Juliette sent Paul an amused look. Although she knew there were many Frasers in the region, it surprised her that the butler shared the same surname as her husband.
“It would be my pleasure, Lady Falsham.” There was kindness in the butler’s voice, along with a genuine sense of welcome. She liked him immediately.
“If you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Fraser, I will need a lady’s maid,” Juliette asked. From the abrupt embarrassment on the man’s face, she surmised that there were no suitable maids at the moment.
“My wife can serve you, my lady. Until we can hire a maid of your choosing, that is.” The butler bowed and then added, “I believe you’ll want to meet our housekeeper, Mrs. Maggie Fraser, this afternoon.”
“How many… Frasers are there?” Juliette ventured.
The butler cleared his throat. “Quite a few, my lady.”
“And on our staff?”
He stole a glance at Paul and stared down at the ground. “All are Frasers.”
Juliette couldn’t stop her smile. “Then if I’m not certain of someone’s name, I simply call him Mr. Fraser or her Mrs. Fraser?”
He nodded. “That would be about the way of it, I’m afraid.”
Paul took her arm and led her inside. “I will take Lady Falsham for a tour of the house. If you’ll arrange for a hot meal, we’d be very grateful for it.”
The butler bowed, leaving them to walk alone. Paul started to tell her about his uncle, but Juliette barely heard any of it. Instead, she opened one of the smaller doors and found that it led into a library. With Paul’s hand in hers, she led him inside and locked the door.
“When did you tell my aunt and uncle of your title?” she asked, though she already suspected the truth.
“The day before I took you away,” he admitted. “They decided the match was a good one, after they learned of it. Mr. Kinlark, my uncle’s solicitor, gave them a list of my assets and estates.”
She stared at him, several pieces beginning to fall into place. The wedding gown. The sense that he’d been hiding something from her. “And you didn’t think it was worth mentioning that you have a title now?”
He rested a hand upon a bookshelf. “This life isna familiar to me, Juliette. I wanted our wedding to be simple. And last night as well.”
Although there was nothing simple about it. He looked, for lack of a better word, tortured. She reached up to touch his face. “I don’t know why you left me last night.”
He took her hand in his and lowered it. “Let me show you the rest of the house.”
It was only a means of avoiding her question. She had no desire to look through old rooms when it was clear that he was trying to distance himself. But although she relented, she wondered if there was a way she could ease him. And so, she decided to ask.
After she voiced her question, he stared at her. “What do you mean?”
“Last night, you made me feel beloved, even though we weren’t lovers,” she said. “Is there a way I could do that for you? Perhaps if I touched you—”
“No,” he cut her off. The flash of heat in his eyes belied his words. She suspected that there was far more he wasn’t telling her.
Juliette stepped in front of the door, blocking Paul’s way. “We can’t endure years of marriage like this.”
Paul raked a hand through his hair. “I ken that. But it may be wise to have separate rooms at first.”
It was a direct contradiction to his earlier assertion last night. “I thought you believed a wife and husband should share a room.”
“I changed my mind.”
The look in his eyes was harsh, of a man frustrated beyond words. “Surely you don’t mean that.”
She started to reach for him, and without warning, he pressed her back against the bookcase. “What are you wanting from me, Juliette?” he challenged. “Are you wanting me to lose control?”
His hands slid from her waist up to the sides of her breasts. “I’m no’ Strathland. I won’t ever claim you, for we both ken the risk.” His thumbs slid over her tightened nipples, tempting her until her breath caught. “But don’t be playing games with me. I have my limits, and you’re pushing them.”
She didn’t know what to say, but her skin prickled with interest. He reminded her of a caged animal, pacing its bars. He wanted her but was determined not to take her.
