Forher, he’d endure an irritated face and a body that ached to hold her.
“I’m glad you came back,” she said. “I dreaded spending the night by myself. For years, my sisters and I shared a bed, and there are still nights when one of us will sneak in with the other. I was feeling rather lonesome.”
Wade had never shared a bed with anyone for any great length of time. He’d had no siblings and known no other mistress. He was accustomed to slipping between the sheets under the cover of darkness, and then leaving before the morning rays brought all his sins to light.
Sleeping beside Cassandra was a secret dream of his. Waking with her would be perfection realized—and too much to hope for, certainly.
“How did you get on?” he asked. “Was the meal to your liking? And the servants?”
She’d talked of loneliness, and he’d asked perfunctory, almost clinical questions. Thankfully, Cassandra took his blunder in stride. “I’ve been assigned a chatterbox.”
Ah, yes. Wenna, the unkempt maid. “The girl displeases you?”
“No, not especially. She is eager, I’ll give her that, but she is awfully young,” Cassandra said. “Sixteen at most. How on earth wasshepromoted to a lady’s maid?”
“Honestly? I am told Wenna was the only one below stairs who’d take the position. Apparently, there is no honor in being a personal maid to a duke’s mistress.”
“Well, I cannot blame them.” She sighed. “I might have turned up my nose, too, had I been in their shoes.”
He shifted onto his side to face her. He’d marry Cassandra tomorrow, if she’d have him, but it made no difference what anyone else thought of their romance. “You’re not stuck with the girl if you don’t want her. We can send to London for a trained lady’s maid. You’d have no trouble finding a willing woman there—they’ve modern ideas.”
“Hmph. I suppose there are heaps of dukes’ mistresses in town. They must have their garters pressed and diamonds polished bysomeone.”
Wade thrilled at this flash of jealousy. He’d never belonged to anyone before. He’d only been claimed by the dukedom and discarded by everyone else. “I wouldn’t know. You are my only mistress.”
“A comforting thought, Wade.” Their faces lay close enough for him to see her blue eyes roll beneath her lashes.
He grinned and replied, “Truly. I’ve never bothered with relationships, as there are easier ways for a gentleman to find companionship. You’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted tobewith. Take this, for example…” He gestured to their twin pillows, snug against one another. Filling the quiet darkness with talk and laughter was the height of intimacy. “This is all new to me.”
She smiled. Her cheeks warmed in the soft moonlight. “It is new to me, as well.”
Wade longed to embrace her—to roll this proud, beauty onto her back and prove all the love he felt for her in his heart—but they had the rest of their lives to enjoy that exquisite pleasure. He only had one chance to show Cassandra that she was valued, respected, and safe in his arms.
To break her trust on this first night would be a grievous misstep.
He shifted closer on the mattress and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight, buttercup.”
“Goodnight, Wade,” she whispered, still smiling in the dim light of her bedchamber.
She turned her way, he turned his. They fell asleep to the easy rhythm of their mingled breathing and the scent of sea breezes fluttering through the open windows.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
He had not been there when she awoke, but Cassandra couldn’t blame him, as she’d slept half the morning away. She had been exhausted from the train journey, but the lingering ache in her abdomen foretold a different type of lethargy—she was going to get her monthly courses soon.
Cassandra lived her life according to her cycle. She planned meals around it. Chores and activities fell by the wayside. She missed church services, country dances, and jaunts to market due to the bleeding.
But this was Pender Abbey. No one knew of her illness here. Cassandra was not about to let that cursed dysmenorrhea prevent her from seeing the sea.
She sought Wade out after breakfast. He lounged in the drawing room, an elegant space furnished in rich reds and…yes, sunny lemon yellow. The windows stood propped open to a breeze that fluttered the fringed, silken draperies.
Wade rose to his feet to greet her with a bow and a kiss. For a man with a devilish reputation, he behaved with courtesy and propriety. “Good morning, Cassandra.”
“You left me,” she said, wasting no time.
He inclined his head. “You were sleeping so soundly, I hated to wake you. I don’t generally sleep well, and I suppose I got nervous.”
“Nervous?” The man who came to her by lamplight in the dead of night feltnervousto sleep by her side? He’d been so bold. She couldn’t believe it.
