“All of this?” He reached for one of the hanging blankets, half-tempted to rip it down.
The maid gulped loudly. “Her... Her Grace decided on it,” she replied, her voice shaking. “She said it would make living together easier, until… someone leaves.”
Jeremy had no doubt that that ‘someone’ was supposed to be him. And maybe, if it were not for what occurred in the study, he would be more willing to give up and go somewhere new. But Anna was in his veins now, not easily removed, and he had his niece and her mother to consider.
I can’t believe I thought ye would be welcoming…Anna had been warm in her greeting, certainly, but this behavior sent a different kind of message. Even if that message was just for him, he didn’t want it to affect his family.
“Did she now?” he muttered. “And where is the lass?”
“The… what, Your Grace?”
“The dowager. Where is she?” he said, his tone harder than he had intended.
The maid’s gaze flitted to the curtains that covered the right-hand hallway before her eyes lowered to the ground, her head slowly shaking. “I can’t recall, Your Grace. I think–”
“That’s all right, I will not make ye stand there and lie to me on her behalf,” Jeremy interrupted, as he strode straight toward the ‘prohibited’ hallway and swept the curtains aside.
Walking past the doors, he halted outside one he had never entered before. It was the door next to the one belonging to Anna’s bedchamber. He knewthatone well enough, considering he thought it was to be his own.
A ripple of emotion ran through his stomach as he remembered that first night, the gentle swell of her backside pressing against him, the slide of her thigh against his. How different things might have been if she had not leaped from the bed, but had pressed harder against him, letting him wrap himself around her, savor her, enjoy her, and return that pleasure tenfold.
Beyond the unfamiliar door, he heard her singing to herself. A cheery, triumphant tune.
He bristled… and burst in, not bothering to knock.
In what appeared to be a dressing room, a fire crackling in the grate, adding the aroma of woodsmoke to the perfume of lavender and lemon balm that steamed from the milky waters of a bathtub, Anna was emerging. She had one foot out, wrapped in a bath linen that did little to conceal her tantalizing silhouette, the damp fabric clinging to her figure and revealing glimpses of the skin beneath.
Aye, I probably should have knocked…
Jeremy’s heart raced faster, pounding blood through his veins until it roared in his ears. He slammed the door shut, but she didn’t jump or seem afraid; she simply kept stepping out of the bath.
“You should not be here,” she said coolly, her back to him.
Through the gauzy fabric, he admired the voluptuous curves of her hips, her backside, her narrow waist, and that exposed nape, her hair gathered up on her head.
“Did ye think a curtain would be enough?” he replied thickly. Ravenous for a taste of her. “Did ye trust yerself so little that ye had to hang boundaries?”
She wandered over to her vanity and sat down, raising her gaze to him in the reflection of her mirror. “I trust myself perfectly well. It isyouwhom I do not trust.” She waved her hand. “As evidenced by your presence here. Alas, I do not have the means to install iron gates on every hallway and doorway I do not want you to enter.”
Her face was flushed and glowing from the heat of the bath, her skin still slick with the oils and water she had bathed in. It was a temptation unlike anything he had ever experienced, his whole being craving a touch of her, as if he truly would lose his mind if he could not have her.
“You should leave before I scream,” she remarked.
He covered the distance between them in an instant and stood behind her, his hand sliding over her shoulder and gliding up to loosely cradle her throat, his thumb caressing the side of her neck.
Leaning down, he whispered. “And what if that is exactly what I want?”
CHAPTER 19
Had Anna hoped that the makeshift boundaries would be enough to keep him from her door? Maybe, in a brief moment beneath the warm water of the bathtub, where she had imagined his hands exploring her bare body. Did she know what to do now that he had breached those walls and stepped right into her fantasy? Absolutely not.
Why am I not afraid?
Jeremy had his hand around her throat, and could probably strangle her in seconds, but there did not seem to be any threat in it. It was more like possession, that wildness that seemed to free her own.
“It is not about what you want,” she rasped, her skin already feverish and tingling at his touch. “It is about what is… proper.”
Her breath hitched as he sank to his knees behind her, his arm sliding around her waist, pulling her hard against his chest.
