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“The wine smells okay.”
He took a sip. “It tastes even better. It’s a good drop.”
“And you would know.” I inclined my head.
“I’ve had enough dinners at Merivale to appreciate a decent wine, yes.”
“Hmm…” I sipped the wine and was pleasantly surprised. “It must have been ordered for one of my family’s visits.”
“When did they come here?”
“Like twenty years ago. I was little.” I watched him eat, and my stomach pleaded with me.
He stopped eating and looked at me. “It’s not that bad.”
I took a cracker from a packet Carson found in the pantry and dipped it in his stew. The meaty gravy made my stomach pine for more.
“I guess I can have some.”
He sprung up, looking pleased like my eating meant everything to him. A sudden sense of guilt flushed through me for acting like a sulky diva, motivated by some childish need to punish him.
Thestormintensified,andthe howling wind rattled the doors and windows.
“I can run a bath for you.” Carson lounged in a leather armchair. The light emanating from the roaring fire gave his face a warm glow.
As the hypnotic flames danced, I relaxed for the first time that day.
“Maybe tomorrow after the bath’s been cleaned. I hope I’m not too smelly.” I sipped on my wine, which had made me so pleasantly tipsy that I’d almost forgotten all about tomorrow and how we’d have to navigate our way to a phone signal.
I watched Carson stoke the fire and add more logs. I would have been hopeless without him. But then, I wouldn’t be there.
“I don’t know why I let my mother convince me to come here.”
Sipping on a whisky, Carson looked like he belonged there. “It’s magic. I’ve never sat in front of a large open fire like this before.”
“Really?”
He smiled. “We sat around bonfires in the army, but never in a mansion.”
“We have them at Merivale. Mainly for effect, since we also have central heating.” He gave me one of his searching stares. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
He shrugged. “Just marvelling at your privileged life.”
“It’s not always great, you know.”
He stretched out his long, muscular legs.
“You do look rather content, sitting there.”
“What’s not to like?” He stared into my eyes, and a sudden ache in my vagina made me reposition myself.
Is this man right for me?
My heart needed to guide me, not my libido.
Carson definitely had top billing with my libido. But lost somewhere among the rubble of my recent fall from grace, my heart was another matter.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked.
