House of Shadows by Chasity Bowlin

Author:Chasity Bowlin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 0
Published: 2018-10-16T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Dinner had been an uneventful meal. They’d eaten and talked of mundane things. In earshot of a handful of servants, it had seemed wise. With the meal done, he was seeing Adelaide to her chamber for the night. At the door, she stopped and looked back at him expectantly.

“I realize it’s unorthodox,” she said, “And in light of the nature of our coming relationship, perhaps it is unwise, but—.”

She’d broken off abruptly. But Eldren knew there was a question buried in Adelaide’s rambling. “What is it?”

“Will you stay in the room with me tonight? I spoke courageously earlier, with far more bravado then. Certainly more than I feel now at the prospect of facing this alone. It was easy to be brave then… If that dark shadowy thing returns tonight, I am not certain what I will do.”

He should say no. He knew it instantly. Their best hope of maintaining the kind of chaste relationship that was required would be to keep his distance. But in that moment, with fear lurking in her dark gaze and her lower lip trembling like a child’s, how could he say no?

“Of course, I will. Go in and change. Once you’ve done so, I’ll return,” he said.

“You promise? You won’t just say that and not come back?”

Had so few people in her life kept their word to her? “I promise, Adelaide. I won’t leave you alone to face the darkness… Change into your nightclothes and I will be back shortly,” Eldren promised.

When she’d turned to go, disappearing into the recesses of his bed chamber, Eldren made his way to the other end of the corridor. In his own borrowed chamber, he stripped off his dinner jacket and tie. But he kept his trousers and his shirt on. There was no need to tempt fate anymore than necessary.

He was thinking of her in her chamber, removing the pins from her hair, unlacing all the many layers of clothing that women wore. It was dangerous and foolhardy. And yet he was helpless to stop those images from flitting through his mind. He wanted her. Whether it was because she was to be his bride and he was having some sort of typically male response because he suddenly possessed the right to do so or if it was just something in her own innocent allure, he could not say. Regardless, he would keep his urges in check. Anything less would dishonor them both.

After a suitable amount of time, he left his temporary bed chamber and paused, knocking at the door to his own suite of rooms. It opened with a soft click. She stood there in the dim light, her hair in a long thick plait that draped over her shoulder and hung nearly to her waist. She wore a nightgown with a high neck, the ruffle heavily embroidered with a design he couldn’t quite make out. The brocade dressing gown donned atop it was belted at her waist, highlighting her natural figure rather than the corseted one that utterly befuddled him.

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