*
Rhys woke early.Something was different.A soft sigh tickled his neck.As he came fully awake, he remembered that he was not alone.Violet was wrapped around him, one leg over the top of his, her head on his shoulder, and her long hair spread over his chest like the tentacles of a mythical sea creature.Had he ever woken up next to someone else?Not since he was a child.He assessed the situation.It felt nice.She was warm and soft in his embrace.He fingered a length of her blonde hair.Silky soft.And she smelled good; clean, faintly of citrus.
When he glanced down at her face, she blinked at him owlishly.Then she sat up abruptly, pushing her hair off her face.“Sorry.Oh, sorry,” she said.
Rhys tucked his hands behind his head.“Don’t be sorry.You feel nice.”
“Oh dear, this is so inappropriate.I stayed the whole night.In your bed.”The look of shock on her face was priceless.
“You came seeking refuge from a very bad night.You asked me to stay, so I did.”
“I did, didn’t I?”she murmured.A blush bloomed across her cheeks.She was so damn beautiful.
The dog let out a low bark from next to the bed.His big head rested on the mattress.
“Hello, pup.Aren’t you such a handsome fellow?”Violet reached out a hand and patted the top of his head.
“Don’t!”Rhys scrambled up with the intention of throwing himself between her and the dog’s jaws.But nothing happened.Not even the smallest growl.
Violet glanced at him.“Don’t what?”
“He doesn’t like to be petted.”
The dog let out a long-suffering sigh as though he was so misunderstood, as though he hadn’t snapped and growled at everyone who had come within two feet.He stared up at Violet with his soulful dark eyes, all the while drooling on the sheets.
“Nonsense.Every dog likes a good head scratch.”She rubbed behind the mastiff’s ears.“Don’t you?”she cooed.
Rhys chuckled and sat back on his haunches.This woman charmed all manner of beasts.Even him.
“Where did you get such a dog in the city?He looks like a hunting dog.”
“Um, yes, about that.He was chained in a cage inside your father-in-law’s mews.He was going to be used in the fighting rings, so I sprang him.He has been my shadow ever since.”
Violet paled at the mention of the duke.She petted the dog’s head.“He came and took his son last night.Said that Stuart would lie in respite at Sommerset House.”
“Was he angry at you?”
She shook her head.“Hodgins—that’s my butler—didn’t tell him I was part of it.Hodgins was at the bottom of the stairs.He saw what happened, said there was no reason to involve me.Had Ginny take me to my rooms.I could hear the duke yelling when he arrived, but Hodgins told him that Stuart had been drinking, lost his balance, and fell.”
“Good.”Rhys took her hand and rubbed his thumb across the soft skin.“Do you want me to take you home?”
But her eyes were glassy and unfocused.She had withdrawn into her head again.Rhys squeezed her hand.“Violet, do you want me to take you home?”
“No.”Her gaze snapped to his.“Can I stay?Just for a bit.”
“Won’t your absence be noticed?”
“I don’t care.I can’t go back there.”Her voice cracked.“Not today anyway.”
“You can stay as long as you like,” he said.Fuck, he would promise her anything.“Are you hungry?”
She smiled.“Yes.But also I need to use the necessary.”
He rose and helped her off the bed, then led her across the room to the door that led to the bath.“Right through there.I will meet you downstairs in the kitchen.”
He turned to the dog.“Come on, you, let’s give her some privacy.”They walked down the corridor.“So, what?You only like the ladies?”
The dog snuffed an exasperated breath and knocked his big head against Rhys’s leg.Rhys experimentally went to pet him and was rewarded by a low warning growl.He chuckled.“Just the ladies, then.”
