong. And I don’t wish to give her an additional shock.”
“I’ll just wait down here,” Millie called up the stairs.
This time, he’d heard Millie’s distress, too.
“Very well.” He kissed Lenora’s lips, then her forehead, then her—
“Simon,” she said impatiently.
“Right.” He glanced regretfully at Lenora’s neck. “I will see what Millie needs.”
“Ho there!” he called out as he took the stairs two at a time.
