Devoted to You

Aidan nodded. “Where is Petal now?”

“I will send her up,” Rollo promised.

“Make sure that someone is able to help her out with her duties for the time being. I want Petal, and only Petal, to bring all of my food and drinks up. All of it, Rollo. I don’t care what Edwards does. Make sure that Petal is protected as much as possible. I don’t want that woman targeting her too.”

“As you wish,” Rollo drawled.

At that moment, Petal appeared in the doorway. Her heart was locked in her throat as she found both men staring at her.

“I have informed the master of the altercations Edwards keeps having with Mrs Kempton,” Rollo announced. “He knows everything.”

Petal gasped and looked at him, her eyes round with surprise. Her cheeks flushed. She was helpless to keep her face bland. Did he know everything? Her gaze flew to his.

“Everything?” She parroted.

“Yes, everything,” Aidan replied.

He wouldn’t pry with the butler watching them both so avidly, but he sensed there was something wrong with Petal. There were dark shadows beneath her eyes that hadn’t been there before, and a certain wariness about her that set him to wonder if something was going on even Rollo didn’t know about.

Beckoning her closer, he found that he wanted to touch her again, only couldn’t quite understand why he felt as though he already knew what she felt like.

The dream he had experienced last night had been rather lurid in detail, and had lingered in the veritable fog that had rendered him useless. He felt as though it had crossed him over some invisible boundary that had thrown him into a world of confusion where he didn’t know whether it was memory or fantasy. Either way, he suspected the only way he could know for certain whether it was memory or just wishful thinking was to touch her again.

He could remember the way the delicate curve of her lips had glistened in the candlelight and the slumberous look in her eyes as she had lain beneath him. He frowned absently at the bedsheets and willed the hazy memory to clear. When he lifted his gaze back to her, he found her staring at him.

Was she also remembering what they had shared? His gaze dropped instinctively to her lips, studying, assessing, but they gave him no clues.

Her eyes spoke volumes to him. There was wariness in that solemn gaze, but also something more. Something worried, as though she had committed some cardinal sin and expected him to punish her for it.

Get a hold of yourself, you have no proof of this either, he sternly reminded himself. First things first, focus on Edwards and how to get her out of the house.

“Sit down and read to me, Petal,” Aidan asked softly. He kept his tone gentle because she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Petal dutifully perched on the edge of the chair and picked up the book.

“Before you begin, I would just like you to tell me one thing,” Aidan murmured.

Petal’s heart sank. She waited with bated breath for him to raise the issue she wanted to avoid the most.

“Oh?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Edwards?”

“Pardon?” She stared at him blankly.

“The mess she keeps making upstairs,” he prompted.

Petal sighed. “Because there is no proof it is her.”

“It looks like it, though.”

“Well, yes,” she replied hesitantly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked again.

It was imperative to him to find out why she had avoided taking him into her confidence, especially when it took so much of her time to put right.

“I thought you had enough to deal with at the moment. Besides, I don’t have any proof,” she replied quietly.