It occurred to me that now thatCarterwas gone,Icould go check out anythingIwanted.OrIcould buy myself an e-book reader, and download all manner of filth that would have turned my late husband’s hair blue with shock.
MaybeI’lldo it,Ithought to myself, asIwashed my face.Ihad already ordered some new clothes—clothes he never would have approved of.ButIdidn’t even know ifIwould have the nerve to wear them alone in the house—let alone out in town.
I changed into a modest nightgown with a lace neck and wrapped myself in a matching robe.Ibelted the robe tightly around my waist and slipped my feet into my favorite furry slippers.
There,Ithought with satisfaction, glancing at myself in the full-length oval mirror on its antique wooden frame.Ilook perfectly modest.
No one who saw me in my long robe and fuzzy slippers, my face washed clean of make-up, could imagineIwas trying to start anything untoward with the handsome young heir who had come to town.
I shook my head.Nowwhere hadthatthought come from?OfcourseIwasn’t trying to start anything withKor!EvenifIwasn’t aMoonWidow, he was much too young for me.Itwould still be completely indecent for us to…to…
I pushed the thought out of my head before it could fully form, still wondering what was wrong with me.Iwas acting likeIhad never seen a man before.
A young, handsome man,whispered the voice of temptation in my head.
Much too young for me,Isent back briskly.
Really, there was no point in even thinking such forbidden thoughts.Korwas a decade my junior.Therewas no way such a tall, handsome youngAlphawould be interested in a dried-upOmegawho didn’t even get herHeatCycleanymore.
Keeping that thought firmly in the front of my mind,Imarched through the winding corridors of the mansion back to theEastWing.
I had some cocoa to make for my guest and that was allIwas going to think about.
SIX
KOR
I shocked the pool and then made my way back to theEastWing, the strong, sharp scent of chlorine trailing after me.Thesmell was irritating to my sensitiveWerenose, but at least it calmed the arousal that had rushed over me in a wave whenViviennehad put her hand on my arm.
She barely touched you!What’swrong with you?Ishouted at myself mentally, asImade my way through the huge mansion.Iwondered how many bedroomsWolvertonManorhad.ThenIwondered whereVivienne’sbedroom was and what she looked like curled up in bed…
Damn it, thereIwent again.Itwas unnerving to be so attracted to someoneIhad never met before…and who was so completely and totally off limits.Igot the sense that my lateUncle’spack was extremely strict about not breaking theUnbreakableLaws.Viviennewas aMoonWidowand therefore untouchable.
Why the fuck are you even thinking about this?Iasked myself sharply.Shedoesn’t want to be with you that way!Shedoesn’t evenknowyou—and you don’t know her.Hell, you just met her an hour ago.Sostop it with these crazy ideas.
Resolving to push the whole ridiculous attraction out of my mind,Ifound my way to the kitchen…and had to stop in the doorway to catch my breath at whatIsaw.
There she was—standing at a stove that looked like it cost more than my car back home.Herlong, wavy black hair was down around her shoulders, and her curvy figure was wrapped tightly in a dark blue silk robe that seemed to emphasize her full breasts and hips—thoughIwas sure that wasn’t her intention.
ThoughIhadn’t known her long,Vivienneseemed to be a modest woman.She’dblushed scarlet whenIcomplimented her beauty and truly didn’t seem to realize how lovely she was.Thoughhow that was possible,Iwasn’t sure.Shewas flat-out, drop-dead gorgeous and if my late uncle hadn’t told her that every day of his life, then the man was a fool.
She must have heard me standing by the door because she looked up then andIhad to fight not to drown in her eyes.Theywere a deep, cerulean blue with a thin ring of pure gold around each iris.“RoyalGold”I’dheard some people call it.Itwas supposed to denote someone who had the blood of theRoyalWereFamilyin their veins.
Of course theRoyals—who no longer ruled us—had spread their seed around enough that havingRoyalRingedEyeswasn’t unheard of.Butit wasn’t exactly common, either.I’donly ever met one otherWerewith gold in her eyes and she’d only had a few flecks around her pupils.
For a moment,VivienneandIjust stared at each other.Shehad taken off her makeup when she changed—Icould see that.Butshe was just as beautiful without it—maybe even more beautiful than before.
“I, er, hope you like your cocoa sweet,” she said, smiling tentatively at me.“IthinkImight have put in too much sugar.”
“No such thing when you have a sweet tooth like mine,”Isaid quickly, coming into the kitchen.
It was huge, with decorative copper pots hanging from an overhead rack and vast stainless-steel appliances that could have kept enough food for a dozen people—not just one lonely widow.Viviennelooked small in the middle of the large room, which was big enough for four or five chefs to work in at once.
I thought of how she’d said thatWolvertonManorwas “cold and lonely” even before my uncle died.Justseeing her here, all alone and looking so small in the vast kitchen, made me wishIcould warm her up and ease her grief.
“Well, you’d better wait to judge it until after you’ve had a sip,” she told me.Shepoured the steaming cocoa from a copper bottomed saucepan into two ceramic mugs and raised her eyebrows at me.“Wouldyou like marshmallows or whipped cream?”
“What the hell—give me both.”Icame to sit on a bar stool at the large, marble-topped kitchen island across from her.