All The Ways To Ruin A Rogue(79)
She asked little of him aside from her request to redecorate. She didn’t know what he did with himself during the day or where he took himself to at night. She never once asked or seemed to care, and he never volunteered the information. To do so would establish one’s claim on the other, and they were quite careful never to cross that invisible line.
It was almost annoying. He’d been with other females who staked more of a claim on him—or attempted to, at any rate. Aurelia did not bother even making the attempt.
He sliced a kipper in half and considered her beneath his lashes. She paused over one invitation, biting her plump bottom lip. The action had him holding back a groan. Even without trying, she managed to entice him.
Max made quick work of finishing his breakfast. Wiping his mouth, he rose to his feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve an appointment.”
She looked up at him with those wide eyes of hers, watching him but said nothing as he turned away and strode from the room. He did not return again until the house was shrouded in shadowed silence. Even when he approached the door to her adjoining chamber later that night and pressed his ear to the heavy solidness, he heard nothing.
Chapter 20
Aurelia sighed at her reflection in the mirror. Her slippers tapped anxiously beneath her skirts.
“What’s this? A sigh? The day has not begun. What can be so wrong with it already?”
She met Cecily’s reflection in the mirror and forced a smile.
Cecily tsked. “Oh, that’s scarcely heartfelt.”
“What can I say?” Aurelia plucked at a jeweled comb. “I’m restless . . . Very well, I’m bored.”
“A matter that can be rectified if you would only step from these doors and return to the world. Never did I think I would see the day when you cowered—”
“I’m not cowering!” Her gaze snapped fire.
“No? The invitations pour in and yet here you remain day after day.”
“I haven’t felt the inclination—”
“And why not?”
At this, Aurelia simply stared at herself in the mirror. How could she explain? She did not relish facing the world. Family, friends. The barbed-tongue vipers of the ton. She did not want to confront them without her husband at her side.
“Never thought I’d see you afraid—”
“I’m not afraid,” she snapped, glaring at Cecily. “I—I . . . it’s pride! I have my pride, Cecily.”
Cecily squeezed her shoulders and leaned her face close to Aurelia’s. “Your pride should not keep you a prisoner in this house. It’s your pride that should demand you accept one of those invitations and—”
“Very well.” Her chin went up. “I will venture out.”
Cecily grinned brightly. “There you are. I recognize you now.”
Aurelia felt somewhat better as she finished dressing for the day. Indeed, when she sat down at the dining table, she was almost eager to begin perusing the fresh crop of invitations. She was ready for an end to the monotony. A holiday of sorts from the days of conducting herself politely with Max. The two of them strangers in his great town house.
Perhaps venturing out would help her forget how very much she missed him. She longed for their squabbling. The sniping banter. It wasn’t healthy, she supposed. She actually contemplated picking a fight with him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She wasn’t a child, fighting for his attention anymore. She was his wife, and if that wasn’t enough to win his notice, then she wouldn’t invent a petty argument.