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Chapter Twenty-Two
The next day when Edward arrived at the studio, he found Ariadne on the chair, but she was barely paying attention to her surroundings and seemed to be lost in her own world.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked as he approached her. Ariadne started and then stood up.
“I didn’t expect you quite so early,” she said. She gathered her instruments from the worktable. Edward could tell that something was amiss. She seemed jittery.
“Ariadne, are you feeling all right?” he asked. When she didn’t answer him, he caught her by her elbow gently and turned her to face him. When she looked up at him, her eyes were molten heat, and even before he realized what was happening, she reached up to her toes and kissed him.
Edward groaned as he crushed his lips to hers. The memory of what had happened in the shadows of the garden never left his mind and he was barely able to sleep the night prior. The flame of the heat that had burned inside him all night was unleashed. He grabbed Ariadne by her waist and put her up on the worktable.
Doing so brought them even closer. Her hands wrapped around his neck as she kissed him while one of his thighs rested between hers, nudging them apart to gain great access to her until they were sealed to each other. They kissed each other like they had been starving.
Edward pulled away first and doing so took almost all of his strength. He panted and he could hear her heart thunder. “We shouldn’t,” he said.
Ariadne frowned. “Why?”
“It’s not proper,” he said. She pulled him toward her again by the lapels of his coat. “Let me be the judge of that.”
Edward’s eyes drifted closed for a second as he inhaled her sweet smile. He knew he would be lost if he didn’t…he grabbed her waist once, tightly, causing her to squeal, and then stepped away. “It’s not proper.”
Ariadne sneered. “I’m not a lady, my Lord. Unlike the one last night.”
Edward whirled around. “I told you she’s no one.” Had Jane’s appearance really bothered her so much? If he wasn’t mistaken, Ariadne almost sounded jealous. “I want you, but not like this,” he clarified.
“How do you want me then?” she asked. Seconds trickled away as both of them stared at each other, their gazes locked as if trying to decipher each other’s unsaid thoughts. Finally, Ariadne sighed, rubbing her hand on her face. “Don’t answer that. And I didn’t wish to come across as rude. I’ve just been rather stressed lately.” She collapsed on the chair.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. She had looked fine when she had left the ball last night. He had wanted to speak to her but couldn’t address her when his father was only a few feet away.
“The letters haven’t stopped coming in. Someone badly wants us out of here. And last night, while Leda and I returned home, we were followed by someone.”
“Who was it?” Edward asked in alarm.
Ariadne shrugged. “It was too dark for me to see. At first, I suspected nothing, but once we reached our flat, I looked down and saw a dark figure darting away. Whoever it was, he had been spying on us.”
Edward swore under his breath and almost forgot for a moment that he had company. He turned to her. “I’ll put an end to it. I’ll speak to a constable and have it reported. You can have my word.”
Ariadne looked around the room sadly. “I know this doesn’t mean much to people but to me, it’s my absolute world. I don’t want to give any of it away.”
Edward walked to her and placed his hands on her shoulder. “You don’t have to. You don’t have to be scared as long as I’m here.”
“Thank you,” she said. This time she made no move to reach for his lips even though he hovered above her. “And whatever happened in the garden—”
“Was no mistake,” Edward finished for her. He needed to address his feelings on it, as he could no longer draw circles around it, he couldn’t bear to. “I care for you, Ariadne. Deeply so. I’m not a poet to write long sonnets for you and to be honest, sometimes I don’t think even I know what goes on inside me. But whenever I’m with you, there’s just this certainty, as if not even a fire can root me away from you.”
Ariadne opened her mouth and closed it. She looked to be in awe of him and there was something else in her eyes that scared him and filled him with hope. No woman had looked at him in this manner and looking into her eyes was almost as if looking into her very soul. They were fully dressed and hardly touching and yet at that moment, Edward saw all of her.
“I don’t want anything to hurt your reputation, not even me. It is important as any lady of high society. So we must exercise caution, no matter what we feel in that moment.” The air almost seemed to crackle with the desire they felt for each other.
He nodded and then smiled at her. Edward couldn’t decide if he liked watching her smile or kissing her better.
“Now you have to be absolutely honest with me. Is there anybody who would want to harm you?”
“I can think of no one,” Ariadne said. She furrowed her brows as if she was trying to remember something. “But there is this one thing…”
“Go on,” Edward prodded.
“Before my father passed away, he would always mumble about a shadow,” Ariadne explained.
