Rachel had barely finished the question when a familiar voice answered instead.
“Has my wife grown impatient already?”
Rachel startled slightly, glancing toward the doorway where Simon stood. The butler stiffened immediately, giving a swiftbow before stepping away. He looked eager to clear the room before any tensions between the two of them escalated.
“Well, how could I not?” she said sweetly. “It seems that you have developed quite the habit of keeping me waiting.”
Simon arched a brow as he strode toward the table, taking the seat opposite her. “Is that what this is about?” he mused, pouring himself a cup of tea without looking at her. “Another scolding for my late arrival?”
“You sayscolding,” she murmured, “but I rather think of it as a gentle reminder.”
“And I need gentle reminders for having breakfast late in my own house?” Simon asked, taking a sip from his cup.
“It seems to be that way,” she nodded. “I did plan a rather grand dinner last night. One that, unfortunately, went cold in your absence.”
“Rachel—” Simon looked as though this entire conversation had only exhausted him.
“But then,” she interrupted, “I realized that it would hardly be fair to hold such a thing against you, when you didn’t even know it was happening.”
Simon did not reply immediately. Rachel knew that it must have disarmed him, for he must have thought that she would argue with him.
“Maybe I should have considered your schedule more,” she continued.Though it is another thing entirely that I do not know what your schedule is.
”Good.”
Rachel watched him scarf down the remainder of his food, as though he had not eaten in a long time. She had never known him to be this urgent.
“You are particularly callous this morning,” she observed.
“And you are particularly persistent.” Simon looked up at her briefly. “I thought that I had missed your questions in your absence the other day, but you have swiftly reminded me just how irksome they can be.”
Rachel wondered whether or not she should take serious offense at the words. No, this was normal.This was what we did—we insulted each other, but it was never out of malice.
“Ah, well. It would have been terribly unkind of me to let you miss the opportunity to be exasperated by your own wife,” she said in response.
“Indeed. How fortunate I am.”
“You say that as if you do not mean it.”
“I say many things I do not mean,” Simon muttered under his breath.
Thatseemed to set Rachel off, out of all the things that he had said. She straightened in her seat and tried to chew on a piece of the loaf. It was no good, however. Somehow, she had just lost all of her appetite.
What an odd thing to say out loud,Rachel thought to herself. Words had always been a problem between them.
Neither of them could ever really convey what they truly meant to each other.
Well, then.Communication between them might be less than ideal, but Rachel knew there wasoneother way in which they could communicate just fine.
“Simon,” she started, hesitantly. A flush of shyness overcame her as she pondered what to say next. “I was wondering something.”
“That does seem to be a habit of yours,” Simon murmured, cutting into his food without sparing her a glance.
Rachel ignored the quip and decided to continue anyway. Her husband had really woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.
“You should join me in my chambers tonight,” Rachel said, the words coming out faster than she intended. Her heart was beating fast. It was, after all, an invitation that implied so much.
“Should I?” he asked with a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders.Thatwas not the response she had been anticipating. If his enthusiasm from the other night was anything to go by, he should have jumped at the invitation.
