“That makes me like him more,” I say.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Maybe he’s not the best as your guard. I can call Stanley back. He’s in Caiden’s pocket, but he’s good at his job.” I clench my teeth when I remember I’m supposed to send Stanley away to fetch those books.
“No, I like Nate.”
“Of course you do.”
We turn climb another set of stairs, then turn down a hall. I realize we’re one floor above my room. “Is there somethingyou’renot tellingme?” I ask.
“We’re here,” Brevan announces.
Well, I guess no more answers for me. Again.
I’m pretty sure his room is directly above mine. I wonder if he can hear everything I say while I’m in there. I swallow hard, hoping he wasn’t in his quarters while I was last night and earlier today.
There’s a pair of guards I don’t recognize outside the double doors that must be Caiden’s rooms. They incline their heads in acknowledgement, then continue to stare straight ahead with an almost dazed expression.
“Are you joining them?” I ask Brevan.
“No, I’m needed elsewhere.” He knocks on the door, then steps back.
Caiden opens it himself and I’m so not ready to spend more time with him alone. “My darling wife, please come in.”
I step inside and he closes the door behind me without even acknowledging Brevan. There’s still animosity there but he continues to have the enforcer guarding me when he’s notaround. Caiden probably gets off on making us spend time together knowing we can’t act on any desires.
The room is very similar to mine. With a sprawling canopied bed on one side, and a sitting room surrounding a large cracking fireplace on the other. Along the back wall there’s several full bookshelves, then a window that overlooks the woods behind the estate. A few closed doors lead to additional space. Probably a dining area and bathing chambers. Maybe a study.
“You look absolutely stunning.” He takes my hand, then lifts it to his lips for a gentle kiss.
It makes my skin crawl. “Thank you for the dresses. They were quite a surprise. All that color. And the room, beautiful.”
“I thought you might enjoy that. I intend to eliminate my father’s old rules around color. However, I thought it might be nice to let you stand out on your own for a while.”
To have me watched more closely.I knew it. I knew he had ulterior motives for the dresses. “How thoughtful.”
He gestures for me to follow him toward a table large enough for six near a window at the back of the room. “I hear you’ve befriended a new guard. That must be making Brevan absolutely crazy.”
“Or maybe it’s you who’s bothered by it? Brevan has hardly said two words to me since your father died and now with your announcement of my supposed pregnancy, he’s even less inclined. By the way, well done, with that. I’m sure the gossip is all over the estate by now.”
He pulls out a chair for me and I sit.
“I didn’t have a choice. You were fucking someone else. I need the rumor mill to know it’s my child if you happen to be carrying his bastard.” He settles into the chair across from me.
“There are other options. We both know it’s too early to know if I truly am pregnant.”
“Do we? I wasn’t lying when I said the maids told me it had been too long since your last courses.”
I shudder. It’s a good reminder that I don’t know who all reports to him. My hand tightens around a bundle of fabric on my lap. I was so quick to accept that all my ladies were on my side. That they really wanted to help me. What if they were working for him? What was wrong with me? I went from so careful to just letting everyone in.
“Since when do you know a thing about women’s courses?” I ask.
“I don’t need to. I have people who know for me.” He smiles then pours wine into his cup, then fills mine halfway before setting down the bottle. “My mother always said watered wine when with child.” He picks up a water pitcher, then tops off my glass. “Just in case.”
I’m still not convinced I’m pregnant, but I can’t rule it out, either. I’m tempted to steal his glass and down his just to prove a point, but everyone knows watered wine is safer. I reach for my glass and glare at him while I take a sip.
“If you are with child…” he starts.
I set down the wine. “I’m not.”
