The way he was when he was with her. When he was with her and Callan and Matthew, all four of them together.
Sighing, he closed his eyes and rested his cheek against her shoulder. Her lips grazed the top of his head.
“I’d like to stay like this,” he admitted quietly. “Beingjust Cash.”
Athena didn’t know his full name or his rank or his responsibilities. She saw him as just a man.
“I would like that as well. But remember, I have an engagement tonight.”
Wasengagementanother word for a liaison? Or a theatrical performance?
And was Cash…jealous?
“I do as well,” he sighed. “I’ve promised Matthew I’ll find another wife.”
She chuckled, which wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting, if he’d thought about it at all before stupidly blurting out the words.
“Nay, ye dinnae want another wife.”
He lifted his head to frown at her. “I don’t?”
“Nay,” she repeated, moving her soft strokes to his knuckles now, and smiling gently at him. “Because then I cannae do this with ye again.”
His brow twitched. If he married, he would have to end his liaison with her until he could convince her to become his doxy. “Good point. Itismore fun to be informal.”
She lifted her hand and pressed his head back against her shoulder, and he didn’t resist. It was delightfully comfortable here, in this bed, in her arms. Instead of inflaming him, as he’d expected, her touch was soothing and exactly what he needed at that moment.
Of course, the bed wasn’t nearly as comfortable ashisbed at Cashard. Could he convince her to join him there someday?
“Informality is essential sometimes.”
Her statement confused him, and he shifted against her as he considered it. “In what way?” he murmured.
“Formality grants power,” she explained, moving her gentle strokes up his arm once more. “A power over one another, but most usually, a power over the female.”
Ah.
“Even with all the laws being discussed lately, allowing for a woman to own her own property?”
She pinched him lightly. “I should have kenned ye would be involved in one of the Houses. Nay, dinnae tell me which one, we have kept our relationshipinformalup until now.” In other words, she didn’t want to know if he was a titled lord. “But aye, even with those laws in place. A woman is a reflection of her husband, and her husband’s moods.”
He was silent for a long while as he digested her words…and their meaning. Finally, he tightened his hold on her. “Is that what happened with Callan’s father?”
Her only response was a slight hum, and he decided to push her further.
“Will you tell me what happened?”
When she shrugged a bit too nonchalantly, he was almost dislodged. “What is there to tell? I thought I was in love with him, and he was verra handsome. But by the time I realized I was pregnant, I had also realized what kind of man he was.”
This was enough of a surprise that Cash lifted his head again to frown down at her. “What happened?”
Athena turned her head so she was staring at the window when she answered. “He did what he thought was thehonorable thing and proposed marriage. I told him I had nae interest in yoking myself to a bully who used his power to hurt others. He gave me a black eye. I pointed out he was proving my point, and we parted.”
Her tone was far too nonchalant, and the way she told of his abuse had Cash sucking in a breath. But he considered his words before he spoke.
“All this time…I assumed you had been abandoned by Callan’s father.”
A laugh burst out of her, and she sat up, dislodging him. The laugh hadn’t been entirely joyful, but it wasn’t hopeless either. At least she was meeting his eyes now as she patted his arm.
