The Aristocrat

I smiled. “If that’s not proof of how you feel, I don’t know what is.”

Leo lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it. Such a simple thing, yet I burned up all over.

He let go of me. “Let’s eat while the food is fresh, shall we?”

After we plated our dinner, we took our dishes to the dining room, and Leo poured the wine. We reminisced a bit, and Leo updated me on Sig. He said his cousin would be enrolling in an MBA program in the spring. The long-term plan was that he’d work for Leo and take on some of the responsibilities of the Covington estate.

“That will be so good for him. It will give him something to focus on, at least.”

Leo’s phone chimed a few seconds later.

He looked down at it. “Speak of the devil…”

“Sig?” I laughed.

“Yeah.”

“What did he say?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure you want to know.”

“Oh boy. Show me.”

Leo reluctantly flipped the phone around.

Sigmund: Are you muff diving in the Red Sea yet?

My cheeks flamed as I sighed. “Is it weird that it makes me happy whenever he acts like his old self?”

“It’s been coming out a bit more. I’m proud of him for picking himself up and going back to school.”

I nodded. This was such good news.

I ate a few more bites of the delicious dinner. “So…you said Darcie is still living at the house. Where were you living?”

He took a sip of wine and nodded, as if to ready himself for the fact that I was going there.

“For the last month, I’ve been staying with Sigmund. There were other properties I could have moved to, but I chose to crash with my cousin.”

“Does Darcie get the house in the divorce?”

“I’m giving it to her, though our prenuptial agreement doesn’t require me to. My mother thinks I’m insane. Everyone’s criticizing me for it. But I don’t give a fuck. I left her. She doesn’t deserve to lose her home. Let her have it. It’s the least I can do.”

“I respect you for that.”

A serious look crossed his face. “Do you? Respect me?”

“Why would you doubt it?”

“I’ve often wondered if the fact that I left Darcie would influence how you saw me as a man. Like maybe you would have more respect for me if I’d honored my commitment. Or maybe you’d think, if I could marry someone and leave them, I might do the same to you one day.”

I shook my head. “I don’t see it like that at all, Leo.”

Relief warmed his features. “Good.”

The wine buzzed through me as I looked into his azure eyes, wishing more and more that he would reach across the table and kiss me.

“Care for dessert?” he asked, dropping his cloth napkin to the table.

As good as the food was, my stomach was full of butterflies. I could think of little else besides what might or might not happen between us tonight.

I managed a smile. “No. Actually, I’m pretty full.”

After we took our plates into the kitchen, Leo turned on the electric fireplace in the living room, and we sat together on the same couch where we’d fallen asleep the very first night I’d slept at this house.

We fell into comfortable conversation. “Sitting here reminds me of the night we stayed up talking, only to be woken by Sig in the morning,” I said.

Leo rested his arm on the back of the sofa. “I remember that night very well. You asked me to take you virtually to the English countryside, remember? Little did you know your actual visit there wouldn’t be quite the perfect fantasy.”

“Despite everything, I found it to be just as breathtaking as I’d imagined. And seeing as though we’re sitting here together now, I would say it wasn’t a wasted trip.”

Leo stared into my eyes, but continued not to touch me. I got the sense that he might be overwhelmed and perhaps still jetlagged. The right thing to do was to give him space and go back to my place—though I didn’t want to leave.

“I could stay up all night talking to you and reminiscing,” I said. “But it’s late, and I think I should head back. You’ve had a long trip, and you must still be tired.” I hopped off the couch, trying to convince myself this was what I wanted.

He stood up suddenly. “Are you sure?”

“We can have breakfast in the morning at my place.”

Leo’s chest rose and fell as he walked me to the front of the house.

Standing at the door, I leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek. “Sweet dreams.”

Even as my body reacted to the contact, I swiftly turned for my car. Leo must have thought I was crazy for rushing out so abruptly.

He stood in front of the house, looking understandably confused. Just as I opened the car door, I realized I’d left my coat behind. Before I could even consider whether to return and get it, Leo held his index finger up and rushed back in.