“I wonder what took Flora away,” Caro said as she and Val made their way up the main staircase. “It’s not like her to break a commitment.”
“I have no idea.” Val rested his hand on Caro’s back as they climbed. “But what a delight that we have extra time with Ludwig to look forward to.”
There was something about his tone that made Caro doubt Val’s sincerity. It would seem that she wasn’t the only one who had changes to become accustomed to.
* * *
Clearly, Val thought as he watched Caro pull away from him and hurry ahead to greet her infernal cat, he would need to find some way of diverting his feline nemesis for at least long enough to consummate the marriage. That Miss Deaver had been called away on this of all days was a misfortune of catastrophic proportions.
Oh God. He was so far gone he was punning. Catastrophic proportions, indeed.
Not quite as amusing was their argument earlier, he thought as he followed at a more sedate pace, giving Caro time to greet the hell-born Ludwig.
Caro might not be ready to trust him fully yet, but he was intent on showing her that she had nothing to fear from him. His outsized response to her seeming indifference at him taking a mistress might have prodded him into realizing that he was well on his way to being half in love with her again already, but he wasn’t ready to tell her so. Both of them, it would seem, were reluctant to risk their hearts so soon after reaching their uneasy truce.
But if they were to make a success of this marriage—however hastily contracted—they would need to surrender some control to one another. Otherwise, they would be stuck at arm’s length for the rest of their lives.
That she’d agreed that they should sleep together had come as a relief. The thought of waiting—which he’d been prepared to do so if she’d asked it of him—had made him want to weep. Since their encounter after the fracas at the theatre—hell, since their aborted betrothal four years ago—he’d been desperate for her. He’d never been so consumed with need for a woman. How soft would her skin feel against his tongue? What sounds would she make when he touched her? If he were to be honest with himself, he’d spent years wondering what they’d be like together.
Whatever reservations he had about how successfully they would manage to make a life together, about their compatibility in bed he had no doubts.
When he reached her new bedchamber, which he’d had the good sense to have refurbished before taking over the house after Cynthia had left for her parents’ home, he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, watching her with a mixture of desire and affection.
For all that he genuinely believed the cat would stab him to death in his sleep if it could but hold a knife, it was hard not to smile when Caro cooed over the little monster.
Said monster was currently fast asleep on the bed. Caro had climbed up to snuggle against the lucky cat. Though from Val’s vantage point, he had a stellar view of her first-class bottom, so he was not entirely displeased.
“My poor boy.” She smoothed a hand over the cat’s angular head. “You’ve been here all alone, haven’t you?”
From what Val could tell, the cat wasn’t in need of soothing, but he knew better than to come between a woman and her cat.
A sturdy redhead, who Val assumed was Caro’s maid, came out of the dressing room then. “He’s fine, milady.” She shook her head ruefully. “Spent some time sniffing every last corner of your rooms, then came in here and jumped up on the bed and fell fast asleep.”
“He can be very sensitive,” Caro told Val. The cat’s brown ears twitched at the sound of her voice. “But since he’s traveled with me, I suppose he’s more adaptable than other cats to new environments.”
“That’s good, I suppose.” But if Ludwig had responded positively to the sound of his mistress’s voice, his response to Val’s was quite the opposite. Lifting his head, the cat looked directly at him and pointedly hissed.
“He most definitely hates me.” He narrowed his eyes at the cat, who proceeded to lick his paw, as if to show he was no longer interested in Val in the least. But Val knew better. Their one meeting prior to this, at Val’s house in the Lake District years ago, had been just as fractious.
“Ludwig, that’s not nice,” Caro chided the cat. “He doesn’t hate you,” she said to Val. “He barely even knows you.”
While it was true that Caro had obtained her feline companion after the dissolution of their first betrothal, Val had little doubt that even had he and Ludwig years to become better acquainted, they would still only very barely tolerate one another.
Val gave the cat a narrow-eyed glare. “Still, he definitely wants me dead.”
Rising from the bed, Caro came toward him and slipped her arms around his neck. Her maid had discreetly disappeared into the dressing room. “I hope you aren’t jealous of a cat, Valentine. Because that would seem very foolish indeed.”
“Of course I’m not,” he lied. “It’s not as if he’s seen you naked and slept with you for years.”
She giggled. “I don’t think it’s quite the same.”
“I should hope not.” He pulled her against him, kissing her hard. “Now, I’ll leave you to rest for the afternoon and settle in a little. We’ll have supper in my room, I think. I don’t wish to encroach on his majesty’s territory.”
“He’ll come around,” Caro assured him, leaning her head against his chest.
“He’ll have to.” Val shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”
They stood together like that for a few moments. Despite Caro’s seeming ease at touching him, he hadn’t missed her fine tremor when his arms came around her. She had faced so many obstacles that would leave lesser women in tears, but this unexpected intimacy was what gave her pause.
He was humbled that despite her fear and mistrust, she was willing to take this leap of faith with him. He vowed then and there to do his damndest to appreciate that precious gift.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to nap…together?” Caro asked softly, keeping her head down, showing a shyness he’d never seen from her before. He was more charmed than he’d admit by this new side of his normally bold wife.
And he couldn’t help but wonder. Did she mean “nap” or nap?
He supposed he was about to find out.
“I’d be delighted.”
Chapter Nineteen
A drowsy feeling of well-being surrounded Caro like a cocoon.
The pillow beneath her cheek was deliciously warm and smelled enticingly of bergamot and lime. The scent made her insides tingle and her hands clench.
Val, her mind whispered.
Her eyes flew open in alarm, and she struggled to sit up.
Then, almost as quickly, she remembered the events of the day and collapsed onto his chest.
“Easy,” his deep voice rumbled beneath her ear. “I thought you were going to sleep for days.”
She yawned. “Preparing for a wedding is hard work.”
“Harder than working in a hot kitchen testing recipes?” he asked wryly. “Or writing a celebrated newspaper column?”