Belle’s forward progress halted immediately as a discouraging cough came from Andrews. Glancing between the two, Faith waited for Belle to turn around. Slowly, the matriarch spun toward her, and though Faith had been anticipating a startled expression, she only saw something akin to glee in the old woman’s silvery stare.
“What a question,” she said gently, her eyes on Faith. “What’s promoted this sudden interest in my relationship with Georgie?”
“Um,” Faith started, unsure why she had even asked.
Perhaps because it was one of Aunt Belle’s favorite topics. She wasn’t shy about her relationship with the king and spoke at length whenever prompted, but something else had pushed Faith to ask about this, specifically, even though it was a subject she usually avoided.
But today, she found that she wanted to know about the cardinal relations between a man and a woman.
Ever since Logan had kissed her in the doorway of her room at Harris House, Faith had been tormented with the wildest and the most vivid daydreams, explicit thoughts that made her blush from head to toe. And after he had rescued her from her spooked horse, he had held her so protectively against him, and kissed her so passionately, that she had thought of little else since.
Faith shook her head, desperate to remove such thoughts but her curiosity remained.
“Well, I suppose…” she tried, but still, she could not think of something to say.
“Is it because you find yourself in a similar quandary?”
Faith’s eyes snapped to her aunt’s.
“Heavens no.”
“Oh, I don’t mean that you’re seeking to be someone’s mistress, my dear,” Aunt Belle said as she made her way to the settee. She patted the cushion next to her, prompting Faith to come and sit down at her side. “I only mean to say that,has someone caught your attentions the way dear Georgie was ensnared by my charms?”
Faith’s mouth pulled up into a smirk. Even at seventy-six, Aunt Belle was confident of her appeal and wasn’t wrong. The old woman was quite charming. And part of that charm, so far as Faith could tell, came from her utter frankness and total lack of shame. Even though speaking to an innocent young woman about romantic affairs would be taboo in most households—Lord knew Hope would disapprove—Faith knew she only had to ask, and Belle would reveal everything she knew.
Which was tempting, to say the least. She had many questions she wished to have answered, but she wasn’t sure how to ask. Her eyes flickered to Andrews, who was staring straight ahead.
“Don’t mind him, dear. Andrews is a locked box.”
Faith shook her head.
“Still, I don’t think I could…”
“Very well. Andrews? Leave us, please.”
“My lady,” he said with a nod.
He exited the room, closing the door behind him, and Faith was sure he would stand guard on the other side.
“Now, tell me. Why the sudden interest in my affair with the king?”
“Well, I suppose it’s not so much about what occurred between you and um, His Majesty, particularly, but rather what prompted it.”
“What prompted our affair?”
“Yes.”
“That’s easy. He was madly in love with me.”
Faith smiled.
“Yes, but why did you go through with it? Haven’t you said that he had to ask you three times before you even considered him?”
Aunt Belle eyed her.
“Are you asking if I loved him?”
“Yes.”
