Page 59 of The Odyssean Duke

“Perhaps.”

Evelina pulled her bedlinens more tightly around herself, quite aware of how Stephan’s eyes lingered on her. She wondered if he was, at that exact moment, thinking about the last time they had been in bed together. Was he wishing that he might hold her and try their consummation again? Even if this marriage was one of convenience, Evelina had seen the desire in her husband’s eyes. He wanted an heir above all else, but she had determined that there was still some carnal desire for her.

The thought was enough to make her squirm beneath bedlinens. Her late husband had never wanted her, and knowing that this one did—even a little—sent a wave of pleasure sweeping through her. It would be easier to consummate with a husband who desired her. There was no denying that.

It had not escaped her notice either that he had chosen to remain with her when he might have left already.

“Do you intend to stay with me all day?” she asked, her voice embarrassingly small.

“I do not know if I can spare all day,” Stephan said warmly. “Besides, you will need to rest at some point today. Perhaps, I might give you a few hours, though. We can have breakfast together.”

“I would like that,” she said.

Stephan smiled. “Good.”

Evelina shifted, pulling the bedlinens up to her chin. She blinked, fighting valiantly against the haziness that tugged at her senses. Sleep was creeping over her, mischievously seeking to pull her into its grasp.

“Sleep,” Stephan said quietly. “I will wake you when either breakfast or the physician arrives. I promise.”

Evelina sighed quietly, any urge she might have had to protest buried beneath exhaustion. “Very well,” she murmured.

Then, she succumbed to sleep.

* * *

Evelina woke to the smell of breakfast: the warmth of toast, laden with orange marmalade; the gentle aroma of mint tea with honey; delicately cooked eggs with salt; and roasted potatoes sprinkled with rosemary. Her head pounded, the scents overwhelming, but her stomach growled in want of food.

“I have added honey to your tea,” Stephan told her. “You sound as if your throat is sore.”

“It is.”

Stephan smiled sympathetically and handed her the tray. Evelina flushed with embarrassment at eating her breakfast in bed; a proper lady would have done so only if she was near-death, which she was not. In the handful of times that Evelinarecalled her own mother being ill, she had still managed to dress and eat in the dining hall.

Only when she was pregnant with Theodora had Evelina’s mother eaten breakfast in bed. Evelina’s father had not joined her. What did it mean that Stephan was willing to sit with her and care for her?

Evelina shook her head, as if the movement might vanish the thought. Stephan was a good man; that was all. He was caring for her simply because he was decent, and she would do well not to read anything more into his actions.

She took a piece of toast and chewed it, grimacing as the crumbs scraped against her throat. Maybe toast was not the best food for her to eat at the moment, even though she suspected it had been chosen because it was filling.

“What are your plans for the day?” Evelina asked.

Stephan finished chewing a bit of eggs before answering, “I have some errands to attend to, chief among them visiting my father’s solicitor. I want to ensure that everything is arranged properly between us.”

“I thought we did that before marrying,” Evelina said.

Stephan smiled. “So we did. But there are other things,” he said, waving a vague hand. “Properties I did not know my father had, debts to be cleared, and of course, your pin money and house. Iwant to be certain that you are safe from the Dowager Duchess, regardless of what may transpire between us.”

Evelina felt herself soften a little. “That is kind of you.”

She tried a sip of tea, scalding her tongue, but she managed to swallow it far more easily than she had the toast. Evelina considered that a victory.

“It has nothing to do with kindness,” Stephan said. “I want to be certain that my grandmother cannot use some trickery against us. She is a cruel and conniving woman, and I do not trust her. It is best to be certain—more than certain—that she cannot find some way to ruin us. If she were a man, she would make a terribly vicious lawyer.”

“I do not doubt it,” Evelina muttered.

They lapsed into silence, Stephan attacking his food with gusto. Evelina smiled wryly and wished that she could muster that same enthusiasm. However, every bite of food was like grains of sand sticking in her throat. The tea was more tolerable, but it still burned her throat.

“I hope that your plans involve getting rest,” Stephan said with the air of a man who did not know what to say, only that something was expected of him. “You will have my staff at your disposal.”