“Well, now that you’ve said it, it seems obvious.”
The house was silent as they quietly made their way through the halls, into the kitchen.At the door, he turned to face her.“Goodnight, El.”
A strange pain lodged in her chest.Framed in the doorway, about to leave, it looked wrong.“Goodnight, Benedict.”Lifting to her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck.His mouth was warm and soft as she kissed him.His arms slid about her waist, as if he did not want to let her go too.
His lips brushed her forehead.“I really have to go, El.”
“I know.”She lifted her face and he kissed her, his mouth warm and sweet.
With another kiss, he disappeared through the door.
She hugged herself, a strange pain lodged in her chest.Turning, she made her way back to her room, which now seemed cold and lonely.
She missed him already.
Chapter Sixteen
SunlightdappledEl’sshoulder,dancing over the skin he had kissed that peeked through strands of the hair he’d earlier had wrapped around his fist.They lay tangled together in the bed that was to be his, Caraney House still empty of anyone other than them.With no servants he had brought bedding, making their bed each time before she arrived.His brother’s upstairs maid had been surprised when he’d asked her to show him how—actually, it was fair to say she was astounded—but she had done so and now they lay in the bed he had made.For her.
He trailed his fingers up her arm and she smiled, turning her head to press a kiss against his chest.He loved these quiet moments, loved that they had spent most of the afternoon together in this bed.When they had been children, they had often lain side by side under a summer sky, comfortable in silence or picking shapes out of fluffy clouds.Sometimes, at night, he’d crept from his bed and travelled by moonlight to El’s treehouse.They would spend the night sharing secrets and seeing who could scare the other more with tales of ghosts and gore.There had been that one time when El had told a story so disgusting he hadn’t been about to stop laughing, his stomach hurting.Even now, thinking of it, he stuttered a laugh.
El stirred.Reaching up, she traced his grin with her fingers.“What is this for?”
“Do you remember when we were in your treehouse and you told that story about the ghost who carried a scythe and ripped out people’s souls?”
Her lips quirked.“The one who would spread gore and viscera for miles?”
He laughed.“Yes, that one.”
She smiled.“My goodness, I was a vicious little thing, wasn’t I?What made you think of that?”
“Your skin in the sun.It reminded me of summers in the country, and nights in your treehouse.”
Her smile faltered.“Oh.”
“I still cannot believe no one caught us.How many nights did we sleep in the treehouse, El?”
She averted her gaze.“Perhaps too many.”
“I should think not enough.It was always so fun to stay with you all night and then…” He trailed off.El was tense, her hand still on his chest.“El?”She would not look at him nor would she answer.He stared down at the top her head.“Are you well?”
“I am well.”
Why did she even attempt to fool him?“El, I know how you are when you are well and you are not it.What troubles you?”
She was silent so long he thought she would not answer.“Do you know why I spent so many nights in the treehouse as a child?”
“Because it was fun?”he said as, Christ, he hoped to God that was the reason.
She was silent a moment.“Do you remember my mother and father?”
“I do not remember them well.”They had died when he and El were eleven, and he remember El being pale and silent, and Lady C telling him not to pester El to speak of it, even as she grew paler and sadder and he only wanted to make it better.
Pulling herself from his side, she wrapped the sheets about herself and then her arms about her legs.Apprehension tightening his belly, he drew himself to sit too, crossing his legs under the covers pooled in his lap.
“I would stay in the treehouse when my mother and father returned from town.”She hugged herself tighter and stared at nothing.“They did not much like each other, my mother and father.By all reports, they spent as little time as possible together.I only know when they were not at our estate, I was happy, and when they were, I was not.
“Their arguments would echo through the halls, they would yell and scream and they…” She broke off, her eyes shiny.“I did not much like it.In the treehouse, though, I could not hear them.”
