“Oh, don’t ‘Mrs. Mossant’ me.” Were all men this foolish? “And with you being hurt!”
“Eve—”
“Come with me. You need to rest. Did you think I didn’t realize your ribs have been paining you? Did you tell them who you were? Did you give them both of our names?”
“Just my own.”
“Well, then. They’ll have to imagine I am your wife or some such nonsense. You need a place to sleep and I need to not feel guilty for your injury. It’s not as though I’m some innocent intent upon protecting my virtue.” Eve would not sleep a wink knowing Niles was trying to sleep on a wooden bench for the night.
“I’ll find a cot.”
“Nonsense.” She grasped him by the arm and pushed him in the direction of the stairway.
He was surprisingly compliant. The pain must have worn him down more than he’d let on.
“Eve—” He made one last attempt to argue but seemed short of breath.
“Hush.”
Sharing
As much as this new turn of events bothered him, Niles ceased resisting her after she’d removed his coat and then coaxed him onto the bed. His entire body ached. Not just his chest or his side. Every blasted breath he took pained him.
Damn ribs.
He watched from half closed lids as she put a candle atop a dresser and then one beside the bed. Thank God they’d arrived when they did. Night was falling.
He should get up and leave now.
She was his employer. He had no business in here.
A knock sounded at the door. Must be the innkeep’s wife with something for Eve to change into. He closed his eyes and drifted off to the sounds of Eve chatting with the woman.
When he next awoke, he required a moment to remember is whereabouts.
Ruined carriage. Mud. Rain.
Kiss.
This time when he watched her, the candlelight glowed warm upon her skin. She was sitting on a hard chair, staring off into the darkness as though deep in thought. She ought to be the one in bed. She ought to be the one resting comfortably, sleeping.
In their normal course of business, he’d easily managed to suppress his attraction to her, but after today...
And now seeing her in nothing but a too-large cotton night rail with her shining chestnut hair flowing over her shoulders and across her softly rounded breasts… her desirability further strained his self-control.
Such a woman would not be a burden, as a younger lady might. No, Eve Mossant would present other challenges. The sort of challenges that made a man want to wake up each morning.
Because, oddly enough, she exuded strength. She inspired confidence.
He closed his eyes again, shutting her out. He’d not allow his thoughts to travel in such a direction. He’d done that once before, with a lady, no less.
Lord Peabody’s daughter, Lady Katherine.
Niles would do well to remind himself of the dreams he’d built around her. He’d been all of twenty-one, and she’d just turned eighteen. She’d come to London for her debut. Throughout the years prior, they’d been friends. As children.
But she’d been different that spring, as had he. And she spent hours in the garden, confiding her disdain for the young bucks of the ton to Niles. None of them had inspired her love. They were too weak, too silly. She’d flirted outrageously with him, touching his arm, glancing at him from beneath those lush lashes of hers. He’d held out for less than two weeks before succumbing against his better judgement.
Ah, but the excitement of a secret love affair.
