“Good.” He shrugged into his coat, accepted his hat and gloves from his butler and left the house, whistling all the way down the stairs to the carriage.
A man on a mission.
Chapter Fifteen
The early morning sun warmed her back as Addie inserted the key into the lock of Once Upon a Book. It was well over two hours before the store was due to open, but since she’d tossed and turned all night there didn’t seem to be any reason to remain in bed to further torture herself.
The familiar scent of books, glue, ink, and paper rolled over her as she stepped over the threshold. She took a deep breath, but the warm, tingly feeling of happiness and a sense of accomplishment, that she always felt when she walked into her store, was missing.
She was just tired, she told herself. That was the only reason her normal reaction was absent. Her bookstore always gave her a feeling of satisfaction.
Except now it didn’t.
She glanced at the front window where she would work on her Christmas display. The excitement wasn’t there. All she felt was worn out.
And alone.
And miserable.
This was absolute nonsense, she scolded herself. The fact that she left her store in the care of her friends to accompany Grayson and his son to help select a tutor for the boy, and ended up married, was irrelevant. She had wanted to have her own bookstore for years.
She had managed to get it and prosper. She would love it again. As much as she loved . . .
Stop.
Turning in a circle, she breathed in deeply. Life had taken an unexpected turn, but there was no reason why she could not resume her old life and be quite happy with it. One did certainly not need a husband to enjoy life. Hadn’t that been what she and Pamela and Lottie had promised themselves? And each other?
In an effort to convince herself, she walked toward a pile of books in the corner that needed her attention. Whoever had been minding the store in her absence when the packages had arrived had placed them there. The collection of boxes was most likely her Christmas order.
She stopped in front of the neatly stacked pile and stared at it. Where was the thrill, the happiness at preparing for her first Christmas as the owner of a bookstore? Why did everything seem so blasted wearisome?
With a deep sigh, she bent over the pile and began to sort them out. At least she had gotten her large order of A Christmas Carol. They would sell well. In her meanderings, she never heard the door open behind her.
“I love this sight as much as I did the first time I walked into this store.” Grayson’s deep voice startled her. The rush of excitement that had been missing when she entered her store returned.
Slowly she stood and faced him, her heart pounding in her chest. “What are you doing here?”
Goodness, in the mere hours they’d been apart she?
?d forgotten how handsome he was. How his soft, crooked smile did strange things to her insides, and the few strands of his hair that always fell onto his forehead made her want to push them back.
He was dressed in his normal attire of well-fitting gray trousers, a crisp white shirt, charcoal waistcoat, fashionably tied ascot, and black wool jacket that hugged his broad shoulders.
He shrugged. “I decided to return last evening instead of this morning.” For the first time she noticed the strain on his face. A sense of wariness.
Addie patted her hair and took a deep breath. “I see.”
Well that was certainly very loquacious of her. She’d never had a problem speaking before, but it seemed her normal ability to converse had escaped her.
She tried again. “Why are you here in my store?” There. That was a full sentence. She knew she could do it.
“Because my wife is here.” He placed his hands on his hips as he regarded her.
She snorted. Lack of words again.
He grinned. “Are you not Lady Adeline Berkshire, my wife?”
She refused to be addled. Or at least anymore addled than she was right now with her husband standing a mere two feet from her when he was supposed to be in London. “My lord—”