After walking into the charity event together earlier that evening, they had gone their separate ways. Evelyn had spent most of her time with Thalia and Verity, while Asher had gone to the card room and seen the gentlemen. When he finally reappeared, she had so desperately wanted to dance, but he didn’t notice any of her hints, subtle or otherwise, as he remained farther away from her than he had when they hadn’t been married.
She sighed as she finished her last puzzle, organized the chaos of her bedroom, and finally turned out the lamp before crawling into bed.
Only to find that sleep wouldn’t come.
Asher had clearly fallen asleep, given the lack of movement or sound on the other side of the wall, and picturing him lying alone in his bed with what she was sure was a hard, glistening chest, bared to the night air, would only make things worse.
When she had lived with her father, she would always make herself a cup of warm milk if she couldn’t sleep, but she wasn’t even certain where to find that in a house like this.
Although she supposed the kitchen was as good a place as any to start.
Donning a wrapper, she tiptoed out of her room, easing the door open, even though she had no reason to be sneaking around.
She was the duchess of this house, for goodness' sake. So why did it feel as if she were still a child, with someone ready to scold her for every mistake?
She did her best to be silent as she padded down the stairs and along the corridor to where she thought the servants’ entrance waited on the ground floor. She was so intent on finding her bearings that she wasn’t paying enough attention to what was in front of her.
The light was low, she considered after, so perhaps it was not her fault.
But that didn’t prevent her from colliding with something — make that someone — as her nose went right into a chest of hardness before her.
Asher.
15
“Evelyn! I am so sorry,” Asher exclaimed, reaching out to catch her before she could fall against the wall.
Where on earth had she come from?
“It’s fine. It was just as much my fault,” she said, her hands wrapping around his forearms, holding onto him like he was her anchor. “I was just on my way to the kitchen to make some warm milk.”
“Oh,” he said, feeling a rush of relief, although he had no idea why. He supposed, deep down, he feared that she would decide she had no further interest in staying with him and find a way to leave him.
As ruined as that would leave both of them.
He knew it was irrational to think she would sneak away in the middle of the night, but still…
“Come,” he said, reaching out without thinking and taking her hand, leading her along the corridor, toward the stairs leading down. “I’ll make you one.”
“Youwill?”
“When we were younger, my brother and I would sneak around the house at all hours of the day,” he said with a smileas he remembered the times they shared. “Kitchens included. I can’t tell you how many times the cook would come down the next day to find half her provisions gone. We were hungry.”
“I can imagine,” she said with a laugh as she studied him, likely searching for signs about how comfortable he was speaking about his brother. He understood. He didn’t say much about him, but with Evelyn, it felt different, like he could talk about Daniel without judgment or blame.
The warmth of her hand in his sent a shiver up his arm as he led her down the stairs to the kitchen. The space was dark and quiet, the staff having long since retired for the evening. Only the glow of banked coals in the hearth provided any illumination.
Asher moved through the shadows with confidence, for not much had changed in the kitchens over the years.
Dropping her hand, he found a candle and a tinderbox, lit it, and brought a small pool of light to the prep table. Evelyn stood uncertainly in the doorway, her wrapper pulled tight around her.
This intimate moment between them felt domestic and oddly right, as though they had started as a true love match.
He found a saucepan and placed it on the table between them before he rummaged around for a bottle of milk. His fingers brushed hers as he handed her the bottle, and they both startled at the contact, eyes locking.
"I didn't mean to disturb you," Evelyn said softly, the words rushing out as she looked away from him. "You likely had something to do yourself tonight.”
She swallowed hard, and he wondered what she was thinking, where she assumed he was going.
