What are you hiding, brother?
Yet as he drew in a deep breath, he caught Elara’s scent. He drew his lower lip between his teeth to worry it and tasted her. She was all over him.Consuming him.It would not do. With agitated movements, he ripped off his shirt and breeches, discarded them on the floor, and all but stomped to his washstand. He poured the clean water from the ceramic pitcher into the bowl and, with both hands, began to scrub his face and body.
He scrubbed until his skin was raw, trying to wash away her sweetness. Yet even after he finished, after throwing himself into bed and screwing his eyes shut, all he could think about was what they had just done to each other—and how much he wanted to do it again.
One Week Later
“Well, do you not look so very poorly.”
Constantine gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes as he heard Mrs. York’s voice behind him.
“Again you enter without a knock, Mrs. York,” he replied, his tone gruff and matter-of-fact. “You seem to be growing bolder by the day.”
Behind him, he heard the housekeeper chuff and watched out of the corner of his eye as she walked around him toward his curtains. Constantine let out a growl of annoyance and winced at the bright daylight as Mrs. York threw the curtains open.
“You need some sun to aid in your poor complexion,” Mrs. York tsked as she fussed with the heavy drapes.
“It is not the sun I need but sleep,” Constantine bit out, smashing his fork into his plate of food. He had not consumed a single bite of it. Instead, he had let his thoughts roam as he mashed the peas and potatoes and stirred them until they looked like mush.
It had been a week since the heated moment between him and Elara, and he wagered he had not gotten more than an hour or so of sleep each night. He had thought, after not seeing her for the first two days, that he would calm and regain his ability to slumber. He had been worried that she would come to him cloying for attention, as all the other women he had been with had done, so when she did not, he felt a glimmer of relief.
By the third day of her not seeking him out, however, he became unsettled by her distance. It was not long before he was roaming the house, seeking even just a second where he could spot her. He discovered her more often than not spending her time with William, as she had promised she would. In his nursery, or in the great hall where all the paintings hung. Or in the gardens. She often had the baby on her hip, talking to him nonstop about whatever it was they were surrounded by.
Mrs. York walked over to him, eyed him up with those sharp eyes of hers, looked down at his plate, and tsked her tongue yet again.
“You will also soon need new plates if you keep that up,” she retorted, reaching for the plate. “What are you trying to do? Mash the china up with your food? Is it so bland that you desire a new sort of seasoning? Or is it that you find yourself so distracted by a certain new member of your household?”
Constantine glared at her as he tossed his knife and fork onto the plate, and she pulled it away from him.
“Your sass is usually heartwarming, Mrs. York, but I am finding it more annoying as of late,” he replied icily. “You should be more respectful, lest you find yourself searching for new employment.”
Mrs. York met his glare with a challenging gaze and smirked.
“Well, Your Grace, I may need an employer who is not so utterly besotted with his wife but will not admit it, so he stomps around his house like a wild bull, thrashing his horns and forgetting to eat properly,” she replied coolly, then pointedly looked down at the plate in her hands.
Constantine opened his mouth for another warning, but as Mrs. York lifted her brows in expectation, he snapped it shut and sucked his teeth as he shot his glare to the carpet. Devil take the woman, but she read him like an open book.
Constantine cleared his throat, let his temper cool, and looked back up to Mrs. York with a tired expression.
“And pray tell, where is said wife?” he asked.
Mrs. York gave him a smug smile, then walked to the window.
“Ah, there she is,” Mrs. York said. “In the gardens with William on this beautiful day. She either spends her time with him or with her family. Her cousin, Miss Mason, and the Duchess and Dowager of Redgrave visit nearly every other day now.”
Unable to help himself, Constantine rose from his seat and joined Mrs. York at the window. His heartbeat quickened as he watched Elara tickle William’s nose with a yellow tulip, making the boy laugh wildly. She was smiling too; the sight of it made hisstomach do a flip, and a grin twitched onto his face.
“Go ahead,” Mrs. York said in a dry, cheeky tone. “Tell me once more how you have no feeling for her.”
Constantine rolled his eyes, but he could not help the small smirk on his lips as he turned to face his long-time housekeeper.
“Your point is made, Mrs. York, thank you,” he replied tiredly.
Mrs. York’s smile was smug as she slightly shimmied her shoulders.
“Good. So what shall we do then?” she asked.
“I suppose it is time she and I have a more serious conversation about our... agreement,” Constantine confessed. “Invite her to dine with me this evening, here in my private quarters. We shall sit down and—”
