An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

And she needed to remember that now. She was here to work, not dream of owning silky dresses that would hang in her dressing room. Just because Sebastio had insisted she stay, it did not mean she was now a part of his world. Far from it.

* * *

Sebastio was standing at his study window on Monday morning, observing Edie as she helped her team bring in more boxes of decorations. She was smiling and laughing at something someone had said and it made something dark unfurl inside him—a desire for her to smile and laugh like that for him.

Somehow she’d managed to evade him over the weekend.

He’d asked her to join him for dinner, only to be informed that she’d already eaten.

He’d passed her on his way to the gym. She’d been pink-cheeked, with her short damp hair curling around her face, and he’d felt a burn down low in his gut as he’d wondered if that was how she would look in the aftermath of passion. Sated and replete.

And he’d seen her striding purposefully out through the front door and into the grounds, as if on a mission to find lost treasure.

One thing was clear: her reluctance to be in his company.

As Edie disappeared from sight, and Sebastio turned away from the view, he clamped down on the hunger building inside him. Edie Munroe was not for him. She was altogether far too wholesome—and since when had he ever been attracted to wholesome? The one thing he couldn’t be accused of was seducing innocents—and Edie was an innocent.

How much of an innocent he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t intend on finding out.

* * *

It was the evening of the first formal dinner party and Edie was in her room, watching the guests start to arrive. Most of the house-dressing staff had been released now. She would stay on-site to make sure that everything remained intact, and Jimmy would help her with redressing after each party. The others wouldn’t return now until after Christmas, when the decorations would be taken down.

Sebastio had come and made an inspection of the dressed main hall and other rooms earlier, and he’d shown neither pleasure nor distaste at the whimsical displays Edie had come up with. She’d been nervous about his reaction, because she’d used branches, leaves and vines from the surrounding woods for the centre of the dining table, interspersed with candles and red berries. It was rustic more than traditional.

She’d kept most of the other decorations on the subtle side, and infused the air with scents of delicate spices.

The massive Christmas tree in the main hall was probably the most traditional and opulent item, and when she’d turned on the lights everyone had gasped in wonder. But Sebastio had merely skimmed an eye over it.

He had at least acknowledged her team, if not her personally, by saying, ‘You’ve all done a fantastic job—thank you.’

They’d left with big smiles and starry eyes. But Edie had felt deflated. They’d done Trojan work to get the house dressed in time! And yet what had she expected? Sebastio had never made any secret of the fact that he was merely doing this as a gesture, to conform with the festive season and dress his house accordingly. He’d admitted he hated Christmas. And she was just an employee.

But still... She’d felt as if they had some sort of connection.

And that was a very dangerous way to think, because him persuading her to do a job and making it easier for her by asking her to move in had nothing to do with anything other than facilitating that job.

For the whole weekend—even though she’d done her best to stay out of his way—she’d felt a little hum of electricity coursing through her blood. She had been all too aware that he was in the vicinity.

Matteo had come with an invitation for Edie to join Sebastio for dinner, but she’d assumed he was doing it merely to be polite, so she’d said no. Quite frankly, the thought of sharing any kind of intimate space with the man was alternately terrifying and thrilling.

A movement caught Edie’s eye from down below and she saw a couple emerge from a sleek limousine. The man’s hair was dark blond in the light and he was breathtakingly handsome. The woman was stunning. Tall and elegant, wearing a long fur coat under which Edie could see flashes of black silk. Her glossy dark hair was piled high in a chignon and diamonds sparkled at her ears. She was smiling up at him, and he was looking down at her with such indulgence that Edie’s chest hurt.

From here she could hear the faint strains of classical music. She’d watched the quartet setting up earlier in the main hall, where she knew the guests were being served with champagne. She could also hear the hum of voices and deep laughter.

Edie didn’t realise she had a hand on her chest to assuage the tightness until long after the glamorous couple had disappeared into the house. It was mortifying to admit it, but she felt envious. Deeply envious. She’d longed all throughout her illness to experience an evening like this—looking beautiful, feeling beautiful, on the arm of a handsome, attentive man.

Determined to put all such notions out of her head, Edie took the back route down to the kitchen, which was full of feverish activity as the staff catered for the din

ner party upstairs. She pushed all pangs of envy aside, telling herself she was being ridiculous, and made herself a sandwich.

* * *

When Edie woke, hours later, there was no more noise. The party must have finished. She knew she wouldn’t fall back to sleep easily. Her head had latched on to the bizarre fact that she’d forgotten to send some emails to her suppliers earlier.

Groaning, she got up and pulled a robe over her pyjamas. She could nip down to the office and send the emails and be back in bed within ten minutes.

As she made her way down in the half-light she imagined Sebastio’s derisory look if he saw her in her pyjamas. No doubt the women he took to bed wore nothing but perfume. Maybe there was a woman in his bed now?