He wasn’t sure. But was it time to try?
16
Violet couldn’t sleep.
She stirred the saucepan of warm milk on the stovetop, wishing she could find a way to stop the whirlwind twisting and turning through her mind—the whirlwind that had been there since she’d kissed Sterling earlier.
Oh, the kiss.
She released a blissful sigh, then touched her fingertips to her lips as if in doing so she could feel his kiss again. She closed her eyes and imagined the pressure and passion. Even though he’d run from her afterward, he’d kissed her back with a fervor that had wreaked havoc with her body.
He’d liked it. Maybe not as much as she had. But still, he couldn’t have pretended everything—the emotion, the tenderness, the desire.
She’d certainly felt it all. More so than ever before. Was that because this time she knew she loved him? Had it taken the time away from him, the distance and soul-searching, to realize she would never find another man like him?
She actually wasn’t sure if she would ever be the same again after that kiss. So maybe it was a good thing he’d said he wouldn’t kiss her again.
Opening her eyes, she stifled a disappointed sigh and stirred the milk again.
She hadn’t mentioned the kiss to her sister, but Hyacinth had taken one look at Violet’s face when she’d returned to the parlor with the pedestal table, and she’d known. She’d just smiled smugly with an I-told-you-so glint in her eyes.
At the soft tap against the back door, Violet startled. She pivoted to find Sterling entering. The low light from the lantern she’d set on the table didn’t quite reach to illuminate his face, but from the stiffness of his shoulders, she knew something was wrong.
She drew her coat closed over her long nightgown. Since she didn’t have a robe, she’d donned her coat before leaving the bedroom. Even so, she felt strangely bare, especially with her hair hanging free of the usual constraints.
“I was hoping to see you,” he whispered, removing his hat and setting it on the table.
“I couldn’t sleep…” She ducked her head, hoping he wouldn’t be able to read her thoughts and realize the reason for her sleeplessness—that she’d been thinking about him and their kiss nonstop.
In fact, her flighty thoughts had gone from replaying their kiss to imagining him in bed. She’d never thought about him in bed before. Maybe she’d had a few moments before her wedding day back in April when she’d felt a little nervous about her wedding night and the mysteries she would discover. But something in the kiss earlier had awoken a need inside her. Now she was embarrassingly curious about what it might be like to lie beside him and kiss him as much as she wanted all night long.
Hopefully the kitchen was shadowed enough that he wouldn’t be able to see the mortification rushing into her cheeks.
He twisted the brim of his cowboy hat in his large hands. Was he nervous about something?
What if he’d already changed his mind about having her and Hyacinth working in the house as maids? Maybe he hadn’tliked how much she’d started rearranging and changing the decorations.
He hadn’t said anything about the furniture except that he hadn’t wanted her to exert herself in moving it. Besides, he’d always appreciated her decorating efforts in the past, had always complimented her.
So why was he here? Had he finally come in for the night?
“Would you like some warm milk? It might help you sleep better. Not that you need help sleeping. I’m sure you sleep just fine in your bed.” She was rambling and starting to picture him in bed again.
She spun back to the stove, could feel the steam rising from the pan, adding to the warmth in her face. She reached for the ladle and began to scoop milk into the mug she’d readied.
“Sure, I’ll take a cup,” he offered quietly. “If you have enough.”
She would gladly give it all up for him if he needed it. But she couldn’t say that. “Of course. You can even take it with you up to your room.” She turned and held the mug out to him where he stood, only a couple of feet away.
“Thank you.” He’d shed his gloves and now took another step closer and wrapped both hands around the mug. “I’m not going to bed. I’m taking the next shift of guard duty.”
“Guard duty?” In the process of reaching for another mug from the open shelf next to the stove, she halted.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
Her muscles tensed. “Are we in danger again?”
He released a tense breath. “Seems word spread that I was hiding you and Hyacinth at the miner’s cabin.”
