“I understand, Mellie. Truly I do.” He eased close to her so they shared the same pillow. “Is it better if you hold me?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “I would enjoy that.”
He shifted and put his head on her shoulder. He caressed her breast and then let his hand rest on her belly rather than wrap around her. “You can hold me for as long as you like,” he whispered. “And later i
f you want more, you only have to ask for what you need.”
Her arms tightened about him, and she pressed a kiss to his hair. “I just need you like this, Walter. Just this and you.”
Seventeen
As the sun set on Brighton at the end of another day, Melanie paced the parlor in her newest day gown, seething with frustration and troubling confusion. She had been uncommonly alert to every sound since daybreak had stirred the house, but the sound, the man, she’d expected to call on her had never arrived. She stared out the window in consternation.
Walter was late. Unbelievably late, in fact. She’d expected him to present himself at first light to speak to her brother and propose. She was dying to say yes to him. She loved him and he’d proved himself a man of his word last night.
She could marry him and not bear him children.
But she could not have a chance to say yes if he did not come to call in the first place.
Her sister-in-law eased into the room slowly, arm bound in a sling but dressed to go out. “I have the most extraordinary news.”
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Melanie snapped without thought then winced at how waspish she sounded. Melanie was always calm, always in control of her emotions, except when Walter George featured in her thoughts too heavily. She was annoyed at him for that. “Forgive me.”
“If I am careful, I feel quite fine. No pain, thanks to the laudanum.” Julia peered into her face and then smirked. “Did you not sleep last night?”
She had actually slept very well, with Walter in her arms or close by, and the rightness of their lovemaking soothing her senses. Except, she wasn’t now sure last night was so perfect after all. When she considered the matter, it became obvious that at no time had Walter alluded to a desire to actually propose marriage to her. In anyone else she would say that she’d been utterly duped and she was beginning to feel foolish not to have sought that assurance before she’d climbed into his bed.
She bit her lip. She hadn’t planned on ensuring her own ruin but that was precisely what she’d done.
“Well, my news is a treat for all of us. As you know, Valentine and I were to dine out tonight at Sir Peter’s again but the venue has changed. Walter George has usurped his sister’s plans to host a dinner and has invited everyone to him at the last moment. How extraordinary?”
So he was avoiding her now, too. She covered her face with both hands. Had last night been terrible for him? Had she not been affectionate enough to suit?
“I say, dear sister, are you well?”
Melanie jerked her head up. “I wasn’t invited to dinner.”
“Walter’s invitation included your name, silly.” Julia caught her hand and squeezed it. “He would never snub you.”
Melanie’s doubts remained. She hadn’t seen him since the early hours of the morning when she’d slipped from his bed. Their last kiss had been sweet, but they’d not spoken about today. Could she pretend she wasn’t in love with him enough to fool an entire room full of people?
“You look frightened,” Julia whispered.
“That is because I am.”
“Everything will be well. You’ll see.” She winked then turned to the doorway as Valentine appeared. “Always the last to be made presentable. Are you ready to go?”
Melanie glanced down at her gown. “I should change.”
“Of course. We shall be fashionably late so you will dazzle him.”
“Dazzle who?” Valentine asked.
“Never you mind,” Julia quipped as Melanie slipped around them.
Although her hands were shaking, she managed to change into something more appropriate for dinner and restyled her hair with the assistance of her maid. She took one long last look in the mirror before squaring her shoulders and heading downstairs to join with her family. She followed her brother and sister-in-law from the house and along the short distance to Walter’s front door in a state of panic.
Walter’s occasional butler offered a ready smile as he took shawls and hats and bade them wait a moment in the hall to be announced. She glanced around anxiously. Could anyone tell that she had crossed this front hall last night and given her virtue to the man that lived here?