Just One Kiss (9 page)

“Daphne?” he breathed softly, walking quietly into the room.  The music stopped abruptly as his wife twist
ed
on the stool to look over at him.  Her face was a mask of surprise, but her eyes were glassy and haunted.

“I’m sorry.  Did I wake you?” she murmured, watching Edward, but doing so with a strange, glazed expression in place, as he crossed the room.

“Don’t apologise,” he said quickly, hesitating for a moment, but then sitting down on the piano stool next to his wife.  “I’m a light sleeper,” he mumbled and shrugged, as if by way of explanation.  Daphne had turned away though, and was staring blankly at the ivory and ebony keys again now.  “But what woke you?” Edward asked gently.

“I never sleep very well.  I have… bad dreams,” she whispered, letting her fingers dance silently over the keys.

“Often?”

“Always.”

Edward frowned.  He didn’t know how to respond to that blunt confession.  He reached out to touch Daphne’s hand, and his frown deepened when he felt how cold she was.

“Back to bed now, Daphne,” he prodded gently.  “You’ll catch a chill if you stay here like this.”  But his wife shook her head frantically, sending her dark curls rippling over her shoulders.  “Daph-”

“They’ll come back,” she squeaked, staring at him imploringly with wide frightened eyes.  She looked like a scared little girl, and Edward again felt that uncomfortable twisting of his heart.

“I’ll stay with you,” he promised.  “I’ll look after you,” he murmured, rubbing her icy fingers between his warm palms.  She looked puzzled by this curious affirmation, but Edward didn’t want to give her time to question it.  “Come with me,” he pressed softly, but Daphne didn’t make a move to follow him.  He wondered if somehow she was still half asleep.  “Daphne?” he whispered, and then, while he
still
dared, moved to gently scoop her into his arms.

Edward thought a silent prayer of thanks when she didn’t fight him.  She was freezing and so slight, he didn’t imagine that she could weigh anymore than a child. 

Daphne’s slim body seemed to melt in Edward’s arms, as he made to carry her back to her room.  She nestled against him, burying into his heat, as her fingers played with the warm fabric of his shirt.

“What are you going to do with me, Edward?” 

It was the most coherent sentence that Daphne had managed to string together since he’d found her, and frankly Edward could have done without it.  Her thin shift was leaving very little to the imagination as she settled in his arms.  She was not so voluptuous as some of the women that Edward had been with, but every soft curve seemed to be absolutely perfect.  She was like a little porcelain doll, and Edward’s body was beginning to respond to the anticipation of being the one who was going to feast on her purity.

“I’m- taking to you bed,” Edward grunted, wishing that he could
really
take her to bed.  He felt Daphne tense, and she started to squirm in an effort to be put down.  “To sleep,” he soothed her quickly, offended again that she seemed to find him so repulsive.  “Just to sleep,” he murmured, stopping outside her bedroom door
,
but then he kept walking.

Her empty room was going to be freezing…  He really had no choice other than to take her back to his room.

“Where are we going?” Daphne sighed, she sounded sleepy, but apparently she was cognizant enough to
realize
that they’d just passed the door to her bedroom.

“I told you,” Edward said as he kicked open the door to
his
room with his foot.  “To bed.”

“My bed’s not in here,” Daphne yawned, but she seemed to have reached a state of exhau
stion in which she was totally
willing to let Edward do as
he pleased with her. H
e tried very hard not to let that fact prey on his mind too heavily.  He didn’t trust himself to be able to keep his fantasies as just that-
fantasies-
if he allowed his mind to dwell.

Edward used his knee to close the door behind them, and then, with his wife still in his arms he padded over to the large double bed that dominated the room.  The blankets were still very faintly warm to the touch as he laid Daphne down on the mattress.  She gave a soft little murmured of contentment, and snuggled down into the bed.

Maybe it was unwise, but Edward crawled in beside her.  He shivered at the chill on his side of the bed, and then reached for his wife, drawing her slowly warming body into his arms again.  She seemed to fit perfectly, he
marveled
, as she snuggled up against his chest, draping an arm around his waist before giving a heavy, contented sigh, and seemingly drifting off to sleep.

For several long minutes, Edward simply stared at his wife through the darkness.  He breathed in the scent of her skin, a delightful combination of lilies and soap, and tried not to think about the way that her legs had become entwined with his own.  He still had his breeches and shirt on
. I
t wasn’t as though he could touch her skin
, and yet
he could feel the pressure of her body nestled up against him, and he could imagine how easy it would be to roll Daphne onto her back, and take her, and make her his own
.

I
t was several seconds before Edward
realize
d he had been dreaming, and then several more before he
realize
d that the scream hadn’t ceased- that it had been very real.

Edward pulled himself up so that he was sitting with his back resting against the headboard of the bed.  A terrifying rush of guilt swamped his senses as he wondered what on earth he had done.  His
manhood
was throbbing painfully beneath his breeches, but it was Daphne lying next to him, whimpering, that held Edward’s full attention.

“Daphne, I didn’t mean-” he began, but he wasn’t exactly sure what he was
apologizing
for; he wasn’t exactly sure what he’d done to her.  A guilty heat burned through Edward’s flesh when he thought about what he wanted to do to her though…  “Daphne?” he reached out and touched her, surprised, but relieved, when she didn’t immediately pull away.

“I didn’t mean to!  I’m sorry!  Please don’t go!”

“Daphne?” Edward frowned.  He caught her gently but firmly by the shoulders and twisted her back to face him.  Her eyes were clamped shut and she was shaking her head, muttering frantically under her breath.  Edward felt awful because of the fact, but his first reaction was one of relief.  Daphne was having another nightmare.  She hadn’t been screaming because of him.

Edward’s relief was short lived.  His wife was clearly in a state of some considerable distress.  He shook her lightly, trying to wake her, but to no avail.  He couldn’t rouse her.  The worry and panic flooding his veins at least took the edge of his rampant need.  He lay down behind her and curled his arms around her body.

“Daphne?” he murmured her name again, stroking his fingers through her hair.  “Daphne, it’s all right.  I’m here,” he whispered, amazed as the subtle trembling of her body slowly eased as he continued to talk to her. 

Eventually Daphne relaxed completely, and her breathing took on the deep, steady rhythm of peaceful slumber.  Edward couldn’t let himself sleep too deeply; he didn’t trust himself for a s
tart, but it was more than that.

H
e needed to watch over his wife.

Chapter 10

When Daphne woke it was to a strange feeling of disorientation; everything looked a little back to front.  She yawned and stretched, and jumped, when her leg knocked against… someone else’s leg?  With a sharp gasp, Daphne twisted around, and found herself face to face with Edward.  His pale green eyes were open, and they were staring quite calmly into the smoky grey depths of her own eyes.

“Lord Coventry!” Daphne choked.  She watched Edward’s mouth twitch.

“You needn’t sound quite so surprised to find me here,” he chuckled.  “This
is
my bedroom after all.”

“It is?” Daphne squeaked, searching her memories for an answer to the question of why she was waking up in the Earl’s chamber- in the Earl’s
bed
no less.  She rubbed her eyes and struggled to remember what had happened the previous night.

“You had a rough night,” Edward yawned, as if he’d read her thoughts, which was really rather disconcerting, and his voice was husky with something that Daphne was afraid to believe might be concern.  “I found you downstairs playing the piano in the dark, so I brought you back here to keep an eye on you.”

“Oh,” Daphne mumbled, her features flushed with embarrassment.  What must Edward think of her?  That she was slightly unhinged no doubt!  It was hard to keep her mind on that upsetting notion however, with Edward sprawled out on the mattress beside her. 

He seemed to be wearing his clothes from the day before- well, some of his clothes, not very many of his clothes to be honest.  His shirt was all that Daphne could see, and that was gaping at the neck, revealing a generous portion of muscular chest.  Daphne had never seen a man’s chest before, and she couldn’t help but stare at what was on view.  There was a hot prickly kind of appreciative heat swirling in the pit of her stomach as she drank in the sight.

Edward cleared his throat softly, and Daphne’s eyes flew back to his face.  Her cheeks burned at the knowing smile that quirked one corner of his mouth, but then he suddenly turned serious, and Daphne was suddenly afraid of what he might be going to say, so she spoke first.

“It won’t happen again!” she blurted.

Edward blinked at her.  Slowly.  And Daphne really wanted to crawl under a rock, or into a hole, or disappear and hide anywhere really, just so that she wouldn’t have to keep looking into her husband’s face as he stared at her as though she was completely and absolutely certifiably insane.

“The piano playing,” Daphne mumbled, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her (and also that she was wearing one of her nicer nightdresses).  “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“I didn’t say that I was bothered,” Edward said evenly.

“No, but-”

“How long have you been having trouble sleeping, Daphne?” Edward asked bluntly.

Daphne looked away from his face and twisted her fingers in the sheets.  It had been years really since she’d had a good night’s sleep, nothing seemed to help.  She had tried all of the different remedies that she could think of, and many more that had been recommended to her, but nothing had ever made the nightmares go away for good.

“I suppose it started after father died,” Daphne confessed in a small voice.  She made a move to slip out of the bed, but Edward suddenly reached for her.  He caught hold of her wrist and held her still.

“My mother said that happened
four years
ago, Daphne!”

“Three and a half,” she mumbled.  “It’s not every single night,” she muttered quietly, looking down at the bed sheets again.  She pulled her hand free and then got to her feet, staring embarrassedly at the floor as she crossed her arms in front of her body.  “I should go and get dressed,” she whispered, backing towards the door that separated their rooms.  “I- thank you,” she blurted quickly, and then she was gone.

The day past in a flurry of activity, which seemed largely to pertain of Daphne avoiding Edward at every given opportunity.  He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say to her exactly, but he knew that they needed to talk.  However, Daphne had vanished to visit friends that morning, and he’d had business meetings all afternoon, by the time that he had finished, Edward was informed that Lady Coventry had retired to her room to prepare for the evening’s ball.

Edward didn’t imagine that they were going to have the luxury of a moment alone all night, apart from the carriage ride to and from the Butterworth
’s
!  …and then Edward began to worry over when he had started considering Daphne’s company a ‘luxury.’