Katherine took in the elaborate Renaissance works of art upon the walls, the long-case clock, and gold-trim throughout the border of the room. She’d lain awake more times than she could remember, from fear as her worldly possessions were stripped away from her family, fearing they’d be destitute, hating Father as each property was taken, until barely anything remained. They could have paid all of father’s debts surely with the wealth to be found in this one room. And yet, when everything had been taken from her family, she’d refused to surrender to the despair.
How could she show Jasper that his past needn’t define his future? Show him there were new days and different smiles and unfamiliar laughter. He could love the time he’d known with Lydia and yet appreciate that he lived.
She turned to look at him.
Jasper met her gaze square on and then he stalked over to the sideboard and picked up a decanter.
He sloshed several fingerfuls of brandy into the glass, and her stomach tightened. She’d never before seen him drink.
Then again, when would she have?
She hadn’t even considered the fact that he might partake in spirits. Or that he might do it frequently or infrequently.
As if he noted her stare, Jasper’s broad, muscle-hewn frame stiffened. “What?” he growled. He took a long swallow of his drink.
“You w-wanted to see me.” She detested the faint tremor in her words, and prayed her husband did not note the quiver there.
Katherine should have well-learned by now that her husband possessed a heightened sense of awareness.
His frown deepened. He set his drink down, and folded his arms across his chest. “Katherine, I would speak to you of your—”
“I don’t want you to drink,” she blurted. An immediate rush of heat filled her cheeks. His brows dipped. She hurried on. “I know it is not my affair whether you drink or not, particularly as ours is a marriage of convenience, but drink makes one unpredictable and unreliable, and,” stop talking, Katherine. Stop talking, “and I would feel vastly better,” not that you’ll necessarily care if I feel vastly better if you don’t drink spirits, “and if it is just the same to you, I’d rather you abstain from drink.”
He said nothing for so very long, Katherine thought mayhap he’d not heard her spoken words.
Jasper walked over to her, and stopped. He reached up and brushed the back of his knuckles along her jaw. “Is that what your father did, Katherine? Did he indulge in spirits?”
Her skin burned from the butterfly soft caress. She swallowed, and managed a jerky nod.
“And then he lost your family’s wealth and property,” he said with a gentleness she’d not come to expect from him.
Katherine wet her lips. Jasper’s gaze dropped to her mouth, and fixed there. “He drank heavily and gambled even more heavily. Mother did not voice any disapproval. She said it was not the place of a wife, but when they took my last book of poetry, I lay abed wondering if her words might have made some difference in our circumstances.”
His eyes moved somberly over her face. “And you’d ask that I not indulge in spirits?”
The heat in her cheeks spread, and spilled down her neck, and coursed lower. She had no right putting requests to a man who’d wed her on a matter of convenience. Yet… Katherine nodded. “I would.”
He said nothing. The steady beat of the long-case clock marked the stretch of silence.
Her gaze slid away, and then Jasper dropped his brow to hers. “Very well, Katherine.”
She tilted her neck back to look at him. “Very well?”#p#分页标题#e#
“Very well,” he repeated.
She gave him a tremulous smile. “Thank you, Jasper.” She leaned up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. She spun on her heel to leave him to his work.
Strangers had stormed his castle. Boughs of holly and ivy now hung throughout his home. A babe occupied his guest chambers.
With all that, it appeared his wife intended to walk out of his office.
Katherine grasped the door handle.
Yes, yes, she did intend to walk away from him.
“Katherine,” Jasper’s voice boomed off the walls.
She turned back to face him. “Yes, Jasper?”
“I brought you here to speak to you.”
Katherine held up a finger. “Asked me here.”
He lowered his brows.
“You asked me here,” she clarified. “Remember, I’ll not be ordered about.”
“I wouldn’t imagine it,” he drawled. King George himself couldn’t order this one about.
Her full, kissable lips pursed in a way that made him want to cross over to her and lay claim to the sweet nectar of her mouth.