Sommersgate House (Ghosts and Reincarnation #2)(75)

Then he hissed, “Bloody hell, your hands are like ice.”

Hastily she explained, “I was in the chapel, I didn’t want to children to hear me pacing. It was cold.”

“Get under the covers,” he ordered and she jumped out of bed as he rolled off the other side. He carefully took off his boots as she ran to put on a pair of socks so her feet wouldn’t freeze him, returned and got under the covers where he already was.

Just as before, the minute she lay her body down, he pulled it towards him. The way they were laying she had no choice but to rest one hand on his chest and her cheek on his good shoulder. She felt his muscles tense at the coldness of her hands but he said nothing.

She felt like a fool.

“I’m sorry my hands are cold,” she whispered.

He made a noise that sounded a lot like a grunt.

Then, silence.

She tried to relax and couldn’t.

So she asked, “Where’s Nick?”

Another grunt and no further reply so she assumed Nick wasn’t coming back.

She waited another moment.

“Who is Nick, by the way?” she inquired, not able to stop herself.

“Julia, if you don’t shut up, I’ll be forced to shut you up and although I have a feeling we both would very much enjoy what I have in mind, it might cause me to bleed to death. So, I’m asking you please, just be quiet and go to sleep.”

“Okay,” she relented, too terrified to say anything else.

“And don’t be scared of me,” he demanded in that tone that again said he expected her to obey even though his demand was impossibly ridiculous.

“Okay,” she repeated meekly, trying to get him to relax as she could tell by the muscles flexing under her hands that he wasn’t. “Goodnight. I’m glad you’re okay,” she whispered.

At that, he pulled her closer.

And, much sooner than she ever expected, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Fourteen

Fire and Ice

Douglas awoke in an empty bed, moving his head to the side to see Julia was gone. He looked at the clock and it was seven forty-five. The children would have left for school and he was wondering where the hell she was when he heard the shower.

He felt his body involuntarily relax.

The painkiller hadn’t started working until after Julia had fallen asleep. He could tell when she finally dropped off and the tenseness went out of her body, the weight of her settling against his side.

He very much enjoyed that feeling.

He awoke sometime in the night to feel that Julia had settled in quite well. The freezing cold hand she’d laid tentatively on his chest was now a warm arm that draped across his abdomen. Her face was snuggled deeper into his shoulder and she’d crooked her leg, the knee settled just under his groin, her calf falling between his legs. Her body was remarkably warm in sleep and he found her heat strangely comforting.

Hearing the shower stop, he tested his shoulder cautiously and winced at the pain. He should get up and leave but none of the staff knew he was home and he didn’t relish exiting Julia’s room first thing in the morning, bare-chested and wrapped in bandages.

She strode into the room wearing her long, lilac cashmere robe and wrapped around her hair was a towel that had obviously been confiscated from another bathroom. Douglas’s mother was particular about the colour coordination of towels and Julia had used all of hers on him last night.

She walked straight to the desk, the front of the robe parting to accommodate her stride showing a shapely length of leg. She hadn’t noticed he was awake so he took advantage of this opportunity to observe her.

Douglas watched as she stood by the desk and reached down. He could tell by her movements that she was using the touchpad on her laptop and was clicking through something. She stopped, leaned over the screen to have a better look and smiled softly. He felt his chest tighten at the smile, an instantaneous reaction the cause of which he felt it best to ignore.

One of the many reactions he’d been having to Julia lately that he felt it best to ignore.

She sat down to give whatever it was her attention, crossing her legs to the side of the desk and the robe fell away, exposing them fully to his gaze. Her fingers flew over the keyboard with astonishing speed but before she was finished the handle on the door rattled. He watched her head shoot up then she exited the chair and flew across the room.

She caught the door as it was opening and whispered, “Ronnie…”

Douglas heard his maid murmuring and Julia responded quietly, “I got up a little late… didn’t get a shower before breakfast. I’m sorry, can you come back later? I’ll find you, okay?”

He heard the affirmative noise from Veronika, Julia closed the door and turned toward the bed. He saw her head peeping around the draperies and closed his eyes, feigning sleep. When he heard her move off, he opened them again.

He watched her stroll down the hall of her dressing room. She sorted through some drawers and he saw her pull out a wisp of white.

This was when any chivalrous man would either close his eyes or let her know he was awake.

Douglas, however, was not the kind of man to let chivalry stand in the way of seizing an opportunity.

She bent down to step into her underwear, her back to him, the robe hiding anything but a brief flash of leg, which, Douglas thought, was damned disappointing.