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s, but she did not think she was the only one to blame. Not wanting to keep Abbot from his duties while she pondered her problems, Eden moved to the door and opened it for him.
“Thank you for being as good a friend to me as you were to Alex.”
“What about the ship?”
“It must be there. Please don’t send anyone out to look.”
Eden still wore a troubled frown, and Abbot hated to leave without having lifted her spirits. “Would you like the cook to send up some supper on a tray? I believe there’s roast pheasant tonight.”
Eden’s mouth began to water at the thought of the succulent bird. “Would you please? I’d rather not go down to the dining room, but I know I’ll soon regret not eating if I don’t have something. Pheasant sounds wonderful.”
Hoping he had been some small help to her, Abbot hesitated at the door. Eden was lovely, but very young to face the future alone. Realizing it was Raven’s place to offer counsel to her rather than his, he wished her a good evening, but he gave sending his own note out to the Jamaican Wind careful consideration before deciding to leave well enough alone.
Eden awakened frequently during the night, and each time she got up and looked in the adjoining room to see if Raven was in his bed. She would not have joined him, but it would have put her mind at ease to find him there. Morning arrived before he did, and she did not feel as though she had slept more than a few minutes. When she sat down at her dressing table to brush her hair, the dark circles beneath her eyes provided clear evidence that she had not.
Condolence letters had not yet begun to arrive from London, but as she ate a few bites of breakfast, Eden began to look forward to receiving some as writing replies would give her something useful to do although it would not be at all pleasant. With no mail to answer as yet, she went into the library in search of something to read. She found several novels with appealing titles, but when she sat down with one, she could not concentrate for more than a paragraph or two before her mind began to wander and she left the book lying open on her lap.
When Alex had been alive, being a countess had never been dull, but now the whole day stretched before her without a single responsibility to occupy her time. Abbot ran the house so beautifully that there was not a speck of dust on the furnishings nor a bit of tarnish on the silver.
The cook was extraordinarily talented and prepared delicious meals from the wide variety of livestock and produce grown on the estate. Eden had always been busy at home, and even at her aunt Lydia’s she had managed to find useful things to do. But Briarcliff ran itself, and she did not feel needed there.
The day was again bright and warm, but a sleepless night had left her without the energy to go out for a ride. “No one should be widowed at nineteen,” she whispered softly to herself.
Raven heard the sound of Eden’s voice, if not her words, and not wanting to interrupt a conversation, he peeked into the library to see to whom she was speaking. Finding her alone, he walked on in. “I thought it would be better for both of us if I remained on board my ship last night. If you’ve nothing better to do than talk to yourself, why don’t you come upstairs and help me sort though Alex’s things? Once we get that chore done, we can leave for London.”
Raven was in his shirtsleeves, his coat slung over his shoulder. Well-groomed as always, he looked rested and eager to get to work. Eden, however, felt completely drained. “Do you actually consider that an adequate apology after the way we parted yesterday?” she asked.
“On the contrary, I think you owe me one,” he countered smoothly.
Rather than argue with such an obstinate man, Eden slammed her book shut and rose to her feet. Knowing she lacked the interest to complete the novel, she replaced it on the shelf, and then preceded Raven out the door. “Alex had such a beautiful wardrobe. Can you wear any of his things?”
Surprised Eden had merely ignored his request rather than angrily persisting in her demand for an apology, Raven frowned slightly as he caught up with her. “No, I outgrew his clothes in my teens. The fact I was several inches taller threw everything out of proportion.”
“Yes, I understand. Do you want to give his clothes to the poor then?”
“No, there are men on the staff who can use a new suit of clothes.”
Eden didn’t argue as her father had frequently passed his clothes on to their servants and it was a common practice. When they reached his room, she went to the wardrobe and began looking through her late husband’s suits, making certain nothing had been left in the pockets while Raven chose to sort through the contents of the dresser.
That Raven had again assumed she would be leaving Briarcliff with him annoyed Eden no end, but she had spent enough time by herself since Alex’s death to know she ought not to remain there. She would have liked to have been asked what she planned to do though rather than told, however.
Raven had not noticed that Eden did not look well, and he was grateful for her silence as he looked through the assortment of tie pins, shirt studs, and cufflinks in Alex’s jewelry case. Finding the gold signet ring bearing the Clairbourne crest that his late uncle had occasionally worn, he tried it on. He liked the way the heavy gold ring felt on his hand and decided to wear it. He then set the small velvet case atop the dresser, and opened the next drawer.
The hummingbird-topped bottle tucked in the corner immediately caught his eye. He picked up the delicate glass container, removed the stopper, then tasted a drop of the fragrant oil. He recognized the damiana instantly, and turned toward Eden. “Do you know what this is?”
Eden looked up, and began to blush when she saw what he was holding. “Yes, and the bottle is so very pretty I’d like to keep it if you don’t mind.”
“Did you and Alex use this often?” he asked, barely able to keep his temper in check.
“That’s really none of your business,” Eden replied, unwilling to discuss the intimate details of her marriage with him.
Raven crossed the room in two long strides. “An aphrodisiac this potent leaves a healthy man as weak as a babe. Didn’t you realize what it would do to Alex?”
What little color had been in Eden’s cheeks faded instantly. “You mean it was harmful?”
“Harmful? For the love of God, Eden, it probably killed him!” Incensed by the stupidity of her question, Raven hurled the exquisite bottle against the far wall with a force that shattered it into a thousand shimmering bits. What little oil it had still contained splattered across the burgundy silk wallcovering leaving a dark stain trailing narrow rivulets that slid slowly to the floor.
Raven was every bit as enraged as he had been the previous afternoon and Eden was terrified not only by the hostility of his expression, but also by the harshness of his words. “He couldn’t have known that, Raven, or he would never have used it.”
