The Flapper's Scandalous Elopement by Lauri Robinson

Author:Lauri Robinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-06-04T19:50:02+00:00

* * *

Jane rolled over, not exactly sure what had awoken her other than being chilled. The room had been warm when she’d gone to bed, but it wasn’t now. She pulled the blankets up and curled into a ball, but even the sheets and pillow were cold, making her shiver. She scooted across the bed and lifted the clock off the table beside the other side of the bed in order to make out the numbers in the darkness.

Four in the morning.

Setting the clock back on the table, she flipped back the covers, left the bed and rubbed her arms as she hurried into the bathroom.

So cold upon leaving the bathroom that she was shaking, she crossed the room and pulled open the door to the outer room. The rooms were all very dark with all the heavy drapes pulled shut for the night. The servants had done that. When she and David had come up to bed last night, the drapes in all the rooms had been pulled closed, the covers on the bed had been folded back on the bed, and fires had burned in the fireplaces. The one in the bedroom had gone out, and she was hoping the one out here was still going.

“What’s the matter?”

She nearly jolted out of her skin and had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep the scream in her throat from sounding. “David, you nearly scared the daylights out of me,” she said, holding her other hand over her pounding heart. It was as dark as the tunnel used to be, but her eyes had adjusted enough that she could make out the outline of his head.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking at her over the back of the sofa. “I heard the door open.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” She felt guilty about him sleeping out here on the sofa, even though he had insisted.

“You didn’t.”

She rounded the sofa and sat on the arm. Although she had a good idea, she still asked, “Why weren’t you sleeping?” He hadn’t been himself when they’d come up to bed last night, after he’d talked with his brother. He’d been thoughtful and quiet. Solemn. It concerned her that brothers could be so different and so distant from each other.

His sigh seemed to fill the room. “Several reasons. Why are you awake?”

“I’m cold.” She rubbed her arms. “I was hoping the fire was still going out here, but I see it’s not.” Like in the bedroom, there weren’t even any coals glowing in the fireplace.

He pulled her onto the sofa and covered her with a blanket. “Tomorrow, we are going to buy you a nightgown that goes clear to the floor, with long sleeves and buttons up all the way to your chin.”

She pulled the blanket beneath her chin. The short-sleeved yellow silk dress that she was wearing to sleep in didn’t offer any warmth. “That sounds warm,” she admitted. “But I’m cold right now.”

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to his side.

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