“I did not say I had. I asked how you would feel. That answers that.”
She scowled up at him, which did nothing to help his temper. Now, not only his head was pounding, but his heart as well at the mere thought she had been in danger, and he had not known.
“That is different! I am your husband. It is my job to protect you.”
“It is not different at all! It is not about protection. It is about trust! It is about sharing our lives together instead of moving about the same house as strangers, only coming together at night in the bedroom.” Despite her deshabille state, Josie looked like a haughty queen as she railed at him, her cheeks flushed with emotion, blue eyes glittering.
He could not gainsay her since he had not been thinking in those terms, but she was absolutely right. Elijah gaped at her like a speechless fish.
After a long moment of staring wordlessly at each other, she made an exasperated sound and stomped through the door adjoining their rooms. The ends of the bedsheet trailed after her until she whisked them through, right before slamming the door and locking it.
Elijah stared dumbly at the wood barrier between them, which had taken on a new significance. He was used to being yelled at by Josie, sniped at, bossed, grumbled, teased… but not her silence.
He had a lot of thinking to do.
Josie
The blundering nitwit. Dashing tears from her eyes, Josie sniffled.
“My lady?” Daisy’s concerned tones cut through Josie’s bout of self-pity. Getting to her feet from where she had been sitting in a chair, Daisy hurried over.
“I am fine, Daisy. Just… husbands are a lot of work.” Elijah in particular. Daisy’s lips quirked, her demeanor relaxing as she slipped the bedsheet off Josie and cast a scrutinizing eye over her mistress’ body and finding no injuries. What would she have thought if she had seen Josie’s spanked bottom last week? That would certainly make for an interesting conversation.
If it ever happened again.
Yesterday, the idea would have made her flushed and excited, tingling between her legs. This morning, she felt nothing but sad and frustrated. How could Elijah have kept something so important to her? And how the devil had she forgotten the note in the first place?
Oh, she knew. The same way she had this morning. He had dazzled and distracted her with passion and pleasure. She had been focusing on her growing feelings for him more than anything else while he had been doing… well, his spy things. Josie did not like to think of herself as self-involved, but in this case, that was exactly what she had been—focused on her relationship with him and apparently blind to and forgetful of everything else.
She knew he did not believe she and her friends should be involved in something so dangerous as hunting a traitor, but that was hardly the same thing as not telling his wife there had been a threat against his life. His brothers knew. His father knew. They had all read the note before Elijah had tucked it away.
Well, Josie was not the type to stew in her own silence without letting her displeasure be known. Last night, he had distracted her with passion and pleasure, or she would have thought to question him then. He had used her body’s senses and reactions against her.
Scowling, she thought hard for a long moment.
“Daisy, I will break my fast in here. Please have cook send up a tray,” she said finally, her thoughts racing. Let Elijah stew in his own thoughts for a bit. If Uncle Oliver was at the table, or either of his brothers, they would want to know where she was, then Elijah could explain himself to them. The men. Who mattered.
She ground her teeth.
What she truly needed was some advice on how to manage such a hard-headed man. Thankfully, Mary and Lily would be at Lady Chesterham’s tea in a few hours, and she could corner Mary there. Of course, Rex loved Mary, so it was not the entirely same, but Josie did not know who else to turn to. Rex was as bossy as Elijah and not easy to manage. Besides, Mary and Lily had both known Elijah for as long as Josie had.
“Yes, my lady,” Daisy said. “Would you like to dress before I fetch your tray?”
“Yes, please. The blue jonquil, I think.” It would be light and airy on this warm day and perfect for tea. She did not need heavy fabric weighing her down—her own thoughts were more than enough.
Chapter 25
Elijah
“What did you do?”
Both of his brothers and his father glared at him from around the table after they had been informed Josie would not be joining them for breakfast. They had all caught the glance her maid had sent Elijah when she peeked her head in to whisper to the footman, who had passed the message on.
He had been waiting on tenterhooks for her to come down and join them, formulating both an apology and an explanation. Planning to ask her to walk with him after she had broken her fast, so they could speak about how they wanted to live. Something they had not done with the whirlwind of events that had precipitated their marriage. Hell, if they had done so before their wedding, or even immediately after, he would not have known what he wanted from her.
Now he did, and it was not that he wanted them to lead completely separate lives, far from it. He had not known, could not have known, back then that he would feel this way now. So, he would apologize for leaving her out and hope she would understand he was not used to having to be a true partner to someone and that he would try to do better.
Except she was not here. Only his brothers and his father, all glaring suspiciously at him and awaiting his explanation—probably as Josie planned. Despite his annoyance, a thread of amusement at his minx’s machinations trickled through.