He laughed. “Not just your eyes.”
“All of me?”
He just looked at her and smiled.
Helena sat on her bed, trying to decide if she regretted going horseback riding with Silas earlier. Her thighs had still been a bitsore from their activities the night before and the long ride had not helped. She ached just about everywhere.
Nevertheless, she also felt quite happy and floaty, just from remembering their conversation. She didn’t think she’d ever had such an honest talk with anyone. It was as delicious as it was unexpected.
She wasn’t sure yet whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but she could hardly wait for the supper bell to ring so that she might be in his presence again and get another opportunity to look in his eyes and know that what he’d said was true.
She wasn’t ready for another night like last night, not with every muscle she had protesting so vigorously, but she hoped he would come to her anyway, kiss her a little bit, maybe hold her in his arms. She wanted to be enveloped in his scent, protected in his embrace, feel his nearness and know he desired her.
As if she’d summoned him, there was a knock on the connecting door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Silas walked in. “I was wondering if you would like to take supper with me.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Were we not going to have supper together anyway?”
He grinned, looking down at his feet before looking up to meet her gaze. “I meant just the two of us.”
“What of Amelia?”
“Well, I spoke with her, and she does not mind supping in her quarters. I just took a shipment of new books from Paris, so I’m sure she’s happy as a clam to curl up by the fire with some hot soup and fresh baked bread along with cold cider while she reads.”
“Mmm. It sounds as though she’s getting the better evening.” Helena smirked.
Silas arched an eyebrow. “Is that what you believe? Well then, I must keep your interest through the meal. Perhaps you can go and beg for a book from her after. I must warn you, she tends to be very miserly with her hoard.”
Helena laughed, “I would not blame her. People can be very careless with books.”
“So, does that mean you’ll eat with me?”
“Of course I will.”
Chapter Twenty
“They’re still hot, so be careful.” Silas picked up an egg cup and passed it to her.
“Thank you.” Helena took the cup and picked up a spoon.
Silas watched her eat, doing his best to keep from smiling from ear to ear. Waking up once again in her bed, after a night spent just sleeping, was a novelty, but one he felt he could quite get used to.
Having breakfast with her this morning, in companionable, sleepy silence while it drizzled outside, was not something he’d ever thought to dream about but now that he had experienced it… he could not imagine anything better.
He was trying not to stare but he couldn’t help how his eyes kept sliding towards her. She was wearing a warm woolly gown over her shift, her jet-black hair spilling down her back in unrulywaves, her deep blue eyes at half mast, as she grazed sleepily through her breakfast.
“I should have brought you breakfast in bed, it seems.”
She raised a lazy eyebrow at him, “Why?”
“Clearly, you’re still tired.”
“I…” She gave a small laugh. “At the St. Margaret’s, I’d have been up at six, cleaning the cold stone floors of the corridors outside my room regardless of how tired I felt.” Her lashes swept downwards, hiding her eyes. “This is nothing. Just a lazy morning.”
Silas hardly knew what to say to that. He knew that if the late earl had heard his daughter say that his heart would have broken.
